Bridge in your pocket

For years, players had to go to the bridge club or friends' homes to play bridge. Computers changed all that -- they allowed people to stay at home and play online. The third generation is here: You can play bridge on your iPhone with iBridgeBaron.

The iBridgeBaron lets you load games, play new games or play deals from previous ACBL tournaments. For many players, the last option will be the most exciting. Take this deal, for example, from a sectional tournament in Wilmington DE:

Dlr: North Vul: None

West led the ♠9. I was South and won the ace in dummy. I led the ♦6 to my ace. I ruffed a diamond, played the ♠4 to my king and ran diamonds. East ruffed in and I clicked on claim -- the rest were mine. The opponents won only one trick and my score was plus 680. Next, iBridgeBaron presented a scoresheet, similar to a traveler, and I saw I scored 7 matchpoints out of 10.

That was fun, but there was more fun ahead. I clicked on replay to try the same deal again. This proved to be instructive. After 1♣ by North, I responded 1♠ (instead of 1♦) and North rebid 3♠. That makes sense. If I had bid 1♦, North would fear a misfit. On this auction, North made the value bid of 3♠. This indicates that iBridgeBaron bids on a fairly high level.

There are various settings to choose among. You can pick beginner, intermediate or advanced play. You can choose the bidding system from among various flavors of SAYC, 2/1, Standard American, Precision Club, ACOL and La Majeure Cinq. If you are playing and don't understand a bid, you can ask iBridgeBaron to interpret it for you. If you pick the wrong bid or play, you can ask for an undo by tapping on "back." You can also replay deals.

To play, all you need to do is reach in your pocket and pull out your iPhone or iPod Touch that has the iBridgeBaron application.

The web site www.ibridgebaron.com explains how to order this product. There's also a free demo you can download. For help doing either, call Great Game Products at 800-426-3748.