Software: GIB 4.10
Platform: Windows
Publisher: Just Write
Web Site: www.gibware.com
Price: $79.95

Overview

If you have never tried a bridge-playing program, read about them before continuing this review to learn, in general, how the programs work and the features they normally have.

GIB has a well layed-out user interface and a solid, if not spectacular, set of features. GIB puts its emphasis on striving to be the best bidding and playing bridge program available rather than the one with the most whistles and bells.

This emphasis is focused on the method it uses for making bids and plays - double-dummy analysis ("DDA") of hands generated through Monte Carlo techniques and Borel simulations.

DDA is the software's version of human judgment. When faced with a bidding or playing decision, the program will generate as many hands as possible which concur with what is known about the other hands from previous players' bidding and play.

GIB analyzes those hands of the other three players to see which bid/play most often results in the best contract or score. The longer you give GIB to think, the more hands it can analyze and the better it will play.

Notice that GIB does not look at the cards in the other players' hands; its double-dummy analysis is only of the hands generated to match the bidding and play of the other players.

The alternative to double-dummy analysis is the use of algorithms to determine bidding and play. A typical algorithm might be: "If the hand contains 15-17 High Card Points and no more than one doubleton and no singletons or voids, open 1NT."

The problem with algorithms is that there are billions of possible combinations of bids and plays for any one deal, and it is obviously impractical to have a specific algorithm for each possible combination, so the algorithms must be generalized.

In contrast, DDA can generate a sampling of hands to meet any possible combination of bids and plays, analyze the sampling, and come up with a reasonable estimate of the best bid or play to make.

On the other hand, the hands which do fit general algorithms can be more accurately bid/played than with DDA. In this deal, even the least experienced human duplicate bridge player would raise South's 1H opening bid with the North cards, but GIB's North never opens his mouth. So apparently, DDA does not always find the best bid.

In another example, North opens a weak 2S, South makes a 2NT asking bid, North bids 3H to show a Heart entry, and South bids 3NT. Now a good general algorithm might be to attack North's entry in hearts before the Spades get set up, but GIB's West leads a Spade, helping set up North's Spades!

The point of this is not to make GIB look bad. GIB does not bid/play this poorly very often. In fact, it is quite capable of making plays that some experts might not find. And as you will see in an upcoming comparative review, programs relying too heavily on algorithms can look equally as silly when their algorithms miss the mark. But our point here is that DDA is not always superior to algorithms. The very best program would be one which combines the best algorithms with the best DDA.

Bidding Systems

Bridge players who never play duplicate have little or no interest in bidding systems, but for duplicate bridge players, the bidding system is half (or more) of the game.

GIB supports the following systems:

• Traditional
• Standard American
• Standard with Gadgets
• Two-Over-One
• Acol
• Kaplan-Sheinwold
• Moscito Byte

Choices of a system are made on an on-screen Convention Card. When you select a system, GIB makes the appropriate selections on the CC. You can then check or uncheck boxes on the CC to customize the system.

For example, if you select "Acol", one of the boxes GIB checks is for 5-card majors. Since most Acol players use 4-card majors, you can simply change this by clicking on the correct option.

On the other hand, many Acol players use "Benjamin Two Bids", which are not supported at all by GIB. You can look at the screen shot of the convention card (linked above) to see which conventions are supported.

Thinking Time

GIB lets you adjust the program's playing strength by controlling how much time it has to think. The maximum is 3 minutes per player, per deal.

As previously explained, the longer you give GIB, the more hands it can generate for analyzing which bid or play leads to the best result.

GIB relies much more heavily on DDA and less so on bidding and playing tables or algorithms. The advantage is that this generally allows it to bid and play better than other bridge programs. The drawback is that you spend a lot of time sitting staring at the screen.

Even for what appears to be very obvious bids or plays, such as following from 732 in dummy after leading from AKQ in declarer's hand, GIB may take 10 seconds to play. At the 2-minute thinking setting, it is not unusual for GIB to take 30 seconds or more on one bid or play.

Ten to 30 seconds is not a lot in the real world, but try this test:

• 1. Stare at this spot -(@)- for ten seconds.
• 2. Go back and stare at it for 20 seconds.
• 3. Go back for 30 seconds.
• 4. Repeat steps 1-3.

You've just given GIB 2 minutes to think -- for one player. Now repeat that for the other two computer players and you get an idea of what a game against GIB is like.

Another drawback to the DDA is that the entire program's response time is frustratingly slow. You cannot interrupt GIB while it is thinking, so if you want to take back a play, or skip to the next deal, or quit the game, you may have to wait for as much as a minute for the program to respond.

Scoring

GIB supports four scoring methods: rubber bridge, duplicate, Chicago, and IMPs. The scoring selection will also influence the method of bidding and play. For example, in rubber bridge and IMPs, the most important thing is to make your contract, while in duplicate, you still get a bad score if you just make your contract and others are getting an overtrick, so GIB will take a chance for an overtrick rather than play safe to make a contract if circumstances dictate.

Unfortunately, in the Duplicate mode, GIB does not automatically replay each hand and let you compare your score to the computer's to see how you did, as does Bridge Baron.

You can manually get GIB to replay a deal with GIB playing your hand, but it does not keep a running comparative score. An interesting aspect of GIB's DDA approach is that it does not always come up with the same bid or play. So if you have it replay a deal, the other players may not bid and play the same as they did against you. This may be one reason why GIB does not offer a Duplicate Mode similar to Bridge Baron's.

Another possible reason may be that because Bridge Baron relies more heavily on algorithms, it can whiz through the replay pretty quickly, while GIB is probably going to take the full alloted time again, and who wants to wait another 8 minutes or more to watch GIB play a hand?

Features

Saving/loading deals: If you have an interesting deal, you can save and reload it in standard Portable Bridge Notation format. PBN files for tournaments, etc., can be downloaded from the Internet, and you can replay them in GIB, comparing your results to the experts.

Network play: GIB lets you play others over the Internet or a network. We almost missed this feature because it is not documented in the help file. You have to go to the GIB web site for directions.

Manual input: Deals can be entered manually, allowing you to see how GIB would play a deal, using it to solve bridge problems, etc.

Deal control: GIB lets you control the points for each hand, as well as the number of cards for each suit in each hand. This feature is mainly of use when you want to be able to bid every hand or defend every hand.

Languages: GIB supports over 20 different languages, including Russian and several oriental languages.

Help System: GIB has a very sparse help system. For example, it does not include any information about the bidding systems and conventions it supports.

Support: GIB is well supported on its web site. You can go there to download updates and get tech support. The times I have emailed the author of the program with serious problems in GIB's bidding, he has replied quickly with a patch which could be downloaded to fix each problem.

The Bottom Line

More often than not, GIB's DDA approach will result in better bidding and play than you will get from other top bridge programs.

We will soon have a comparative review of GIB, Bridge Baron, and Q-Plus Bridge. (See reviews of the latter programs.) The comparison will have problem hands for the programs to bid/play, and we fully expect GIB to come out on top.

If you are a "Type A" personality -- the kind who usually finishes deals before the rest of the room does -- then you may not have the patience to sit and wait for GIB. You may want a program that plays faster, even if it does not play quite as well.

If you are the kind of person who thinks that 5 hours is a reasonable pace for a round of golf, or more to the point, that less than 8-minutes a board is too rushed for playing bridge, then you probably will not mind sitting, waiting for GIB to bid or play. You definitely should get GIB, which is currently the strongest bridge playing program available.