Pro Bridge 610
by Saitek

£149.99

The Pro Bridge 610 is a hand-held bridge computer that you might use, for example, during a railway journey. It is 9 inches by 6 and weighs just over one pound - a handsome-looking beast.

The small size, so great for portability, inevitably means that some people (particular the elderly) will find it fiddly to use. The designers have worked miracles, given the space constraints, but the screen can display only two hands at a time.

After setting Acol, Standard American, or French bidding, you can play random deals, choose any of 1,000,000 pre-dealt hands, or input a deal of your own. For many years no bridge-playing program could perform a simple hold-up. I therefore entered this deal:

Declarer   A 6 3   Q 10 9 5   Q 6 2   A Q 3  Declarer   8 4   K J 6   A J 8 3   K J 7 2

The K was led against 3NT. Would Saitek hold up twice from A-x-x and make 3NT when RHO held the A? Yes, it did!

I next entered a deal with nine top tricks:

Declarer   A 6 3   Q 6   A K 8 3   K J 10 7  Dummy   8 4   9 7 3   Q J 7 6   A Q 6 4

Again Saitek held up the A for two rounds, running the risk of a heart switch. This shows that its play is rule-based. It will always hold up an ace for two rounds, whether it makes sense or not. This will work fine on most deals and is much better than those computer programs that don't hold up an ace at all.

The Saitek's bidding is basic. I noted a protective double on a passed hand, which was clever, but it does not play fourth-suit forcing. The backing program is 64KB, which is small compared to the multi-megabyte PC equivalents. I enjoyed pre-generated deal 542:

10 8 7 6 4   A 7   Q J 7 6   10 7     K J 9 3   K Q 6 5   K   Q 9 8 5   2   J 4 3 2   8 4 3 2   J 4 3 2     A Q 5   10 9 8   A 10 9 5   A K 6

West	North	East	South
			1NT*
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	2NT	Pass	3NT
End
*15-17

West led the 5 to the ten, jack and ace. Needing a second spade trick, even if the dK was onside, I led the 5 from my hand. West played low (following its rule-base) and dummy's ten won the trick. I ran the dQ to the king and West cleared the clubs. When I cashed the diamonds, West threw two hearts and a spade, so I was able to clear a ninth trick in spades and make the game. Since I was playing in IMP-mode, the computer now replayed the deal to give a comparison (an excellent feature). The other North-South made only seven tricks in 4. Yes, 11 IMPs to me!

This is what bridge-playing programs and machines are for - to have some fun. Had I been on the Winchester-London train at the time, gaining 11 IMPs would have been miles more fun than looking out of the window.

David Bird

© Bridge Plus 1999-2006