Really Good Deal Examples
These examples are designed
to help you become familiar with the use of Really Good Deal by
giving a number of examples of its use, ranging from very simple to quite
complicated, and showing how to use all the features of the program. I suggest
that initially a new user should follow at least the first few of these
examples in detail, as they progressively show more of the features of Really
Good Deal.
These examples are divided
into several different categories:
Basic Dealing
These examples show how to
set up shape and HCP requirements for hands. There are three methods for
setting up RGD for dealing, with the later methods being somewhat more complex,
but affording greater flexibility.
Added Features
RGD has a number of added
features beyond just generating deals according to specifications. The added
features include a variety of statistical information, double dummy analyses of
several kinds,
There are numerous examples of
using Really Good Deal for double dummy analyses of various
sorts. By special arrangement, the GIB double dummy analyzer is included with
the Really Good Deal program. The ability to perform double dummy analyses on
the deals generated by Really Good Deal contributes substantially to the
usefulness of Really Good Deal. GIB can also be purchased from www.bridgebase.com or www.gibware.com.
Contents
Example
1. Really Good Deal top level
Example
2. Random Deals (no constraints)
Example
3. Quick and easy fit/pts requirements.
N/S
and E/W both have a major fit
N/S
have 9-card fit and 26-28 HCP combined.
N/S
have 8-card fit in S, 28-31 HCP combined, 4 or 5 key cards
Example
4 – Simple Hand Specification
Example
5 – More complex hand shape specification
Example
6 – HCP requirements – a first look
Example
7 – Statistics – a first look
Example
8 – Double dummy analysis – a first look
Example
x – HCP requirements – more detail
Example
xx – Answering bidding questions
Figures
Figure
2 – Setup Deal Specifications Display.
Figure
4 - N/S 8-cd fit in spades
Figure
5 - Deals for N/S 8-card spade fit
Figure
6 - New spec for a hand
Figure
8 - South has 5 spades and 12-14 HCP
Figure
9 - Deals with S: 5 spades, 12-14 HCP..
Figure
14 - 5-6 spades, 0-1 clubs
Figure
15 - Statistics for S 5-6S, 0-1C
Figure
16 - Points requirements specifications
Figure
11 - HCP for 360,000 deals
Figure
12 - Hand distributions for 360,000 deals
Figure
13 - Suit Length Statistics
Example 1. Really Good Deal top level
There are a number of menu items
appearing across the top of the screen. Most of these are not implemented in
the current version (1.7.0) of the program. Those that have useful
functionality are File, Dealing and Help.
- File allows you to generate and save files of
hand shapes, hand specs and deal specs (more on this later).
- Dealing brings up the Setup Deal Specifications
screen, which is the starting point for defining new deal and hand specs.
- Help has several options: “Really Good Deal”
shows the main help manual for Really Good Deal in your web
browser, and should be read to get a detailed description of the program;
“Examples” shows this manual in your web browser; “Double Dummy Values
Analysis” describes a (currently not yet implemented) analysis new in this
program for determining “intrinsic” values of hands; “Quick Help” gives a
very brief summary of using Really Good Deal; and “About”
gives the current version of Really Good Deal.
Example 2. Random Deals (no constraints)
When you click on “Dealing” and
then on “Setup a new Deal Specification” from the main Really Good Deal
screen, this deal specification screen shows up.
Figure 2 – Setup Deal Specifications Display
For each of North, South,
East and West there are four buttons: “New Spec”, “Hand”, “Load Spec” and
“Reset”. New Spec allows you to generate a new hand spec for the appropriate
hand. Hand allows you to type in a specific hand. Load Spec allows you to load
a previously defined hand spec. Reset simply returns the hand spec to its
default state, which imposes no constraints on that hand (more on these later).
Below the buttons are
displays showing the hand shapes allowed, the honors requirements, and the user
name for the hand spec, if one has been defined.
On the right hand side of
this screen, labeled Joint Hand Requirements, you can impose overall deal
requirements that cannot be represented by the individual hand specs (more on
this later).
This initial default display
is the very simplest deal spec, which is that there are no constraints on any
hand. If you reset any of the North, East, South or West hands, they are reset
to this state. The initial settings for each hand are “Any” (for the shape
requirements, in the upper box), and also “Any” (for the honors requirements,
in the middle box). These initial settings mean that any shape and any honor
holdings are OK, which is the same as having no constraints on the hand.
At the bottom of this window
is a small display showing the number of sets of 12 deals you want generated,
according to the current deal spec. The spinner (up/down control) immediately
to the right of this display allows you to change the number of sets of deals
you want. (The number of deals is always a multiple of 12, as the deals display
shows 12 deals at a time). You can if you wish left click with the mouse on
this display and enter a number of sets of deals directly. The total number of
deals will always show up to the right. The total number of deals is limited to
360,000. The “Deal” button causes the number of deals chosen to be generated
and displayed. Finally the “OK” button closes this screen and returns you to
the Really Good Deal top level.
Deals display
If you click on the Deal
button at the bottom, Really Good Deal will deal the indicated number of hands
and show them in a deals window. With the initial deal spec with no
constraints, completely random deals will be generated, as shown in the next
display.
At the top left of the Deals
display is the description of the deal specification, given as hand specs for
each hand, and to the right the Joint Hand Requirements, if any have been
defined. Each hand spec has first the hand shape requirement, and then the hand
honors requirements.
Once you have generated a
set of deals according to a specification, the Deals window is used to access
the information about the deals. The individual hands of a deal are given in
the normal order. Suit symbols are not included, as the order of suits is always
Spades at the top, then Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs at the bottom. The 10 of a
suit is indicated by a T, rather than the number.
Using the Deals display
If you have generated more
than one set of 12 deals, the arrow buttons (<<, <, <, >>) at
the top may be used to look at the individual groups of 12. The ‘>’ button
moves to the next set of deals, the ‘<’ button to the previous set, the
‘<<’ button to the first set, and the ‘>>’ button to the last set.
There are three menus.
“Files” is currently not yet implemented. “Double Dummy analyses” allows you to
perform double dummy analysis on the generated deals. “Statistics” provides
considerable statistical information not requiring double dummy analysis. These
menus will be described in later examples.
Example 3. Quick and easy fit/pts requirements
When the only requirements
are that N/S and/or E/W have an 8- or 9-cd fit in one or more suits, this can
be easily be specified by using the Joint Hand Requirements section on the
right-hand side of the deal specifications window.
N/S 8-card fit in spades
Figure 4 - N/S 8-cd fit in spades
This is a very simple
specification, which generates deals where N/S has an 8-card fit in spades. This
is set up by checking the S (for spades) box under N/S 8 cd fit. Since an
8-card fit could be 8-0, 7-1, 6-2, 5-3 or 4-4 for either hand longer, all these
possibilities may be generated.
The relative proportions of
the various combinations are in accordance with random dealing, throwing out
deals that don’t have an 8-card fit in spades. The most common, of course, are
4-4 and 5-3. The 8-0 fit is very rare, and may never occur unless the number of
deals is rather large. The number of deals generated is 120,000, set by typing
10000 in the number of sets display. The time required to generate these
120,000 deals was about 24 sec on a computer with a 1.3 Ghz Pentium 4, for an
average speed of about 5,000 deals per second.
The first set of deals
generated is shown in the next figure. 
Figure 5 - Deals for N/S 8-card spade fit
N/S 8-card major fit
This deal spec is slightly
more complicated, and generates deals where N/S have an 8-card fit in either
major, as shown by the checked boxes for both S and H after N/S 8-cd fit. This
deal spec means that a fit in either major will meet the requirements. It is
possible, but relatively unlikely, that N/S has an 8-card fit in both majors.
When we look at hand specs,
some examples of required fits in both majors will be shown. At present,
Really Good Deal requires using individual hand specs to generate
deals with fits in more than one suit.
N/S and E/W both have a major fit
This example generates deals
where N/S has an 8-card major fit and E/W have a 9-card major fit. This is
indicated by the checks in the boxes for both S and H for the N/S 8-cd fit and
the E/W 9-cd fit. In this case, the suits of course must be different for N/S
and E/W.
If we tried to require that
N/S and E/W both have say an 8-card fit in spades, by checking only the S boxes
for both N’S and E/W 8-cd fits, no deals will be generated, as this is
impossible. In a number of cases such as this, it is possible to define deal
specs that are impossible to meet. In many cases, this can’t be detected until
deal generation is attempted.
N/S have 9-card fit and 26-28 HCP combined
This example generates deals
where N/S has a 9-card fit in spades and 26-28 HCP combined. The 9-card fit is
set by the check in the box for N/S 9-cd fit in S, and the combined HCP
requirement is set by the spinners for N/S Total HCP at a minimum of 26 and a
maximum of 28.
N/S have 8-card fit in S, 28-31 HCP combined, 4 or 5 key cards
This example has N-S 8-cd
fit in S checked, Total HCP min 28, max 31, and in S, min 4 key cards, max 5
key cards, with or without the Q of trumps.
You can use any desired
combination of the joint hand requirements. Remember that it is possible to
define impossible requirements.
If you want more detailed
control of the requirements for a deal, it is necessary to use the individual
hand specifications. You can combine individual hand specifications and joint
hand requirements.
Example 4 – Simple Hand Specification
Most of the time the hand
specifications you are interested in are more complicated than just a N/S or
E/W fit and a combined HCP requirement. In these cases you will need to specify
one or more hands in some detail.
If you click on the ‘New
Spec’ button for say the south hand, a screen for specifying the details for
the hand appears:
Specify S hand, shape only
Figure 6 - New spec for a hand
At the top left are two buttons, one labeled ‘Groups’ and the other ‘New shape’, the ‘Groups’ button being activated initially. There are a variety of groups defined for your convenience, which cover quite a few of the most common hand specs you may want. Clicking on any of these groups shows in the next window the specs predefined for each of these groups. In the screen above, the ‘S’ (for spades) entry has been clicked (and highlighted), and then the ‘5 spades’ entry has been clicked (and highlighted). The third window shows all the possible specific hand shapes that meet the requirement, with the lengths of the suits always being given in the order S, H, D, and C.
When you select a spec from the second window, the third window always shows the possible hand shapes. In the ‘RGD shape name’ box is given the internal shape name, and in the ‘User Shape Name’ a more readable description of the shape is (often) given. Below these is a line titled ‘User Hand Spec Name’ which allows you to enter your own description of the hand spec, which will often include a description of the high card requirements for the hand.
You can explore the various groups and the hand shapes included in them by clicking on other groups to see which hand shapes are included. In a later example we will see how to add new groups and shapes which fit in with your requirements.
When you click on OK in the bottom right corner of the screen, you are returned to the deal specifications screen, and the selected spec is displayed in the appropriate hand’s area. In this example, we impose no other hand constraints, and when we specify 12 deals to be generated, the deals displayed are:
Note that for all deals, S has 5 spades, in accordance with the deal spec requirement. For easy reference, the individual hand specifications are shown in the top left corner of the screen. Each line shows the hand followed by the shape requirements and then the HCP requirements. The total number of deals generated is shown immediately to the left of the ‘Cancel’ button.
Specify S hand, shape and HCP
Figure 8 - South has 5 spades and 12-14 HCP
Here we have also clicked on
the 12-14 HCP button to require that the S hand have this number of HCP. After
clicking OK and then asking for 12 deals to be generated, we get the deals
display screen:
Figure 9 - Deals with S: 5 spades, 12-14 HCP
Here each S hand has 5
spades and 12-14 HCP in accordance with the specification.
Example 5 – More complex hand shape specification
This example describes a more
general way to use the hand specifications screens for shapes.
Click on ‘New Spec’ for
the south hand, and then click on ‘New shape’ in the upper left corner. You can
now put in specific shape requirements not covered by any of the groups already
defined. In this screen, click on the up/down controls for spades, and set a
minimum of 5 spades and a maximum of 6. Similarly click on the maximum for
clubs to set 0 or 1 clubs.
Figure 14 - 5-6 spades, 0-1 clubs
Then click on OK, and the deal specifications screen
appears with these requirements set for the south hand. If you deal say 1200
hands, and click on ‘Statistics’, then ‘Suit Lengths’, you will observe that
the south hand holds 5 spades about 69% of the time, and 6 spades about 31% of
the time, a void in clubs about 16% of the time, and a singleton club about 86%
of the time.
Figure 15 - Statistics for S 5-6S, 0-1C
To the right of the boxes
for selecting minimum and maximum lengths are check boxes for specific suits.
These are preset to S for suit 1, H for suit 2, D for suit 3, and C for suit 4,
but they can be changed at will. In particular you can check for example both S
and H for suit 1. This means that either 5-6 spades or 5-6 hearts in the hand
meet the requirements.
Below the section for
setting minimum and maximum lengths of particular suits is a section allowing
you to set relative lengths of the suits. For each pair of suits you can set
the requirement that one suit length is <, = or > another suit length, or
by checking more than one box requirements such as >= for one suit being at
least as long as the other, or <> for a requirement that suit lengths be
unequal.
Whenever you change any of
these parameters in any way, the ‘Possible shapes’ window changes to reflect
the hand shapes that meet the requirements. If you set an impossible
combination, for example S=4, H=5, and S>H, then the ‘Possible shapes’ box
will be empty. Trying to deal anyway will give an error message.
Example 6 – HCP requirements – a first look
You can specify a variety of
points requirements for hands as well as shape requirements. Look at the
right-hand side of the hand specifications screen, which shows the ways
available for specifying points:
Figure 16 - Points requirements specifications
At the top are three
“radio” buttons, labeled ‘HCP, ‘BUMrap’ and ‘Bissel’. You will normally want to
leave this set at the default ‘HCP’ (see the RGD manual for further explanation
of the other two possibilities).
Next is a collection of
buttons to set a variety of commonly used HCP ranges. Whenever you click on any
of these, the ‘Total Points’ boxes will change to reflect the current button
clicked. To set total points ranges different from any of the buttons, the
easiest thing to do is to use one of the buttons to select a range close to
what you want, and then use the up/down controls next to the boxes to change to
the values desired.
Next are a set of radio
buttons to set distribution points to be included in the total points. The
options are ‘None’ for straight HCP; ‘0-1-2’ for 0 for a doubleton, 1 for a
singleton, or 2 for a void; ‘1-2-3’ for 1 for doubleton, 2 for a singleton, or
3 for a void; ‘1-3-5’ for same but 1, 3 or 5 points for doubleton, singleton,
or void; ‘1 ea. 5+’ to count 1 for each card over 4 in any suit. The final
possibility is only useful for Bissel points.
For many users, these ways
to set HCP requirements will be all that is needed. There are other aspects of
HCP requirements described in a later example.
Example 7 – Statistics – a first look
This example looks at the
statistics available in Really Good Deal. From the Setup Deal
Specifications screen, ‘Reset’ all hands if any have specs set. Then type 30000
into the # of sets of 12 deals, which will generate 360,000 (12 times 30,000)
deals. On clicking ‘Deal’, the set of deals will be generated in about 45
seconds on a 1.3 GHz Pentium 4.
The first set of 12 deals is
shown. If you then click on ‘Statistics’ in the menu bar at the top, there are
a number of possibilities available. Click on ‘HCP’ to compute the distribution
of HCP for each hand (in order to show the entire graph, put the mouse on the
bottom of the display and drag it down):
Figure 11 - HCP for 360,000 deals
The HCP distributions for
all hands are very nearly the same, with the variability occurring because this
is only a sample of the possible deals. For the hands, the fraction of deals
with 15 HCP is 4.431% for North, 4.444% for East, 4.444% for South and 4.388%%
for West. Comparison with the tables in the Encyclopedia of Bridge published by
the ACBL shows that the expected fraction with 15 HCP is 4.424%. IF you generate
another set of 360,000 deals, the results will vary slightly because of
sampling.
Click on ‘Distribution’ to
generate the fraction for each possible distribution:
Figure 12 - Hand distributions for 360,000 deals
For the N hand, the four
possibilities for 4-3-3-3 distribution are 2.664%, 2.638%, 2.619% and 2.618%,
where according to the Encyclopedia of Bridge, the expected frequency for each
is 2.634%. To look at the rest of the distribution possibilities, you can use
the scroll bar at the right side of each section.
The ‘Suit Lengths’ is
another way to look at distributions.
Figure 13 - Suit Length Statistics
In this display, the
possibilities for each hand and suit are shown individually.
Example 8 – Double dummy analysis – a first look
Double dummy analysis is
available in Really Good Deal, and provides an excellent way to
analyze hands. The analysis is not nearly as fast as dealing, however, so
analysis of say 100,000 deals can take quite a long time (the analysis takes on
the order of ½ - 1 second for each deal in a single strain and with a single
declarer). It is nonetheless extremely useful. Getting good information on the
statistics of results requires a substantial number of deals. See the RGD
manual for more detail on double dummy analysis.
Example x – HCP requirements – more detail
Example xx – Answering bidding questions
Recently my partner held
KQT3 – AJ – 742 – J943, and when I opened 1NT (15-17), he bid 3NT, which was
down 1 when I had Tx in hearts. I thought he should have used Stayman (I had 4
spades). I used Really Good Deal for a double dummy analysis, with the
following results:
The above shows the results of
300 deals in which south has 4 spades and 15-17 balanced, and clearly shows
that 4 spades is a better contract than 3 NT. 4 S makes 10 tricks 76% of the
time, while 3 NT makes 4 for a better match point score only 26% of the time.
This histogram looks at
hands for South with possibly a four card major. Clearly the best contract is 3
NT.
Here S has 4 hearts, but not
4 spades, and would respond 2H to Stayman, and not correct 3 NT to 4 spades.
And finally S may or may not
have 4 hearts, but not 4 spades, so the preferred contract is 3 NT.
These examples show how
Really Good Deal can quickly and accurately help to answer such questions.