Final Recap

By: Larry Cohen

Final Recap

In this series, we analyzed 1,000,000 deals which were played on-line. These deals cover a wide range of level of play and were provided by Stephen Pickett with Bridge Browser.

All of the details can be found at https://www.larryco.com/bridge-learning-center/one-million-deals

In this final article, here is a summary of what we've learned:

On how many deals was 3NT the final contract?Answer: 181,119 -- or 18.1% of all deals.


On how many deals was 4-of-a-major the final contract?Answer: 248,980 -- or 24.9 % of all deals. (4 alone was 11.7%. 4 alone was 13.2%.)

The most common slam contracts, were 6, 6, and 6NT -- each occurring approximately 14,000 times out of the 1,000,000 deals (or 1.4% of the time for each).

Cumulatively, small slams were bid on 5.7% of all deals. Grand slams (with 7NT the most common one) were bid on a little more than 5,000 of 1,000,000 deals--or about half a percent.

When the final contract was 1NT, it was set about 29% of the time and made 71% of the time (often with overtricks).

When one side opens the bidding, how likely is it that they will be the declaring side? Answer: 75%

On any given deal, what is the most likely division of the 13 tricks? Answer: 9 and 4

What is the most likely opening bid? 1 was the winner with 22.7% of all deals (1=21.3%).

The opening bid that led to the best result: 3

What strain was played the most?

Notrump:283,747 times out of 1,000,000 (28.4%)
Spades: 272,344 (27.2%)
Hearts: 239,847 (24.0%)
Diamonds: 107,710 (10.8%)
Clubs: 81,321 (8.1%)
Passed Out: 15,031 (1.5%)

What level was played the most?

3-level 324949 (32.5%)
4-level 279829 (28.0%)
2-level 160743 (16.1%)
5-level 85931 (8.6%)
1-level 71489 (7.1%)
6-level 57653 (5.8%)
Passed Out 15031 (1.5%)
7-level 5284 (.5%)

Approximately 1 in 8 contracts were doubled (or redoubled).

I hope you've enjoyed my findings. If you are computer savvy and would like to do more research, please visit: Bridge Browser