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Everything you need to get started and make the most of BridgeTricks
Getting Started
BridgeTricks is organized around three work areas: Bidding Architect for building and practicing systems, Bridge Lab for generating and simulating deals, and Deal Analysis for solving or inspecting individual hands.
- Use Build to create bidding systems and conventions with visual trees, variations, notes, sharing, version history, and community publishing.
- Use Practice to turn your systems into spaced-repetition flashcards.
- Bidding Architect and Practice do not consume credits.
- Bridge Lab is where you generate deals, run simulations, compare contracts, test opening leads, and study result tables.
- Deal Analysis includes the DD Solver for single-hand double dummy analysis and Contract Success Rate for inspecting how contracts perform across simulated deals.
- Create a free account to receive 7 starter credits and save your work across devices.
- Credits are used for deal generation, simulations, AI image analysis, and voice analysis. Purchased credits never expire.
- Pro unlocks the full Bidding Architect suite, including unlimited nodes, sharing, version history, community publishing, linked copies, and 20 monthly credits.
- Master includes everything in Pro, plus unlimited Practice, daily streaks, and 55 monthly credits.
Build, organize, and share your bridge bidding systems with our interactive visual editor. Create full systems or standalone conventions, add variations for different seats and vulnerabilities, and collaborate with your partner.
- Organize your systems and conventions into folders. Rename, duplicate, move, or delete items from the context menu.
- Import a file from community and create an editable copy to build on top of it.
- Guest users can create and edit systems locally in the browser without signing in, but data is stored only on that device.
- Each system is built as a tree of bidding nodes. Click a node to expand it and add child bids.
- Add a meaning or description to each bid, plus optional annotations and color highlights.
- Add free-form text chapters between bidding sequences for notes and explanations.
- Type !C, !D, !H, or !S in any text field to insert suit symbols (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades).
- Undo and redo are available for all edits. The total bid count is displayed in the toolbar.
- Create variations to define different bidding trees based on seat position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) and vulnerability.
- When adding a bid, you can choose to insert an opponent bid instead - useful for documenting your agreements after interference.
- Share any system with other users by email. Choose between View (read-only) or Edit permissions.
- Shared systems appear in the recipient's file browser. Multiple users can edit simultaneously with real-time sync.
- Manage or revoke shares from the context menu at any time.
- Save snapshots of your system at any point. Each version is numbered and timestamped.
- View the full version history and restore any previous version.
- Useful for tracking changes over time or reverting experiments.
- Export any system or convention as a print-ready PDF: use the export icon in the builder header, or "Export PDF" in the item menu in My Files, Library, and Explore.
- The export includes a cover page, a table of contents with real page numbers, and every opening and chapter with its running page header. Bid notes print as footnotes, and you can choose the font size before exporting.
- Free accounts export a preview (the cover, the contents and the beginning of the file); Pro and Master export the complete document.
- Publish your systems to the Community tab so other users can discover and copy them.
- Browse community systems sorted by name, author, date, or popularity. Filter by tags like "Standard American", "Precision", "Acol", and more.
- Copying a community system creates a linked copy that tracks updates - you'll see a badge when the author publishes a new version.
- You can update to the latest version with one click, or make an editable copy to break the link and customize independently.
Turn any system into flashcards and practice them until the bids stick.
- Pick a deck, then practice one card at a time: read the auction, recall the meaning in your head, then reveal it.
- Grade each card "Knew it" or "Didn't know" - swipe on mobile, or use the buttons / arrow keys on desktop.
- Use "Never show again" to suspend a card you no longer want to see.
- Progress is saved automatically: leave a deck and resume exactly where you left off (synced across devices when you are signed in).
- New cards are available right away. Once you grade a card, when it next appears depends on how you did.
- Get it right ("Knew it") and it will not come back for 3 days.
- Miss it ("Didn't know") and it returns the next day, then daily until you finally get it right.
- Each session blends the cards due for review with new ones - about two reviews for every new card - so you reinforce what is slipping while still learning more.
- A deck is a saved slice of a system - by opening, seat, variation, or the whole thing - so you can focus your practice.
- Build decks from your own systems, a shared or imported system, or the community. Guests can try the bundled ACBL SAYC system.
- Practicing a full session each day builds a streak. A day counts once you have reviewed a session's worth of cards (20) on your local calendar day.
- The streak banner shows your current week plus your current and longest streaks - keep it alive by practicing every day.
- Free account practice is capped at 10 cards per day. When you reach the cap you can keep going - and complete daily streaks - with Master.
- Master removes the daily limit entirely, so you can practice as much as you like.
- Free account - Create and edit up to 500 nodes across all your systems. Browse and copy from the community.
- Pro - Removes the 500-node limit, plus sharing, version history, community publishing, linked copies, and 20 monthly credits.
- Master - Everything in Pro, plus unlimited daily Practice, practice streaks, and 55 monthly credits.
Create up to 1,000 random bridge deals in a single request, with optional constraints on any or all four players.
- The Deal Generator has two main tabs: Setup (configure hands) and Results (view generated deals).
- In Setup, select a player (North, East, South, or West) and choose an input mode - Cards or Constraints.
- Set the number of deals to generate (1-1,000) and click "Run Generation" when ready. Results appear in the Results tab where you can browse each deal and export them.
- Click individual cards from each suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) to assign them to the selected player's hand.
- Selected cards are highlighted. Click again to deselect. A counter shows how many cards you have selected out of 13.
- Cards assigned to one player are no longer available for other players.
Instead of picking exact cards, define rules that generated hands must satisfy. Constraints are organized in sets, each containing four tabs: Shapes, Suits, Honors, and HCP.
- A constraint set is a group of rules that a generated hand must satisfy.
- Create multiple sets per player using the "+ New Set" button. When multiple sets exist, a hand only needs to match one of them (OR logic).
- This lets you describe complex hand profiles - for example, Set 1: "balanced with 15-17 HCP" OR Set 2: "any shape with 20+ HCP".
- Each set can be renamed, duplicated, or deleted. The "Active Constraints" summary at the bottom shows your current rules at a glance.
Control the hand distribution shape. Contains four tools:
- Choose from hand distributions organized by category: Balanced (4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, 5-3-3-2), Semi-balanced (5-4-2-2, 6-3-2-2), Two-suited, Three-suited, and One-suited.
- Use the Allowed / Excluded toggle to control how selected shapes are applied.
- Allowed mode: only the selected shapes will appear in generated hands.
- Excluded mode: the selected shapes are filtered out; all other shapes are allowed.
- Set a minimum and maximum number of cards for each suit independently (e.g., 5-7 Spades, 0-2 Hearts).
- Each range can be toggled as Required (hands must satisfy it) or Excluded (hands matching it are filtered out).
- Click "Add" to activate the range. You can add multiple ranges to the same set.
- Useful when predefined shapes are too broad - for example, requiring exactly 5+ spades and 4+ hearts.
- Constrain the combined length of two or more suits together.
- Select the suits to include (e.g., Spades + Hearts for majors), then set a min and max total.
- Example: require that the two major suits total 8-10 cards.
- Compare the lengths of two suits using an operator and an offset.
- Select the first suit(s), an operator (=, ≥, ≤, >, <), the second suit(s), and an optional offset.
- Example: Spades ≥ Hearts + 2, meaning the hand must have at least 2 more spades than hearts.
Define card-level requirements and controls for slam analysis:
- Require that the hand holds a certain number of specific cards from a defined pool.
- Select one or more suits and one or more card ranks (A, K, Q, J, T, 9-2), then set a min and max count.
- Cards within the same suit use OR logic (hand needs any of those cards in that suit). Cards across different suits use AND logic.
- Example: require at least 2 of the top 3 spades (A, K, Q of Spades, min 2).
- Define first-round and second-round controls per suit - useful for slam-oriented hand generation.
- First Round Control: requires the Ace or a void in the selected suit.
- Second Round Control: requires the Ace, King, void, or singleton in the selected suit.
- Select one or more suits to apply each control type.
- Require specific honor cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) in each suit.
- Click the honor card buttons per suit to toggle them on or off. A counter shows how many honors are required (up to 5).
- Example: require the hand to hold the Ace and King of Spades and the Ace of Hearts.
- Set a minimum and maximum HCP range for the hand (0-37).
- Standard counting: Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1.
- Click "Confirm HCP" to apply the range to the constraint set.
- Combine with shape and suit constraints for precise hand types - for example, "balanced with 15-17 HCP".
The Simulator runs large-scale deal generation and double-dummy analysis to produce statistical insights. It follows a guided 5-step flow.
- Contract Simulation - Analyze how often each contract makes, average tricks taken, constraint distributions, and more across thousands of random deals.
- Lead Simulation - Evaluate all 13 possible opening leads for a specific contract. Find the best lead based on average tricks given to declarer.
Define hands for each player. You can mix Cards mode and Constraints mode across different players.
- Click individual cards from each suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) to assign them to the selected player's hand.
- Selected cards are highlighted. Click again to deselect. A counter shows how many cards you have selected out of 13.
- Cards assigned to one player are no longer available for other players.
Instead of picking exact cards, define rules that generated hands must satisfy. Constraints are organized in sets, each containing four tabs: Shapes, Suits, Honors, and HCP.
- A constraint set is a group of rules that a generated hand must satisfy.
- Create multiple sets per player using the "+ New Set" button. When multiple sets exist, a hand only needs to match one of them (OR logic).
- This lets you describe complex hand profiles - for example, Set 1: "balanced with 15-17 HCP" OR Set 2: "any shape with 20+ HCP".
- Each set can be renamed, duplicated, or deleted. The "Active Constraints" summary at the bottom shows your current rules at a glance.
Control the hand distribution shape. Contains four tools:
- Choose from hand distributions organized by category: Balanced (4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, 5-3-3-2), Semi-balanced (5-4-2-2, 6-3-2-2), Two-suited, Three-suited, and One-suited.
- Use the Allowed / Excluded toggle to control how selected shapes are applied.
- Allowed mode: only the selected shapes will appear in generated hands.
- Excluded mode: the selected shapes are filtered out; all other shapes are allowed.
- Set a minimum and maximum number of cards for each suit independently (e.g., 5-7 Spades, 0-2 Hearts).
- Each range can be toggled as Required (hands must satisfy it) or Excluded (hands matching it are filtered out).
- Click "Add" to activate the range. You can add multiple ranges to the same set.
- Useful when predefined shapes are too broad - for example, requiring exactly 5+ spades and 4+ hearts.
- Constrain the combined length of two or more suits together.
- Select the suits to include (e.g., Spades + Hearts for majors), then set a min and max total.
- Example: require that the two major suits total 8-10 cards.
- Compare the lengths of two suits using an operator and an offset.
- Select the first suit(s), an operator (=, ≥, ≤, >, <), the second suit(s), and an optional offset.
- Example: Spades ≥ Hearts + 2, meaning the hand must have at least 2 more spades than hearts.
Define card-level requirements and controls for slam analysis:
- Require that the hand holds a certain number of specific cards from a defined pool.
- Select one or more suits and one or more card ranks (A, K, Q, J, T, 9-2), then set a min and max count.
- Cards within the same suit use OR logic (hand needs any of those cards in that suit). Cards across different suits use AND logic.
- Example: require at least 2 of the top 3 spades (A, K, Q of Spades, min 2).
- Define first-round and second-round controls per suit - useful for slam-oriented hand generation.
- First Round Control: requires the Ace or a void in the selected suit.
- Second Round Control: requires the Ace, King, void, or singleton in the selected suit.
- Select one or more suits to apply each control type.
- Require specific honor cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) in each suit.
- Click the honor card buttons per suit to toggle them on or off. A counter shows how many honors are required (up to 5).
- Example: require the hand to hold the Ace and King of Spades and the Ace of Hearts.
- Set a minimum and maximum HCP range for the hand (0-37).
- Standard counting: Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1.
- Click "Confirm HCP" to apply the range to the constraint set.
- Combine with shape and suit constraints for precise hand types - for example, "balanced with 15-17 HCP".
- Pick the declarer: North, East, South, or West.
- Select up to 4 contracts from the full grid - all levels (1-7) across all five strains (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, No Trump).
- Choose the contract status: undoubled, doubled, or redoubled.
- Set the vulnerability for each side (Non-Vulnerable or Vulnerable).
- For Lead Simulation, the contract determines which opening leads are evaluated.
- Choose how many hands to simulate: 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000.
- Larger simulations produce more reliable statistics but cost more credits.
- Maximum duration is 10 minutes.
- Review detailed statistical output including distribution charts, probability tables, and double-dummy results.
- For Contract Simulation: see how often the contract makes, average tricks taken, and how constraints are distributed.
- For Lead Simulation: compare all 13 opening leads ranked by average tricks given to declarer.
Enter any bridge deal - by photo, voice, or by hand - then analyze it: play the cards out interactively and reveal the double-dummy result, the optimal number of tricks for every contract and declarer assuming perfect play.
- Upload a screenshot or photo of a hand diagram (JPG, PNG, JPEG). The AI detection works with hand diagrams only - it does not recognize real playing cards.
- The AI will detect and extract all four hands automatically.
- For best results: ensure the image is good quality, all four hands are visible, and the diagram is preferably centered in the picture.
- Describe the hands verbally using your microphone with standard bridge terminology.
- The voice recognition system parses your input into a complete deal.
- Useful for quickly entering deals without typing or clicking.
- Click cards from an interactive picker to build each player's hand.
- Select a player, then click cards suit by suit.
- This method gives you complete control over the deal.
- Once the deal is entered, you can play the hand interactively using the built-in double-dummy solver.
- Where the double-dummy result analyzes one fixed deal, Contract Success Rate tells you how often a contract makes across many possible layouts.
- Enter just your North and South hands (13 cards each) and pick the contract you want to test.
- BridgeTricks deals the remaining 26 cards 1,000 random ways for the opponents, plays each out double-dummy, and reports the percentage that make - along with the spread of tricks taken.
- Each run costs 1 credit. Open it from the Deal Analysis tools.
Credits are the currency for using BridgeTricks tools. Every new account gets 7 free credits. Credits never expire.
- Deal Generator - 1 credit per request (up to 1,000 deals).
- Simulation - 2 credits (1K deals), 4 credits (5K), 7 credits (10K), or 10 credits (20K).
- Deal Analysis - 2 credits for image upload or voice input; manual card entry is free.
- Small pack - 20 credits for €3.50.
- Medium pack - 55 credits for €8.50 - save 12%.
- Large pack - 120 credits for €17.50 - save 17%.
- Credits are added instantly after payment and never expire.
- Two plans unlock the full toolset: Pro and Master.
- Pro - Unlimited bidding-system nodes, partner sharing, version history, community publishing and linked copies, plus 20 credits refreshed each month for simulations and analysis.
- Master - Everything in Pro, plus unlimited Practice (spaced repetition with no daily limit) and a larger allowance of 55 monthly credits.
- Monthly plan credits refresh each month and do not roll over; any credits you buy separately sit on top and never expire.
- Plans are billed monthly or yearly. You can upgrade, switch, or cancel at any time from the Billing page.
General
BridgeTricks is an online platform for bridge players. It includes the Bidding Architect for building and sharing bidding systems, a Deal Generator, a Simulator for contract and lead simulations, and Double Dummy Analysis powered by AI card recognition.
It is designed for bridge players of all levels - from beginners analyzing hands with the double dummy solver to advanced players building complete bidding systems, studying hand distributions, and running simulations.
You can explore the platform and build bidding systems as a guest, but you need to sign up to run tools that consume credits. Creating an account gives you 7 starter credits and persistent storage for your bidding systems.
Bidding Architect
Yes! If you have system notes, we can convert them into a fully structured Bidding Architect system for you. Get in touch.
Yes. When adding a bid, you can choose to insert an opponent bid instead of your own. This lets you document your agreements after overcalls, doubles, and other interference.
Copy from... works only between the same content type: opening -> opening, sequence -> sequence, chapter -> chapter, variation -> variation.
With Pro or Master, you can share any system with other users by email. Choose View (read-only) or Edit permissions. Shared systems appear in the recipient's file browser. Recipients need Pro or Master to edit shared systems; otherwise they can view them in read-only mode. Multiple subscribed users can edit simultaneously with real-time sync.
System discussion is visible to everyone with access. The owner can always send messages. Recipients on shared systems need Pro or Master to send.
When you copy a system from the Community, you get a linked copy that tracks the original. When the author publishes a new version, you'll see an "Update available" badge and can update with one click. You can also break the link to customize independently.
Yes. Open a system and use the export icon in the header, or pick "Export PDF" from the item menu in My Files, Library, or Explore. You can include bid notes as footnotes and choose the font size. Free accounts export a preview (the cover, the contents and the beginning of the file); Pro and Master export the complete system or convention with real page numbers.
Yes. Guest users can create and edit systems locally in the browser. However, data is stored only on that device and limited to 500 nodes across all local systems. Sign in for persistent cloud storage and additional features.
A free account includes up to 500 nodes across all your systems. Pro and Master remove this limit so you can build systems of any size. Your existing data is preserved if your subscription ends - if your total goes over 500 nodes, editing becomes read-only until you resubscribe.
No. The Bidding Architect does not use credits. A free account has a 500-node limit across all your systems. Advanced features - unlimited nodes, sharing, version history, and community publishing - are available with Pro or Master.
Your systems and all your data are preserved - nothing is deleted. You keep full read access to everything. If your total exceeds 500 nodes, editing becomes read-only until you resubscribe. Shared systems remain accessible to collaborators in read-only mode. You can resubscribe at any time to restore full editing.
With Pro or Master, open any system and click the Share button. Enter your partner's email and choose View or Edit access. They'll see the system in their file browser. If both of you have Pro or Master, you can edit simultaneously with real-time sync.
Type !C for ♣, !D for ♦, !H for ♥, and !S for ♠. The shortcut works in any text field - bids, meanings, notes, sequence names, and changelogs. The symbol is inserted automatically as you type.
Yes. Press Shift+Enter to add a new line in a meaning field. Press Enter alone to save. This is useful for listing multiple hand types, e.g. a) weak with major on the first line and b) 23+ bal on the second.
When you grade a card it gets a due date. "Knew it" schedules it 3 days out; "Didn't know" brings it back the next day, then daily until you get it right. Each session shows the cards that are due first, mixing in new ones.
"Knew it" pushes the card 3 days out. "Didn't know" sets it to return the next day, then daily until you answer it correctly. "Never show again" suspends a card so it stops appearing.
Each session blends the cards due for review with new ones at about a 2-to-1 ratio - two reviews for every new card - spread through the session rather than all reviews first. Reviews lead because they are the bids you are about to forget; if either group runs out, the rest of the session continues with the other.
Up to 10 cards per day. After that you hit a gate - upgrade to Master for unlimited practice.
A day counts toward your streak once you have reviewed a full session (20 cards) that day, on your local calendar day. Practice every day to keep it going. Because free account practice is capped at 10 cards a day, completing streaks requires Master.
Yes. A deck remembers where you left off and resumes when you return - across devices when you are signed in.
Yes. Anyone can practice up to 10 cards a day, including guests on the bundled ACBL SAYC system. Master unlocks unlimited practice and daily streaks.
Credits & Pricing
Every new account starts with 7 free credits.
Deal generation costs 1 credit per request (up to 1,000 deals). Simulation costs vary by deal count: 2 credits for 1K deals, 4 for 5K, 7 for 10K, and 10 for 20K. Deal Analysis via image upload or voice input costs 2 credits; manual card entry is free.
Visit the Billing page from your dashboard or the credits button in the navigation bar. We offer several credit packs at different price points - larger packs provide better value per credit.
No. Credits remain in your account until you use them.
Since credits are a digital product consumed immediately, we generally do not offer refunds. If you experience a technical issue that caused credits to be lost, please contact our support team.
Deal Generator
Yes. The Deal Generator lets you export results so you can play them on different platforms or share them with your bridge partners.
See the Constraints mode section above for full details on each type.
A constraint set is a group of rules (shapes, suits, honors, HCP) that a hand must satisfy. You can create multiple sets per player to describe hands that fit different profiles - for example, "balanced with 15-17 HCP" OR "any shape with 20+ HCP". The generator will produce deals matching any of the defined sets.
This usually means the constraints you set are too restrictive and no valid deal can be found. Try relaxing one or more constraints and regenerate.
Simulator
Contract Simulation analyzes how often a contract makes across thousands of random deals matching your constraints, showing success rates, average tricks, and statistical distributions. Lead Simulation evaluates all 13 possible opening leads for a specific contract and finds the best lead based on average tricks given to declarer.
See step 2 above for full details on each type.
You can choose between 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 hands. Larger simulations produce more reliable statistics but cost more credits.
Deal Analysis
The AI model is highly accurate with clear hand diagrams. For best results, use a good quality image with all four hands visible and the diagram centered. Note that the detection works with hand diagrams only, not real playing cards.
Make sure you are uploading a hand diagram, not a photo of real cards. Ensure the image is good quality with all four hands visible and the diagram centered. You can also switch to manual input to enter the deal by hand.
Once the deal is entered, you can play the hand interactively using the built-in DD solver. Toggle the DD table to see the maximum number of tricks for each makable contract, assuming perfect play by all four players.
Account
Click "Forgot password" on the login page and enter your email. You will receive a link to set a new password.
Yes. We only store the minimum data needed to operate your account. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
You can request account deletion from your Dashboard settings. This will permanently remove your account and all associated data.
Credits are added once the payment is confirmed. If your balance has not updated after a few minutes, try refreshing the page. If the issue persists, contact support.
Help us improve
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