BBO Trainer - Bridge Practice

BBO has a quirky but usable interface, however, BBO Trainer doesn’t use the BBO interface! Instead, it appears to have ripped off the worst aspects of FunBridge. I am constantly mis-tapping cards to play (not only is there no “confirm” option like on BBO, but the cards pop up and down, sometimes apparently on their own, it’s both confusing and annoying), it’s very hard to select the intended suit if it’s doubleton, or singleton and you are on lead, and, when bidding, the bids are 2/3 obscured on an iPad (on the iPhone at least the whole bid is shown). Also, the app tries to make a big deal about streaks, but it’s unclear what the timeframe is for completing the 8 boards to keep the streak going. I have played the 8 boards every day for the past 6 weeks, usually in the morning, sometimes in the evening, and my highest streak is 12 days, despite the fact that I’ve always finished the 8th board well before midnight every day. Another stupidly is the analysis it gives, I get advice like “at trick 1, you played the heart K, which seemed like a good choice in this situation. However, you could have take 1 extra trick if you had played one of these cards: heart K, heart Q …” listing all 13 cards in my hand. What kind of advice is that, listing the card I lead as a better alternative to the card I lead… also, it wants me to be psychic and drop singleton offside kings instead of finessing. Yes, sometimes the advice is good, for example, pointing out that I could have lead a known looser to endplay a defender, but because that analysis is double dummy, it isn’t always clear if it’s actually good advice, or just taking advantage of a lucky lie of the cards (like when it advises to play the A to drop a singleton K offside). Rant over! I want to like this app, I really do, it has so much potential, but all the small annoyances frustrate me so much that I’m deleting it as soon as I post this review. I will reinstall it if they just fix the problems with selecting cards to play, and hopefully they address the myriad other annoyances.

Having pointed a and length isn’t everything

It’s pretty expensive for what is being offered, with only a handful convention card options. Worst of all, even with the upgraded interface, it is very easy to misclick the card (especially with its funky feature that the suit’s cards just jump up moving whatever card under your fingertip where you are clicking). And there is NO UNDO BUTTON for misclicks that the user is actively set up for?? On a training program in training mode??! … that will score you over may dozens of deals, so you can watch the effects of the UI failure for weeks to come as your score?? And you should pay for that three times of BBO’s cost? Come on! Update: DOWNGRADE TO 1 STAR. Even when it works, it does not: the bot is pathetic, you can’t play with it seriously. I jump to 4S as sign off (according to its own bid interpretation) and it goes to Blackwood and bids slam: with some bravado play I manage to make 4. Next deal: my “partner” opens 1D (X) 2D (3C). I double closing the auction with 5 clubs, clearly for penalty. My “partner” has the AQ of clubs and he bids 3H with a weak 4 card suit??!There is no way in hell my double could be takeout after we found a suit and I clearly denied 4 card majors (and RHO doubled a minor for takeout). (Could not really be constructive either, but even if that, bidding hearts above our suit both vulnerable??) This cost another 1000 points after the previous debacle. I mean if a bot is programmed that all doubles below whatever are takeout no matter what, then please do not charge any money for that. There are plenty other bridge apps out there for free that do a better job.