AI and cognitive psychology rant (getting more and more OT - tell me if I should shut up)

[Andrew Dalke]

Alex:
> So, imperfect shuffling is not simulated in any computer dealer or
analysis
> program that I know of

Since most bridge playing is not in tournament play or other places which
use randomize shuffles, wouldn't people who want an edge in "friendly"
play like ways to maximize the odds of winning?

That link I mentioned,
 http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/course/topics/winning_number.html
suggests that doing so is strongly frowned upon

] He said a bridge club in New York
] State once consulted him, as a magician, to find out whether several
players
] were cheating. After watching play ''and doing a little thinking in
between,''
] Dr. Diaconis knew what was going on. These players had figured out that
the
] cards were not being randomly shuffled, and that they could predict the
] distributions of cards by knowing what the deck looked like at the end of
the
] previous hand.

Perhaps there's underground literature describing how to take
advantage of this?  :)

                    Andrew
                    dalke at dalkescientific.com