In this series, we are analyzing 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.

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

 
75% -- a number that might have been guessed.  The non-opening side plays 25% of the hands.

Some more trivia (or is it minutia?):

The non-opening side played in a grand slam (keep in mind, it could have been a sacrifice) on only 471 of 1,000,000 deal (note that 10,000 would be 1%, so this is a really low percentage, as expected).  Of those grand slams, 26 were a contract of 7NT for the non-openers side. Contrast that to 1,350 contract of 7NT reached by the opener's side.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Opener's Side played it in 1 (that would be 1-Pass-Pass-Pass, in case you are having a bad-brain day) on only 1,997 of 1,000,000 deals -- a fifth of a percent.  In case you are really having a bad-brain day, I will tell you that the non-opener's side played in 1 zero times--of course.  They did play in 1  (That would be a 1 opening and then the other side buys it in 1) on only 237 out of a million -- a rare occurrence indeed.

What was the most popular contract by each side?

For opener's side, 3NT (as we've already seen in this series), on 165,240 -- or 16.5% of all deals

For non-opener's side, 4 on 31,910 -- or 3.2 % of all deals.

 

Next month -- What is the most likely division of the 13 tricks taken on a deal?