EarlPurple

Yes he should lead a heart but West didn't make a lightner double.

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=ZZ%7C%7Cpn%7CEarlPurple%2CRobot%2CRobot%2CRobot%7Cst%7C%7Cmd%7C1S8HK982DA5CA96532%2CSQJT75HDK8763CKJ7%2CSK2HQJ65DQJT9CQT4%2CSA9643HAT743D42C8%7Csv%7CB%7Cah%7CBoard%207%7Cmb%7C1C%7Can%7CMinor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20%21C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C1S%7Can%7COne-level%20overcall%20--%205%2B%20%21S%3B%208-17%20HCP%3B%209-19%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7CNegative%20double%20--%204%2B%20%21H%3B%205%2B%20HCP%3B%206%2B%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C4S%7Can%7CUnbalanced%20--%205%2B%20%21S%3B%206-12%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C5H%7Can%7C3%2B%20%21C%3B%204%2B%20%21H%3B%2018-21%20HCP%3B%2019-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CDK%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CCK%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CHK%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CHT%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CCJ%7Cpc%7CCQ%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CC6%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CC9%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CCA%7C]400|300[/hv] From yesterday's "daylong" in which I did well, and this hand was just about an average score, as some managed to get out for 4 off but those who defended 4 spades obviously got a bad score. Funny how as my opponents the opponents manage to get to 4 spades - I can never get my partner to sufficiently support my suits - and a rather horrible 5-0 trump break but why didn't they double 5 hearts?

At MP I can take a bad score, at IMPs in a short tournament one disaster and you may as well quit. Had one in a daylong when my partner left them in 4 spades doubled making 790. Could have pulled it to 5 diamonds non-vulnerable which would have been 1 off. I was supposed to just guess partner had diamonds? I doubled for take-out and partner left it in.

GIB is trying to prove that it is better than me, so my bot partner is on the side of the bots. GIB is very good at competing part-scores when it's my opponent, but as my partner will always punish me for trying to do so. Twice I have rage-quit a bot tournament because it bid on when I had set the contract. Let me gag partner please. Then I can enjoy my bridge a bit more.

GIB seems to get a lot of 9-card suits. With me though it only passes with them when it's my partner. As opponent it makes a wild but good pre-empt leaving me to have to make a wild guess as to what to do.

It's a glitch pulling 3NT at all. If they bid it it's because they think it's the best contract. The opponents doubling it is no reason to pull it. It's also cold if they dare to take the winning spade finesse.

4♥ cold and a better contract? At least you partner showed you his heart suit. Mine would usually pass and make me guess what he has.

So my bot partner suppressed a 9-card suit. I'm not sure I've ever been dealt a 9-card suit but if I did I'm sure I'd have mentioned it somewhere in the bidding, particularly if I had a chance to do so at the 2-level. On the actual bidding I'd just bid 5 diamonds as North first time around.

Yes you might want 4NT to play, always difficult when opponent pre-empts but after a limit bid and a transfer that doesn't show any specific strength I'm highly unlikely to launch into Blackwood. You seemed to do well to end up defending. Your opponent robot managed to find a good pre-empt on an 8 card suit, unlike my partner robots who always seem to suppress their suits. I ended up in a 3-3 fit when I guessed partner had long clubs, but he still should have corrected me back to my suit.

When they're against me they bid their hands. Well it seems like they do anyway. As my partner, yesterday in a match on the first hand I bid 1C then 3C after the opponents have bid, partner silent, I had 6 clubs to the ace-king. Idiot opposite decides to come in with 3 spades on 5 to the ace and nothing else, 2 card support. Opposite my singleton I am in 3 spades and withdraw from the tournament in disgust. Today in a daylong I get 3% for going 3 down in 4 hearts in a 6-1 fit after my RHO opens 1C, I am 1-6-1-5 and after bidding 1H I get 1S on my left, partner silent of course, 3S by East and I bid 4H - partner must have a fit with me surely?? No he is 2-1-9-1. Yes, he's supressed a 9-card diamond suit - yes missing ace and king but NINE of them. Not enough even for 2D? I mean, really! 5 diamonds cold of course, but after I ruff my 2nd club in dummy and come to hand with ace of spades and ruff (yeah, bad), I play trumps from the top, with AQ109xx. Had I played Ace then low I'd have dropped the king doubleton but I then lose control of the hand. Had I picked up the jack in 2 rounds or they'd been 3-3 I'd have made. [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=st%7C%7Cmd%7C4S9HAQT987D4CAKJ98%2CSKT6543HJ542DC652%2CSAJH3DQJT876532C3%2CSQ872HK6DAK9CQT74%7Csv%7CE%7Cah%7CBoard%206%7Cmb%7C1C%7Can%7CMinor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20%21C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C1H%7Can%7COne-level%20overcall%20--%205%2B%20%21H%3B%208-17%20HCP%3B%209-19%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C1S%7Can%7CFree%20bid%20--%205%2B%20%21S%3B%206%2B%20total%20points%3B%20forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C2S%7Can%7CSimple%20raise%20--%203%2B%20%21C%3B%203-4%20%21S%3B%2011%2B%20HCP%3B%2012-15%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C4H%7Can%7C17%20HCP%3B%20twice%20rebiddable%20%21H%3B%2019%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CCJ%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cpc%7CC6%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CHK%7Cpc%7CDK%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CHT%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CC9%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CCQ%7Cpc%7CCK%7C]400|300[/hv]

Only because West also ducked the first trump on the lower one and not on the upper one (my table). If declarer has the jack trebleton, partner can ruff the 3rd round. If jack doubleton you want to play the king. So King seems obvious in both cases.

My table: [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=st%7C%7Cmd%7C4SK9543HJ42D86CAKQ%2CSA87HA7DQJ752C962%2CSQJT62HQ963DC8743%2CSHKT85DAKT943CJT5%7Csv%7CN%7Cah%7CBoard%202%7Cmb%7C1d%7Can%7CMinor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20%21D%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C1s%7Can%7COne-level%20overcall%20--%205%2B%20%21S%3B%208-17%20HCP%3B%209-19%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C2s%7Can%7CCue%3A%20limit%20raise%20or%20better%20--%204%2B%20%21D%3B%2011%2B%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7C3%2B%20%21S%3B%207-9%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C3h%7Can%7C4%20%21D%3B%204%2B%20%21H%3B%2021-%20HCP%3B%2014-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7C3n%7Can%7C4%2B%20%21D%3B%204-%20%21H%3B%204-%20%21S%3B%2013-20%20HCP%3B%20stop%20in%20%21S%7Cmb%7C4s%7Can%7C3%2B%20%21S%3B%207-9%20total%20points%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7C4%2B%20%21D%3B%204-%20%21H%3B%204-%20%21S%3B%2013-20%20HCP%3B%20stop%20in%20%21S%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CHK%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CC9%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CCQ%7Cmc%7C9%7C]600|450[/hv] Another table where the contract made: [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=pn%7CSouth%2CRobot%2CRobot%2CRobot%7Cst%7C%7Cmd%7C4SK9543HJ42D86CAKQ%2CSA87HA7DQJ752C962%2CSQJT62HQ963DC8743%2CSHKT85DAKT943CJT5%7Csv%7CN%7Cah%7CBoard%202%7Cmb%7C1d%7Can%7CMinor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20%21D%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C1s%7Can%7COne-level%20overcall%20--%205%2B%20%21S%3B%208-17%20HCP%3B%209-19%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C2s%7Can%7CCue%3A%20limit%20raise%20or%20better%20--%204%2B%20%21D%3B%2011%2B%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7C3%2B%20%21S%3B%207-9%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C3h%7Can%7C4%20%21D%3B%204%2B%20%21H%3B%2021-%20HCP%3B%2014-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7C3n%7Can%7C4%2B%20%21D%3B%204-%20%21H%3B%204-%20%21S%3B%2013-20%20HCP%3B%20stop%20in%20%21S%7Cmb%7C4s%7Can%7C3%2B%20%21S%3B%207-9%20total%20points%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7C4%2B%20%21D%3B%204-%20%21H%3B%204-%20%21S%3B%2013-20%20HCP%3B%20stop%20in%20%21S%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cmb%7Cp%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CHT%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CC6%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CC9%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CCK%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CCJ%7Cpc%7CCQ%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CDK%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cpc%7CHK%7C]600|450[/hv] First it's rather unfair that we don't all play the same hands. Some hands are just totally flat. Secondly, it's unfair if you have to pick a random sequence to make the bot mess up the defence. So we all played in 4 spades doubled and when my LHO got in with the ace of spades he played ace of hearts, heart to the king and got a ruff. Absolutely nothing you can do about it, except pick a random sequence so East ducks the second heart instead of going up with the king to give his partner a ruff. I pulled out in disgust 2 hands later after more nonsense but primarily because I was playing from my phone and my finger accidentally touched the screen and it played a card I had no intention of playing. I want to be able to pull the cards in to play them not just touch them.

Oh I see on the handviewing I just have to use the hv tag and put in the whole URL. I don't need to use any Excel converter. Does it work if you insert it as media?

Clearly needs improvement then. At that situation there are so few tricks left it is possible for GIB to calculate on all the possible holdings, and none of them will favour the diamond discard, some will break even, and in the case of the actual hand held, will show GIB must discard the spade. Presumably we are posting these as a constructive way of getting the developers to improve GIB.

[hv=lin==y&lin=st||md|1SK9HKQ4DA4CKJ9842%2CSAQT62HJ972DK965C%2CSJ3HA865DQJT8CAT7%2CS8754HT3D732CQ653|sv|B|ah|Board%207|mb|1C|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20!C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|D|an|Takeout%20double%20--%202-%20!C%3B%203-5%20!D%3B%203-4%20!H%3B%203-4%20!S%3B%2012%2B%20total%20points|mb|R|an|4-%20!C%3B%2010%2B%20HCP%3B%20opponents%20cannot%20play%20undoubled%20below%202N|mb|1S|an|Length%20--%204%2B%20!S|mb|3N|an|3%2B%20!C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|S6|pc|S3|pc|S4|pc|S9|pc|C2|pc|D9|pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|CT|pc|C5|pc|C4|pc|D5|pc|C7|pc|C3|pc|C8|pc|ST|pc|CK|pc|SQ|pc|D8|pc|CQ|pc|CJ|pc|H9|pc|DT|pc|D2|pc|C9|pc|H2|pc|DJ|pc|S7|pc|HK|pc|H7|pc|H5|pc|H3|pc|HQ|pc|HJ|pc|H6|pc|HT|pc|H4|pc|S2|pc|HA|pc|S8|pc|H8|pc|D3|pc|SK|pc|D6|pc|DQ|pc|D7|pc|DA|pc|DK|pc|D4|pc|SA|pc|SJ|pc|S5|]400|300|[/hv] The Lin posting tool isn't working for me so it's here: https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=st||md|1SK9HKQ4DA4CKJ9842%2CSAQT62HJ972DK965C%2CSJ3HA865DQJT8CAT7%2CS8754HT3D732CQ653|sv|B|ah|Board%207|mb|1C|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20!C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|D|an|Takeout%20double%20--%202-%20!C%3B%203-5%20!D%3B%203-4%20!H%3B%203-4%20!S%3B%2012%2B%20total%20points|mb|R|an|4-%20!C%3B%2010%2B%20HCP%3B%20opponents%20cannot%20play%20undoubled%20below%202N|mb|1S|an|Length%20--%204%2B%20!S|mb|3N|an|3%2B%20!C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|S6|pc|S3|pc|S4|pc|S9|pc|C2|pc|D9|pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|CT|pc|C5|pc|C4|pc|D5|pc|C7|pc|C3|pc|C8|pc|ST|pc|CK|pc|SQ|pc|D8|pc|CQ|pc|CJ|pc|H9|pc|DT|pc|D2|pc|C9|pc|H2|pc|DJ|pc|S7|pc|HK|pc|H7|pc|H5|pc|H3|pc|HQ|pc|HJ|pc|H6|pc|HT|pc|H4|pc|S2|pc|HA|pc|S8|pc|H8|pc|D3|pc|SK|pc|D6|pc|DQ|pc|D7|pc|DA|pc|DK|pc|D4|pc|SA|pc|SJ|pc|S5| Ok, so having a look at how a couple of players managed MASSIVE percentages in the Daylongs (do they have several accounts so they have already seen all the boards?). In any case I came across that one where a player made 3NT+4 for a huge score and had a look at the play. It looks clear to me that West who is getting squeezed in 3 suits on the run of clubs will have to yield a trick in hearts but at the end you need to play the final card from dummy (ace of hearts) and so North has to go down to a single diamond which means he'll have to overtake the queen with the ace and partner can hold the suit. Ok, that may be tricky for an average human in the East position who doesn't realise the value of the 7 of diamonds but we're talking about a robot here who is not expected to miscount things, and should be able to work out that the spades in hand are useless and covered by partner but he'll be squeezed if you don't guard the diamonds.

I'm the one who, sometime around 1994-95, wrote an article on Losing Trick Count which was published somewhere on the internet. I may still have it. It was intended mostly for beginners+ and intermediates, those who continually miss game contracts or don't compete enough with big trump fits. And there are many who over-compete of course. After giving what I called the "raw" losing trick count, I put in various adjustments, which end up almost as sixths of a trick, and said it should be used as guidance, together with the law of total tricks and point count, and that establishing how side-suits fit with partner is an important part in decision making too. When you open 1 of a minor and partner bids 1 of a major for which you have 4 card support, how far do you raise? And if partner opens one of a minor, you bid one of a major and partner raises to 3 of your major invitational, do you bid game or not?

If declarer had a diamond more, then if he had a spade less, his partner would have 7 of them, and if a heart less, his partner would have 4 of them. Partner made a weak butt-in - he'd never do that with 7 spades (would bid 3 instead of 2) or with a 4-card major, or maybe just wouldn't lead J from JTxx? So partner has exactly 6 spades and no more than 2 hearts, and it's safe to duck?

One of the things I find most difficult with GIB is simply competing part-scores. GIB either punishes you by bidding too many, or simply fails to show you its hand, e.g. it has a long holding in a suit it doesn't tell you about. So not sure how to export a hand here https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=st%7C%7Cmd%7C3S853HAK2DKJTCJ954%2CSAT62HQJ964D9CT83%2CS94HT875DA8765CAQ%2CSKQJ7H3DQ432CK762%7Csv%7CN%7Cah%7CBoard%205%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C1C%7Can%7CMinor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20%21C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C1H%7Can%7COne%20over%20one%20--%204%2B%20%21H%3B%2011-%20HCP%3B%206-12%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7CTwo%20suit%20takeout%20--%205-%20%21C%3B%204%2B%20%21D%3B%205-%20%21H%3B%204%2B%20%21S%3B%2011-%20HCP%3B%2012%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CR%21%7Can%7CSupport%20redouble%20-%203%20H%20--%203%2B%20%21C%3B%203%20%21H%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7C1S%7Can%7C4%2B%20%21S%3B%2010-%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CD%7Can%7C3%2B%20%21C%3B%203%20%21H%3B%202%2B%20%21S%3B%2021-%20HCP%3B%2015-22%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C3H%7Can%7C5%2B%20%21H%3B%208%2B%20HCP%3B%208-%20total%20points%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CCQ%7Cpc%7CCK%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CHK%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CCJ%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CC9%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CC6%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CHT%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CDK%7C well it didn't embed it but it gives the link to the bidding. (Any chance of making this easier or at least explaining what to do?) Interesting the opponents have no problems "competing" and finding a spade fit, but let's go through the auction. Firstly 1♥ is the probably the wrong bid, north should just bid his longest suit. There is a danger that partner will bid 1NT but even if you've missed a 4-4 heart fit it won't necessarily be a disaster. As it is after Dbl, support Redouble 1♠, if 1♥ can be canape then it's obvious that 2♦ at this point must show the hand perfectly and you get to either play in 2 or 3♦ or push the opponents to a higher level in spades. If not right away, when partner re-opens with a double you know partner has 3 card heart support so what is the 3♥ nonsense? You don't need to bid to the 3 level nor fail to show partner your diamonds. Of course trumps break 5-1 (when I end up in 4-3 fit they pretty much always do) and GIB's double-dummy analysis shows you can get out for 2 off but even that would be a disaster at MP, vulnerable in a part-score hand. Most who ended up in 3♥ went 3 off and some 4 off.

As the cards lie you get away with ducking as you need at least one spade ruff so you can't draw all the trumps and get back to dummy to enjoy the diamonds. If however declarer had one diamond more and one heart or spade fewer then 7♣ makes easily with the duck - win the ♥Q, ace of spades, ruff a spade, draw trumps, cash the other top spade then play the diamonds. Unless East can see all the cards then obviously against 7 you go up with the ace.

when opponent (usually robot) leads and I have the rest it won't let me just claim.

Iv'e worked out that on the whole it doesn't really matter what system you play. As long as my partner: - Plays the cards reasonable competently, and that includes defence. - Has a reasonable understanding of competitive auctions, showing their suit with shape (regardless of points), supporting with support - And in particular, does not punish me for competing part-scores by raising my suit until they double. - nor do they unanimously continue bidding up their own suit having already shown their hand rather than letting their partner decide whether to defend, possibly doubled, or compete on.

Firstly, when I unclicked the "best hand" option that didn't mean I wanted the worst hand. I did click matchpoints but still I wasn't enjoying playing it, and when I was dealt a 5-count, partner opened then doubled presumably to show an above-average hand, but then when I doubled their 3 Spades decided to bid 4 Hearts alone, I decided I'd had enough. I have no idea what partner had, but there's no such hand that fits the bidding. If he had a massive heart suit he should rebid it from the start, so my double has to be penalties based on maximum and defensive values for their bid, combined my with knowledge of partner's earlier double showing an above average hand. Anyway, I don't wish to play this challenge anymore. Let me just cancel it. By the way, I have found the bots biggest fault is also raising me unnecessarily to game when I support their suit in competing a part-score. Happened yesterday - partner made a negative double showing 4 spades and I bid 3 spades competitively and the bot partner went on to 4, which went 1-off. The other table was passed out so it was a loss on the board - yes the robots won because the robot f**ked up. Whose side is my partner on?

Probably players enjoy declaring, but that's when you think of defending as simply playing out cards following suit with declarer in control. Good defence is a skill, and as I guess the events would be match-points you wouldn't necessarily be trying to beat the contract. There may be some hands where you and partner have the balance of the cards and are defending something like 3 spades doubled. And I think everyone enjoys taking a contract 800 down, not that that would happen even hand, but it may on occasion.

You can't partner yourself or it would be double-dummy. So yes, it would have to be with a robot.

You have daylong just declare tournaments (with Robots) but how about a Just Defend? I quite enjoy defending.