iandayre

I don't follow this, Kokish is played over a strong artificial 2C opening bid, not 2NT.

At least we have to give GIB N credit for pulling the double to 4S.

The robots seem to do better fielding partner's bidding(assuming it's sensible) with 2 long suits than they do when they hold the long suits. See hands 2 and 3. 4H opener is poor and I agree, robot bidding on hand 5 is also poor. Note that on #3, despite what CC says, the robot did well when human rebid 5D, not so much when 5H.

Do yourself a favor Lycier and pay attention to what Stephen is saying, he is 100% correct.

It has been 9 months or so since Fred Gitelman's comments here about BBO's efforts to improve GIB. He was extremely adamant that it was a high priority. I have been mostly quiet in terms of criticizing BBO's efforts since, as I thought it was fair to see what happened over time. Perhaps a group of you should send him a copy of his own message, and tell him your opinion of BBO's progress since that time. Vampyr may be correct though. In addition to his points, since ACBL has subsequently agreed to make BBO and GIB the exclusive provider of masterpoints for competition against robots, there may be little incentive for BBO to improve the robots' performance.

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I agree with your modification, but it does not seem right to me ever to pass. Give S the much more normal hand with stiff S and KQxx of H, or even xx of S and KQx of H and both contracts roll unless N leads DK and another. Even then 5H making is better.

Your best post in months Lycier. Makes very valid points without posting 10 different hands and writing a small book.

Not the worst, since we've all seen it before. Some time ago, BBO made a change to get GIB to cash an Ace against a grand slam in NT. They neglected to have it cash an AK against a small slam, and that remains uncorrected.

I think you are right about 2D, although most would agree that 2NT is the better action. I never liked the somewhat dated approach that 4SF was only a one-round force, but it would have been perfect here.

And the perfect contract was reached. Agree 4NT should have been RKC for S.

The description of your 4C correctly stated it showed only 2 spades. Given that it knew that and bid 4S anyway, I think it is reasonable that GIB would not expect you to bid again.

Double is automatic with this hand. And yes, if partner bids 2H you should continue with 2S. If you want a real problem, exchange the small H for a small S.

Agree it should be forcing. But if you look at the description, it is 11+, no mention of forcing. In other areas this description indicates that the bid can be passed. Of course it is a very poor description since "11+" includes 15, 20 or more. It it is going to be NF it should at least indicate a maximum range of something like 12. But this reverse is clearly a forcing bid in standard, 2/1 or any system I know of.

Well, bidding aside, the point of the hand is the vagaries of GIB's declarer play. About half the field subsided after the 1S overcall. GIB won the SA and bizarrely cashed the HA, throwing the K under it! This seemingly no-win play created a trump loser for GIB. It then took the D finesse but was unable to return to its hand to repeat it. We took our trump trick and 4 black suit winners for -2. Those who bid again over 2H with the S hand, whether with a double, 2C bid or whatever, also led the SK. GIB won, took the D finesse, cashed 4 rounds of H beginning with the K, and repeated the D finesse for 2 overtricks. A normal and successful line of play. Why GIB chose the actual one when the only competition was a 1S overcall is anyone's guess.

Playing with GIB I like a SJS. GIB tends to be aggressive in the slam zone. If you next rebid 3NT you are not too likely to miss slam if GIB passes.

It often appears that GIB trusts its partner's bidding, and also completely trusts the opponents bidding. But it cannot reason that if both were true, there would be 60 points in the deck. An example, I made a very sound 3H overcall of a 2S opener on my right. My LHO doubled for penalty, two down. Those who overbid with 4H with my hand escaped the double! Down three but a much better score. This happens quite often.

http://tinyurl.com/zq6ju5b At all tables the bidding began, 1H - 1S - P - P - 2H. Do you continue? Vul. vs Not, ACBL Robot Duplicate MP's. As it happens your answer will not affect the final contract, but it will certainly affect GIB's declarer play, as I'll show after a few replies. Answer the bidding question before watching the play for a fair problem.

I agree that this hand should have been bid to a grand slam. I have posted a few hands in the past where GIB could count 13 certain tricks in NT after the 5NT response, but failed to bid the grand. Now that I think about it, I have never seen GIB bid 5NT, receive a favorable response, and go on to the 7 level. It appears that the programmers have made GIB's 5NT call a pointless exercise of telling the opponents what our side has, without ever using that information for our benefit. Can anyone remember, and preferably post, a hand where GIB bid a grand slam after having bid 5NT?

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I have no idea what this "3344" convention may be, but 3 card raises with a side singleton is a very widely accepted approach. The only problem on this hand is GIB's failure to pass 3NT.

I'd have to know who my partner is. I agree that I have something extra for my bidding and that I'd like to bid 3NT. Perhaps the vul opps are fooling aroung with nothing, but I believe at a minimum that the minors are not breaking. Form of scoring was not given, so at IMPS I will just have to bid 3NT. If I know that partner would not open 1NT with the 4225 16, I'll try it at MP too. Otherwise 3D, never pass. I don't understand the questions about WJS available. This had too good for that action, if played. Which I don't.

The description of 3D is essentially, if not exactly, the same as of the original 1NT opening bid. This is the BBO equivalent of telling us that the bid does not exist. But of course, here it should, and does. It must be redefined to show D support and deny interest in game after GIB's original pass of 1NT. Edit: Not sure why I replied directly to BB. No criticism implied.

The funny thing is, had GIB responded 1NT and partner rebid 2H, there is no way it would have passed. I expect it would have bid 4, but certainly at least 3.