pilowsky

That's exactly what I was thinking - but the mind of a robot is a strange place indeed. Full of mystery. Who knows what my robot was 'thinking' this time? I just put my coin in the slot and hope for the best.

They must be playing one of those system things I've heard about...

It's true, 6♦ is the only makeable slam. Here's the solved hand. I think I was a bit 'psyched' after board 5, and really wanted to get back into the game. I didn't really see it as a SJS. The 3♣ was "invitational. 3♥ was just further describing my hand as 6+♣;3-♦;3♥;3-♠;11-HCP♣Q; 11+ total points partial st". (Not sure what I have a 'partial st' in - I think it ran out of space). At no time did GIB think I had more than 13+ total points. I do agree with the concept of misbidding as a robot bamboozlement technique though.

It was a gotcha redouble. I was playing against robots - they rarely come to my rescue, although sometimes their play can be a source of amusement.

Board 4: 2NTEx+5 1690 -14.0 IMPs: I double (alerted as 'takeout") and my partner in a dubious display of devilish duplicity, ignores me. Was he working on a helpdesk at the time? Who knows? Board 5: 6NTS= 1440 +13.9 IMP's. With a stroke of luck, I recover. According to GIB this contract is doomed big-time. It looks OK to me. Any thoughts? Here's board 5: ♠10 is led[hv=pc=n&s=sahaj85d3caj65432&w=sqt98763h62da6ck7&n=sk5hqt3dkqjt982c8&e=sj42hk974d754cqt9&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1dp3cp3dp3hp4dp4np5dp6nppp]399|300[/hv]

When it makes no difference? When it isn't you? In space when nobody can hear you scream? Who really cares anymore? Fortunately, I'm in an IMP's tournament, so being in a ♥ contract instead of NT didn't make much difference. Neither does the 4th down lead by the East robot! Here's the link North ignores my pleas and bids 4♥ even after I tell him I haven't got any. Then East leads the ♣3[hv=pc=n&s=sk9hq8dkjt94ckq75&w=s8643ht63da753c84&n=sajhakj942d86cj92&e=sqt752h75dq2cat63&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1hp1np2c(NMF)p2dp4hppp]399|300[/hv]

I hear that term "Good Bridge" a lot. To me only the score is important. What is good Bridge to you?

ty - you made my day

I could not agree more about the semantic stuff, but I find that playing with Bots is giving me a much deeper understanding of how Bridge works mechanistically. In Chapter 1 of his book on Precision in 1972, Reese discusses the difference between the two types of bidding systems. The first, he calls approach-forcing - into this group come SAYC, Acol and 2/1. These systems are preemptive by nature, they announce to the table their holding with a thump. Nobody is in much doubt about what is in the opener or overcallers hand at the first bid. The problem is that most of the opening bids in these systems have an extremely wide range. Partner doesn't know where they stand. Precision sought to remedy this by closing the gap on just about every bid except 1♣. What I have learned playing with robots is that they really seem to like (or at least it seems that way to me) to know what HCP range I have on my opening bid. If only my estimates of shape and my card play were up to snuff things would work out much better. I must say, given that one is allowed to open '1♣ alerted as >16 HCP nothing to do with ♣' it really does seem weird to me that the some RA's get tetchy about opening 1NT without a specific handshape. I'm aware that this one has been argued about endlessly here and elsewhere, but there seems to be a clear inconsistency. To say nothing of the infamous forcing pass.

Well, 'cold' is a strong word coming from the abominable snowman of the internet, but if you're saying that I cluelessly pulled off a squeeze without noticing, I'll take it. Any kindness in a snowstorm...

And then look at what the robots did next.

Please tell me that you didn't really think that I was suggesting that people should NEVER double at IMPS EVER... 1 (yes even me) that - but not the North robot sadly that there is a time and a place for doubling at IMPs - this board was not it. Thanks, Mr North robot. I manage to escape with a nice positive score overall - others were not so lucky. This literary device is called "exaggeration for comic effect' it is quite widely used, along with irony, by non-software engineers, non-IT professionals and other people that don't play Bridge for a living in the English-speaking world outside America. I know, it's a tough one to get your head around. A bit like a squeeze is for me. I'll keep trying though I'm sure we'll get there before I die of literary exhaustion. Oy gevalt. 1The bridge in the video is close to the Hunters Hill Bridge Club.

Well, to be fair, he says something of the sort. Here's what he says about IMP's: Don't double unless you are very certain, particularly if doubling a partscore into game Compared with his advice for Matchpoints where he says: Double aggressively, particularly if they are vulnerable. It sure sounds like different advice to me Stephen. sort of .

It was Ron Karr from Palo Alto. To be fair, I've never met Ron but I have met Warren and Pauline from the example in his pamphlet. Both charming people. Of course, I also sometimes double at IMP's - in this example I even redoubled - I was going to give the robots a spanking. Typically, I copped a beating instead. I'll get my own back in a minute.

Dear BBO, Sometimes, After I have given you some money and completed a tournament. I start another tournament. Often, while I am in the middle of working out a difficult problem, the results of the previous tournament appear ALL OVER MY SCREEN. This is rather rude. Please stop doing it. Imagine if you were having a polite conversation with someone and a child rushed up and shouted in your face HEY I HAVE A BIT OF NEWS FOR YOU. It's a bit like that - very annoying. Yours sincerely, pilowsky

I know right - it's pathetic - my only excuse is that I'd just woken up and I was in a bit of a hurry -- I'm sorry. I won't do it again.

There's an old Tom Lehrer song that starts out "Don't solicit for your sister that's not nice...". Which kind of reminds me not to double at IMP's but this hand was really really tempting. I open a (for me very conservative) 1NT and the robot has the temerity to double. Well, what's a man to do: redouble. Of course, I mess it up and they get 1000 for -14.9. Except, I should make +2. Here it is: ♠2 led[hv=pc=n&s=saq3haq7dt542ck92&w=s962hk5dkj3caqj83&n=s84hj92daq976c654&e=skjt75ht8643d8ct7&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=p1nppdrppp]399|300[/hv]

Let's imagine for a moment that you Ken are a normal functioning human being and one day because some greedy people decide that they want more than they're entitled to they're going to clear all the forests and build massive factories and enslave all the poor people to make massive machines to make stuff that you might like. After a while - say 100 years, the whole world can't breathe properly, the sun gets a bit more intense. One of the cells in your skin reacts to the suns rays and turns malignant. That cell slowly grows. Meanwhile, in China where the poorer people are slaving to build Mac's so that I can type this, they desperately want food. But the habitat for the Bats has been destroyed by Greedy American entrepreneurs. Oh dear! What's a bat to do? What's a hungry worker to do? I know let's hang out at the food market and swop viruses. Meanwhile, that cell in your skin has spread to your brain. The virus has reached America. When that cell in your brain takes up too much space and destroys too much eloquent brain - you have a seizure - THAT SEIZURE IS DONALD J TRUMP. He's the living breathing walking talking automatic manifestation of everything that's wrong with the world. It's not him, and it is him all at the same time. Voting out Trump won't fix the problem. That's the same as looking a plane falling out of the sky and just as it hits the ground saying "that's not good, we better ground that one", or " I'm glad I took an earlier flight".

Maybe it doesn't like the cut of your GIB? But seriously, This annoyance happens from time to time - someone useful will be along in a minute with an intelligent answer...

That's pretty much what I'm getting at. People came to America to escape desperate situations in other places. Just like in Australia. Here they called it the Lucky Country. In America the Land of Opportunity. The wording is actually ironical. The luck and opportunity are built on the deprivation of the original inhabitants and the enslavement of others - as well as the destruction of the environment. All of this comes at a cost. The accompanying ferocious sense of self-entitlement (so-called 'rights') leads to a perfect storm that the world faces now.

well, now you know.

That's a great idea: how about a series of options? deny refuse shun repudiate spurn decline pass up put down cast aside or a thumbs down emoticon?

Now you are getting closer. But, skills aren't 'lost'. They're acquired. It's hard work. Americans found themselves in a new world full of riches. They responded like greedy children. They took what they wanted - land of plenty, land of the free. They never needed to acquire high-level survival skills. Maybe that's why they can't cope with testing times and lash out like confused children.

Hitting the nail on the head and missing the point completely. Obviously there is a unique character flaw in the way that the American people are brought up or that the people that go there find the values there appealing, or that the people that leave don't. What is that unique thing? That thing that you refer to as a 'flaw' that leads to a society being overwhelmed by Trumpism or Hitlerism. That allows a society to lose its way? To be so blinded to reality. It isn't leaded gasoline. It isn't socialised medicine. It sure isn't antifa or a lack of policing or empathy! How about cluelessness or a lack of irony? A fundamental inability to comprehend the suffering of others and to render assistance to them in a time of need. America is a 'land of opportunity'. You have the opportunity to get ahead so long as you do not take a single thing from anyone else. You are completely on your own in your quest. That is the fundamental flaw in the American character. Individualism. There is too much of it. They have to go to special camps in the Military to learn how to work together. Declarer play is easy for Americans because it's Individual. Is there a section on the Forum for difficult defensive hands? If Americans don't learn to look within themselves and ask why did this happen? Can we do better? It will just happen again. Or you can say that Jew pilowsky is just nitpicking - it must be his fault. That's what happened last time. See how that works out for you. Trump is not normal. He is a fascist.

A spectrum of understanding? A glimmer of hope?