edward5958

Maybe so, but it looks like EW can't get 4 spade tricks unless W leads the K to start the suit. As for leading through S, E's only entry is the A spades and once that is gone, NS are assured of a S trick if EW try to clear the suit.

I didn't realize that they played Lebensohl over reverses. Anyway, the best contract is 3NT and the trick is getting there. It may be necessary to open 2 clubs but as I said many posts ago, I decided that this was not prudent on these cards -- the type of uncertain decision which must often be made against the bots.

Your analysis is correct and the same thing occurred to me not long after I put up my last post. After S's 2D I suppose N would bid 2S. Is this FSF? And what is S's next bid? Probably 3H since still nothing is known about S's, and then, if N bids 4!H's the K would be the same rather than 3NT. N could rebid 2NT rather than 2S, or 3NT rather than 4H, but then the hand would be wrong sided. Also, there is still the problem of N's deficient play of 4H.

Alright, Barmar, if you're out there, I'm going to give you an example hand. It's from ACBL robot tourney 4492 played 3/23. I am rocking along at 60% in 3rd or 4th place and then board 12 comes up. If S chooses not to open 2 clubs (I don't think it's advisable when you have 4 losers, an unbalanced hand, with clubs as your putative trump suit), and opens 1 club instead, the bidding goes: 1c-1h-3d. Then what does N bid? With me it bid 4h, which I think is asinine. N is not strong enough to bid that with only 5 hearts to the QJ, not knowing anything about what hearts are in S's hand. It's a GF auction of course, but IMO 3 spades is N's only bid at this point, to show values in that suit for the purpose of playing 3NT. But bid 4 hearts it did. Not only that, look at the ridiculous way it played the hand. Down 4 for a result of 7.7%, dropping me like a stone into my 8th place finish when I have done nothing wrong that I can see. (Oh well, at least I didn't completely fall out of the money like I usually do.) As I have said on this board, this sort of thing -- and worse -- has been going on regularly for 6 months now.

Nope, my memory is fine. I know how it used to be and how it is now. Strange results are the norm, and they usually work against me now. If you don't believe it, just compare my results from August through the present to those obtained before. I know you are sincere in your comments and trying to help, but for me that doesn't change anything or lessen the validity of what I have been saying.

I think it's pretty sad, not at all "funny," when a good product is tricked up and ruined as this one has been. In almost every game now it seems there are 2 or 3 boards in which the robots act out with some crazy bid or poor play or I'm put to an impossible guess or some such and my score is ruined. It never was that way before August; and while my play was/is certainly not well considered and/or careless at times, at least I was rewarded when I played well. But not anymore. And while I appreciate the suggestion to present specific hands, rather than taking the time to figure out how to do that and to actually go through it, I prefer to just direct my attention and time elsewhere. I've been reluctant to do that because I've really enjoyed my experience in these games until lately and it's hard to move on. But nothing good lasts forever, I suppose.

I tried to play a couple of robot tournaments during the last few days and my impression has been confirmed and fortified: playing with these robots is not worth the time, money or effort any longer. The guy who apparently tweaks or manipulates these things is enormously sensitive and defensive about any criticism of his work (see posts above), and I guess the sorry state of these machines reflects his considerable, misguided ego. In any event, IMO he bots used to be much better before all of this "improvement" got under way, and it seems to me that it is an example of fixing something which is not broken.

Gosh, in posting on the other topic I didn't realize you had such a personal interest in the bots, let alone that you participated in the tweaks which have been regularly taking place. One never likes to see criticism of the results of his best work so now I fully understand why you are so quick to say how "alone" I am in my impression that the bot changes have not been positive.

Thanks for your post. I hope your problems get straightened out soon. Of course, it could be that you are beginning to experience the same thing I am talking about here and I would appreciate your letting me know if that turns out to be the case.

I have always assumed that what I needed to do was just play Bridge and that the robots would do the same. Indeed, I know the bots have their idiosyncrasies, to say the least, but I never realized so much as I do now that it is not so much Bridge as it is figuring out robot machinations. In any event, I would never tolerate such inconsistencies and unpredictability in any live partner and I don't play to continue to waste time and money fooling around with these machines either.

Is this possible? Do the robots predictably play that differently at different tables? If so, it could very well explain what I have been experiencing lately compared to what it was like before last August. Whatever it is, it just seems that I am consistently in the wrong contract now, or that my p and I don't defend properly etc. on a regular basis. All one has to do it look at my mp totals since August compared to before to see the results of what I am saying. And I am (was) playing the same number of tournaments.

So, does that mean than noone shares it? Is it possible that some who do share it don't read this board, or that some just don't want to comment? All I really know for sure is that you disagree and that's your prerogative but it doesn't invalidate my impression.

So do these changes support what I am saying? Remember, I said it goes back to August when my results became perceptibly different even though I was then playing in the same manner I always had played when I was much more succesful.

Well, thank you for that enlightenment. But I still don't know if anyone else shares my impression, do I?

I'm venting, to be sure, but it's not a temporal thing. Since August the change has been most perceptible, IMO, and lately it seems worse than ever. It's difficult to quantify, but I believe there is merit to what I am saying and I was just wondering if anyone else was having the same or a similar impression.

The style of play for the robots in the ACBL tourneys seems to have changed rather dramatically lately in that they are now more arbitrary and difficult to figure out. Whether I'm right in that perception or not, my success rate has been cut by more than 50% as it is now difficult to even scratch whereas I used to finish high on a regular basis. It's very frustrating, to be sure, so much so that I am about to the point of giving it up altogether.

I've noticed that sort of thing too. Yet the robots often are not consistent. They may fail to keep attacking the vulnerable suit at most tables but at some tables they defend correctly, giving those players very low scores. I can't really figure out their criteria for determining who gets what treatment but I believe it has to do with how and what a given player is perceived to have been doing up to that point in that game, especially when compared to faster players who have already played the board.

I'm wondering if anyone other than me thinks that these tournaments have gotten rather quirky lately. I used to do pretty well a lot of he time but lately it seems harder and harder to do. I find that it's not uncommon to bid and play a hand just right only to see a score of 30% or something come up. I make plenty of mistakes to be sure, and I expect to get a bad result when I do. But when hands are bid and played correctly one would expect to get a higher score and that is not at all a given these days. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with some of these people who play virtually every tournament and finish in about 10 minutes or something. I mean, are the robots sensitive to their playing style and do they adjust their expectations and play accordingly?

Well, the NABC is now in the books and I hope the points screen will soon be returning to its former incarnation The old screen can be accessed by unclicking "classic view" but it is neither as handy nor as user-friendly as before.

I tried the website suggested by bb79 but it didn't work. Just got that message that the website couldn't be shown.

What I can't figure out is, why was the old screen ever taken down? Why did someone decide it had to be replaced, and who in the world ever thought that the new screen would be anywhere nearly as good as the old? Now, to add insult to injury, I can't even access the old screen by canceling "classic view" and clicking on ACBL world, or whatever it is. I could do that before, after I started this thread, but now he old screen has been taken down from that too. All I have left is this new thing where I have to get out an adding machine to see what my current month totals are, never mind totals for other months and years. That's right, it's helpful to me to be able to compare this month to the last, or to 6 months ago, or to the same month last year, etc., without having to add it all up inductively from this new monstrosity (screen). Please get this fixed if possible and bring back the old screen or something comparable where totals and summaries are shown once again. Thank you.

You're lucky to still be getting this. I sent a separate Email to bbo and got a reply saying that the screen gave breakdowns as to years, months and days. I think she was referring to the old screen which she apparently thinks is still in place, same as you. But for me, and apparently for several other posters on here, the screen has been changed to this other thing.

To Uday: Please, please, please go back to the former screen. This is an example of fixing something that isn't broken. I can't believe that anyone would prefer the new screen to the old. The old screen gave instant summaries of any points for any year, month or day. It allowed you to keep a running total of where you stood for the current month without having to get out your calculator to add the separate entries. Overall history could be accessed under the old screen as well, so this new format doesn't add anything at all insofar as I can see. It just detracts from what before was a very useful format. So again, please revert to the old screen as soon as possible.

This may not be exactly on topic but I'm wondering what has happened to the screen showing ACBL masterpoints. All I get now is a screen showing all of the mp's I have earned since day one, back to 2004, or something. No breakdowns or totals as to year, month or day anymore. What gives?