hantveit

It is fun to re-read all the comments I got on my suggestion on the new tournament form, when we all know how popular the new tournament form has becommed. Strangely, I have not received even a thanks from BBO. Many years ago I also suggested (through email) that they should create a function "follow that player in the whole tournament". They made that too, and I heard the same; nothing. I hope they at least appreciate the input... :)

But the clubs catch cheaters. They have human opponents who notice oddities. Some clubs have volunteers who actually check unusual results for suspicious bidding or play and then the directors watch them. In addition, a club doesn't have to accuse somebody of cheating to keep them out. The next time the cheater tries to join, they're not allowed to. When they ask why, they are not given a reason. Since clubs are 'at will', they can kick you out because they don't like you. In contrast, GIB has no human overhead, and the only reason why somebody would be locked out is if they were accused of cheating. So with GIB games it's much tougher to catch cheaters and causes more problems when they do catch them. Fantastic, this reminds me of the refugee camps usa have... Noone should be locked out before they are convicted. Too look out someone just because you are suspicious is very bad. It is important that the clubs, managers and tournament directors play accordingly to the rules of the society. The persons should also be allowed to defend themselves. Nobody will gain from a system that locks out a persons based on a "feeling".

When it involves money and the Internet? Um, yeah. Keep in mind that a few people have been caught cheating (and a number of others we know but cannot prove) in Bridge Addicts. This is unimaginably stupid. You don't get money, Masterpoints, club rankings, or anything else for winning a game like this one...it's just a social game. We don't even keep records. If they're going to cheat with nothing on the line.... Yes, some will always try to cheat. But the point is that BBO offers, through different clubs, tournaments that includes money and they play the same cards. So it is not an argument against making the same tourney with only gib's involved and one human per table.

Click on "Tournament Rules", and it's on the second page of the rules: It is very easy for the players to communicate through msn, phone and so on. So the argument about that two players might help each other out to win will be applicable here..

Click on "Tournament Rules", and it's on the second page of the rules: Excatly my point... second page on the tournaments rules... Why not post it on the page that everyone reads; the page where you enter the tournament? It is a loooot of free place there, and this is critical information that you want as many as possible to read...

Yes, tought time limits can ruin the game.

Yes, you can put on time limits, but do you really think that the problem with cheating is so hugh that bbo should bother to do this?

It is impossible to monitor because you can communicate through MSN and other communication ways. This enables you to take the finesse the right way every time. And take it the wrong way when it is only an overtrick. I will bet you that no director is monitoring the players in detail over time, so this is in practice impossible to discover. (Unless you are too gready and play like you have open cards every hand, but even this requires that the different directors are monitoring you over several different tourneys) And by the way, only extremely few players bother to do this. Probably only non-skilled players anyway, so I cannot see that this will occur as a hugh problem.

While the problem you describe can happen in any particular tourney, luck should cancel out in the long run (half the time the bots will get the slam hands, the other half you'll get them), and your skill should take over. Don't think of MBT/RR as being like duplicate bridge. They're more like rubber bridge. A good player might lose a particular rubber because his opponents got the good cards, but after a few dozen rubbers I think the winnings would be closely correlated to player skill. And the same thing is true in MBT/RR -- you just have to play frequently (no, Fred is not paying me to say this :)). I have played a lot of them. And there is much more luck involved than you think there is. Especially when it comes to winning... But again, BBO can publish both duplicate and the one they have now. Should be pretty easy...

Wow, I just assumed everyone was playing the same deals...I guess this explains some of those crazy results. Excatly. Everyone I have asked seem to believe that the tourneys are including the same cards. Note that BBO are not writing on the tourney that the same cards are not played. It would be easy to inform about this, but they choose not too. I am sure they have covered they back by posting it on their website - some where... Anyway, I have asked a lot of players and they all say that we play the same cards. It is so obvious that everyone seems to believe so... BBO should clearly state that the same cards are not played. (when you click on the tourney to join) And even better, they should make a tourney that includes the same cards and let the players choose. I will bet that the majority of the players will choose to play the tourney including the same cards. Customer focus bbo?

This is the whole reason why cheating is impossible in MBT. If the hands were duplicated, you could collude with a friend. One of you would play each hand normally, and when he's finished he would tell the other one what all 4 hands were, and then he could bid and play the hand double-dummy. The second player would be almost guaranteed to win the event, and the two of you would split the winnings. The proposed new format could be OK if it were just played for fun, like the MBC. But it would not be appropriate as a replacement for MBT, since prize money probably attracts cheaters. You can play with GIB partner and opponents in the MBC. If there were a rule that the human player always has to sit South, we'd effectively have this type of competition. I do not understand this view. Yes, it is possible to cheat. But there are money tournaments played today with human partners and opps that play the same cards. People love to play these tournaments even if it is possible to cheat. SO - let the players decide themselves. 1. Clearly post on the tournaments today that you are NOT playing the same cards. 2. Make a Gib tournament where we all sit hence north and we all play the same cards. Let the voice of the poeple decide and see what the players prefer.

Yes, but it is difficult to clone people. And I will argue that the best bridge player wins. An expert bridge player take into account who he/she playes with and against, their strengths and weaknesses, and then they adapt to this. So the best bridgeplayer, is likely to also play best with the GIB. At least if we assume that the "best one" gets a little bit of practice first...

I understand, Let us all play the same cards then, that change is at least easy to make... :)

Yes, the problem when we are playing different cards, is that you can get a minus result after playing a perfect tourney. It is not fair that the cards should decide whom of the players has the higest chance of winning. In fact, I do not know of any tournament in the world elsewhere, where the players in a tournament dos not play the same cards...

Hi, You do not have to do many changes. GIB can still play as it does. The only thing you need to do is to generate is the hands and distribute them to all the tables. It is close enough :-)