Fix the Gib stupidity or I won't Pay to play

[hoodwinked]

I'm very angry with BBO right now. I've spent well over $100 playing BBO race tournaments and money tournaments, have a good understanding of the GIB bidding system and it's idiosyncracies but I have zero tolerance for what's happening in the game itself.

 

a) If you support Gib in the third round of bidding or so it automatically decides to either pass when it should go on to game or possibly even slam OR even worse decides to bid 7NT without checking if it's even possible!!! For example, I made a jump support in a suit and Gib just automatically jumps to 7nt with a decent but not great hand! (he had 4 losers)

 

:) GIB has a terribe habit of redoubling with a weak hand after opps double him at the 5 level. Especially when he has no hope of making it. This is ridiculous and has been the cause of many a lost game - today in particular, I lost 1000 poiints back in back to back hands - Gib doesn't understand a sacrafice bid UNLESS he makes it. It's just fine for Gib to make the bid.

 

c) Third, gib sometimes declares brilliantly but at times declares like an idiout throwing away all of his winners when he could easily make a contract if he were to keep them.

 

I have many many hands in my database but I don't wish to revisit them. I'm not up to supporting BBO's endeavors on my disability cheque with this shoddy effort. I wish it was better because the idea is excellent - the execution just sucks big time.

[uday]

Getting the GIBs to be, for lack of a nicer word, saner, is a nontrivial project, and while we've pumped a lot of time into this project, it won't be "done" for a while.

 

There are two answers to this kind of issue

 

1. you are competing with the other humans (who are also wrestling with their gibs). Part of the annoyance/fun/danger is manipulating the bidding to get the best out of your robot.

 

2. fixing the obvious errors in the robots. These fall into a handful of categories, ranging from "we didnt give it enough time to think, what do we expect" to sheer nuttiness caused by a bug in its database that describes how bidding works to problematic logic in the code.

 

The best way to help us deal with (2) is to send us ( I am uday at bridgebase com ) the hands where gib mucked up; one by one, we sort these things out as they're reported to us.

 

 

Regards -- uday

[hoodwinked]

What about the fact that you can't have a hope of competing when gib gets every single good hand and you don't get a single one - where's the fairness there? You can't say it even's out.

 

Secondly, as far as I'm concerned GIB cheats - I've seen many a hand where Gib made the magic bid at the 5 level - making an obscure bid which no sane person would ever make and you guessed it - his partner has the magic hand for him. No doubles have been made - usually fast bidding. No hypothesis meets the theory for it anyone could have had the cards and he could have gone 800 or more for it but he magically never does. Theft?????

 

As I said before I'm angry and I won't put this down to other people fighting the gibs - I've done well and been able to milk my gibs for all they are worth but ultimately I always lose to them and that's not right.

[Guest Jlall]

What about the fact that you can't have a hope of competing when gib gets every single good hand and you don't get a single one - where's the fairness there? You can't say it even's out.

Why can't he say it evens out? It's just as likely that YOU will get all the good hands as gib, and then you will have the advantage over everyone else. All of the factors, cards, finesses, gib having a decision, lucky contracts, etc all even out in the long run. If you are a good player you will beat the rake and win in the long run.

 

Secondly, as far as I'm concerned GIB cheats - I've seen many a hand where Gib made the magic bid at the 5 level - making an obscure bid which no sane person would ever make and you guessed it - his partner has the magic hand for him.

 

Wait a minute. Weren't you just complaining about gib making insane bids and plays? Now it makes perfect ones and is cheating? Do you understand that sometimes it's insane bids work and sometimes they don't? That's just the nature of the game, you can't say gib is cheating if it works and stupid if it doesn't work. Do you REALLY think gib cheats while at the same time you say that it is stupid and crazy and causing you bad boards? If gib really cheated you would be very happy for it to have all the decisions. This is just silly.

 

I've done well and been able to milk my gibs for all they are worth but ultimately I always lose to them and that's not right.

 

Then maybe you aren't playing as well as you thought. Big news flash.

[1eyedjack]

I think it is more down to philosophy than individual competence.

 

Anyone who has ever played against computers should be well aware that computers on occasion make the most extraordinary bids and plays for totally inexplicable reasons, some of which work and some of which do not.

 

The process of eliminating these aberrations is beyond the capacity of a small group of programmers who are not being paid a commensurate return and, even if they were, can only eliminate them at a finite rate.

 

If you are not prepared to participate in the experience of improving the software by submitting for consideration aberrations as you encounter them, then that is your personal choice. If you are not prepared to participate in the competitions until such aberrations are eliminated, with or without your assistance, then that is your personal choice. Others will continue to participate, and others will continue to submit aberrations for the improvement of the software, and perhaps, with or without your participation, in time the software will improve.

 

No point bitching about it. If it is not up to what you require, simply leave well alone.

[hoodwinked]

Justin this wasn't about my game or my ability but what the gib does and I resent you making it about my game. I was attempting to put down what i've been seeing in black and white - and you apparently decided that I am offended - which is not the case - however I take deep offence to your words.

[Gerben42]

Then maybe it is a lack of understanding how GIB works. GIB is watching just one hand just like you and thus it has decisions to make which may be right or wrong. Since it makes decisions differently than humans, some of its actions may look like stupid or cheating to you.

 

Besides don't blame GIB for your bad results. Your GIB is of the same level as all the others, so if you are constantly losing there is only one person to blame: You.

[matmat]

i can certainly relate to the frustration.

Back in the day, when gib was free (I'm a cheapskate) I played with it a few times. I found it totally and utterly ridiculous. It hardly ever had the hand that it seemed to hold during the bidding. you'd click on the bids and have them automatically explained and then when dummy came down the hand was something completely different.

[saycska]

Think GIB plays not worse than an average BBO player.

Sure there are sometimes things in GIBs play that I don't like (may be that depends a lot by the GIBs speed).

But that is the good at the bridge- the human can still win over the robots in bridge.

[Guest Jlall]

Justin this wasn't about my game or my ability but what the gib does and I resent you making it about my game. I was attempting to put down what i've been seeing in black and white - and you apparently decided that I am offended - which is not the case - however I take deep offence to your words.

Besides don't blame GIB for your bad results. Your GIB is of the same level as all the others, so if you are constantly losing there is only one person to blame: You.

[pigpenz]

like previous posts have stated there is an art to learning how to use the gib bots....somewhere along the lines of ROTH-STONE and never make any cue bids.