Robot race strategies

[barmar]

I wouldn't say "never", but I agree that they're much less likely to do it than humans. Only take the finesse if it looks like the only way to make the contract.

[AAr]

If you know the finesse will lose, wouldn't the only time to take it is if either it will endplay the opponent with the King, or dropping the Singleton King will not make the contract but winning the finesse will? I know there are such hands, but I don't envision many. It seems obvious to play for the K-Drop every time against GIB to me. We can put the "Ten Ever, Eleven Never Rule" out the window against GIB. Even with an EIGHT-card fit, when you KNOW the RHO has the King, you would play for the K-Drop.

 

I think it pays to play the Ace every time, and hope that the King drops Singleton (which is still at least possible).

[AAr]

After my observation about whether GIB underleads Kings and whether to play the Ace from Dummy or taking the finesse, I have a more important question about what do to in this situation in Robot Race, Best Hand, and Bingo tourneys.

 

You have a minimum third seat opener. You want to pass it out if you could. If you HAVE to play it, you want your side to declare, and hope to make a bid. You do NOT want to defend, and you have no safe action if the LHO opens in the fourth seat. Should I:

 

A: Pass and hope that the hand does get passed out.

B: Bid, at least making it more likely that my side will declare when the hand does get played.

C: It depends on the TYPE of Robot tourney (Best hand, Robot Race, Bingo, etc.).

D: It can depend on other factors. (Please explain.)

E: Combination of C and D.

 

Making the wrong action in these situations have been KILLING me in these types of tourneys lately (Best Hand, Robot Race, AND Bingo), so I want to know what is the best here?

 

Thanks!

[jamegumb]

After my observation about whether GIB underleads Kings and whether to play the Ace from Dummy or taking the finesse, I have a more important question about what do to in this situation in Robot Race, Best Hand, and Bingo tourneys.

 

You have a minimum third seat opener. You want to pass it out if you could. If you HAVE to play it, you want your side to declare, and hope to make a bid. You do NOT want to defend, and you have no safe action if the LHO opens in the fourth seat. Should I:

 

A: Pass and hope that the hand does get passed out.

B: Bid, at least making it more likely that my side will declare when the hand does get played.

C: It depends on the TYPE of Robot tourney (Best hand, Robot Race, Bingo, etc.).

D: It can depend on other factors. (Please explain.)

E: Combination of C and D.

 

Making the wrong action in these situations have been KILLING me in these types of tourneys lately (Best Hand, Robot Race, AND Bingo), so I want to know what is the best here?

 

Thanks!

 

In playing in any tournament with unlimited boards, I'd almost always choose A.

 

FWIW, when you have minimal (~12 pt) hands, you've got more information than in a normal game when opps bid. Your partner has to have *something* - even if both opponents also have 12-point maximums, partner's got 4 points. So later competition is a bit safer.

 

I'd also argue that if you're able to analyze that you have no safe action if RHO opens, you're thinking too much (during the tournament) about these hands. Time is points is BB$.

[diana_eva]

After my observation about whether GIB underleads Kings and whether to play the Ace from Dummy or taking the finesse, I have a more important question about what do to in this situation in Robot Race, Best Hand, and Bingo tourneys.

 

You have a minimum third seat opener. You want to pass it out if you could. If you HAVE to play it, you want your side to declare, and hope to make a bid. You do NOT want to defend, and you have no safe action if the LHO opens in the fourth seat. Should I:

 

A: Pass and hope that the hand does get passed out.

B: Bid, at least making it more likely that my side will declare when the hand does get played.

C: It depends on the TYPE of Robot tourney (Best hand, Robot Race, Bingo, etc.).

D: It can depend on other factors. (Please explain.)

E: Combination of C and D.

 

Making the wrong action in these situations have been KILLING me in these types of tourneys lately (Best Hand, Robot Race, AND Bingo), so I want to know what is the best here?

 

Thanks!

 

My strategy:

 

- Always pass in Robot Reward tourney.

- In Robot Race and Bingo Race hands are duplicated, so you may consider opening if you think it's likely that the field will open as well. I would still pass, but this info may be useful, esp in Bingo Race where you need partscores.

- Depends what you need on the Bingo grid in $1 Bingo, Just play to the grid and don't worry about what opps do.

 

As jamegumb says, don't think too much about what might happen, just play as fast as you can.

 

 

As for the robot underleading King, I think it does underlead king often enough to consider finessing, even though it's probably true that GIB tends to make neutral leads more often than humans.

[jamegumb]

I played a couple of races as fast as I could after posting that, and I still only managed about 30 hands (including passouts).

 

I wonder: are the people who are good at these races also good at video games? It seems like you need lightning fast reflexes just to be able to play the cards that quickly, and that's similar to video game skills. Even at the end of a hand, when I'm cashing top tricks, cross-ruffing, or giving up all my remaining losers (i.e. situations where I would have claimed or conceded IRL) it takes 1-2 second just to click on the cards.

 

Just to answer this: yeah, I played a fair amount of video games in my youth. But the best "training" for playing this is probably trying to set records on Minesweeper.

 

I wish I could watch one of you play a hand, so I could see your mouse flying back and forth.

 

Like the robots, it takes a while at the start. But at the end of hands often it's moving the mouse up and down as fast as you can. While trying to arrange plays where you lead something your partner has a singleton in (so that it automatically drops).

 

I know about enabling "auto-play singletons", but that only helps on a few tricks; I try to arrange to make this apply as much as possible, but that often requires a little extra thinking to play tricks in the right order, so it may just break even.

[hamish32]

Playing robot races is not like bridge, I play between 20 - 25 hands per game and pass out between 10 - 20 hands.

 

Bidding:

 

Non vul i dont open unless i am sure of game and slam is possible so 1st seat 20+ bal or 16+ if extream shape. I dont open non vul in 3rd seat but if partner has opened i either bid 3nt or raise to 4 of his major.

 

Vul i open 1NT with 16 - 17 Bal I open 1NT even with a singleton or 54 shapes, i open a suit if i have about 14+ with extream shape. In 3rd seat i will open if i have 20+ bal or 16+ extream shape as above for non vul.

 

This means if the opposition happen to open (they dont normally) i will raise gibs overcall to game and bid 1NT or 3nt with a hold.

 

The things to remember are:

 

that gib cannot have more points than you so this helps in evaluating weather we can make slam, it also helps when gib is bidding against you - if gib bids game you know he must have a lot of distrabution so therefore your side has a lot of distrabution also.

 

Gib is a terrible bidder often insisting on his suit when it is crappy raising you to 5 or 7 when it is clear cut wrong or bidding 6NT when you bid 6 of a suit with 8 solid cards because gib is short in your suit (Gib consistantly acts as if gib is a better declearer that you) - so it is important not to treat gib like a partner you need to manipulate gib to the correct contract. if gib opens gib will not bid again over your 3nt, if you X and raise gibs response to game gib will not get carried away. if you are going to bid slam bid blackwood first then gib will not overrule you (IF you use blackwood gib will not let you play in any suit except the one that blackwood relates to - raising to 7 because gib is stupid). If Gib opens bid 2/1 so that gib will overrule you less often.

 

Doubling Gib can be very lucrative if gib opens and you have passed with 15+ points. Also if you pass with a big hand and then bid to game when partner opens Gib will often X you (remember gib is stupid and cannot tell his cards are workthless) so if you think your contract is sound XX frequently.

 

Watch out if you pass the first round then over call 1nt balancing with 15 or so... if gib X's in this situation gib has got you and there is normally nowhere to run. to pass and play quick -500 or -800 normal and not awful.

 

Play:

 

I play fast as possible - i dont think unless i am in game or slam and need to create 1 or 2 more tricks to make the contract. its total points so overtricks are worthless, partscores are worth little (better to play in a partscore than a game that goes light). It is worth bidding games and slams that might make on distrabution - going 1 or 2 or even 5 light (non vul) is not a big deal. the hand takes less than a min and then you get another shot at some points.

 

Warning:

 

The strats dont always work - they work on balance, some games i end up with an endless string of -50 & -100 scores (normally when i need a coffee). to make them work you evaluation needs to be sharp.

[jamegumb]

Those are useful, though probably not as useful as just going through this thread.

 

I'm still chasing Leo's record. Got 16670 just now, which is my all-time best. And I missed 2 grand slams in that one (stopping in 6 both times), and also blew two vulnerable games (misbidding one, misplaying another). Most everything else fell into place, though (as it has to if you're going to score this high).

 

Needed most of those points - jakisjacek scored 14410 and finished second.

 

18670 just now. And I know I left points on the table (chickened out on a grand or two; partner had a game on the last hand but we ran out of time - I'd stalled for about 1 minute earlier playing).

[nathan2008]

I think everyone has his own strategy. I really want to watch Leo's screen to see how fast he plays. I have tried his way but failed. (Cannot play as fast as him.) And he claimed that he could play faster than GIB. For me, the more GIB plays, the more hands i get. For the report, i think leftfoot's answers are very useful. Leo uses his unique way to win. JDonn takes GIB as his real pd lol. I have tried many ways, until now i have not found the best way to play robot reward. I always adjust my way of bidding.

 

To jamegumb: did u get 18670? This is the highest score i've ever seen...

[jamegumb]

I think everyone has his own strategy. I really want to watch Leo's screen to see how fast he plays. I have tried his way but failed. (Cannot play as fast as him.) And he claimed that he could play faster than GIB. For me, the more GIB plays, the more hands i get. For the report, i think leftfoot's answers are very useful. Leo uses his unique way to win. JDonn takes GIB as his real pd lol. I have tried many ways, until now i have not found the best way to play robot reward. I always adjust my way of bidding.

 

To jamegumb: did u get 18670? This is the highest score i've ever seen...

 

I did. I don't know what the record is, but I haven't heard of anyone topping 20K. (I may have been able to do that with optimal play and had I not missed a minute due to a distraction.)

 

I can't play faster than GIB - at least, not on game/slam contracts. GIB often takes a while on part scores. So, compared to others, I think I let the computer play a lot more hands than I do. It's the opposite of masterminding. I open 1NT in these contests rarely, and I often raise 1M to 4M since that almost always plays there (you're assisted a lot in the bidding knowing that partner's hand is not as good as yours, so searching for slam is pointless if you've got 15HCP and partner opens). And I make a lot of 4SF bids in the hope that GIB will assume the reigns in NT. Also I double opps a lot, to again make my GIB the declarer.

 

Fast connections help; with a good connection I can see about 50-55 hands. Bad connections mean about 40-45 hands. Assuming each hand you see is worth an average of 150 points or so, this means a fast connection is worth about 1500 points on average. That's a bunch.

[nathan2008]

As a mathematician, i always analyse my results and try to make sure that my strategy is the best mathematically. For ex, assume a player's average score is 7000 in 25 mins and can PLAY 30 hands (do NOT count in all pass hands.) So he can get 233 every hand. If he opens 1Nt with 15-17, assume he can make 40% 3nt with that opening. Then in no vul, the expectation is below 233. So he should NOT open 1nt in no vul. In vul, the expectation is 240. Just a little higher, so u still should NOT open 1nt. You can make many calculations like that. Anyway i always make a lot of calculations and analyse my results. Unfortunately, we don't have hands record. i must do this after every race. I have many interesting calculations..... Maths is in our daily life :).

[RunemPard]

Just took the time to track how many hands I managed to get in after reading this...

 

29 hands in 25 minutes...5 round passes...my partner played 12 hands...

 

I guess my main goal is if I have a chance to have the robot play a good contract, I let him.

[OldPlayr]

I'm relatively new to the site & just tried a few of these.

 

I can see no sense to playing them... The robots make bids that make absolutely no sense at all. Do they play some sort of bidding system?

 

Other than practice playing all sorts of crazy bid & distribution hands, I see no value.

 

What do you all see in these robot tournaments? Is there some sort of guideline document someplace? Am I missing something?

[Bbradley62]

The robots make bids that make absolutely no sense at all. Do they play some sort of bidding system?

Yes, the robots play 2/1, not SAYC. You can click on "My BBO", then "Convention Cards"; the first thing listed under "Stock Convention Cards" is "GIB 2/1" which you can view to see GIB's convention card. Of course, by playing in a GIB tournament you agreed to the conditions of contest, which include playing GIB's convention card.

[Bbradley62]

What do you all see in these robot tournaments? Is there some sort of guideline document someplace? Am I missing something?

There are several different kinds of robot tournaments; these are thoroughly explained online on the main BBO homepage: under "Featured Areas", click on "Robot World" then "About Robot Tournaments".

[OldPlayr]

Thanks. Reading the robot explanations helps. Knowing the rules helps :)

 

Somehow I missed that. I'm still having trouble finding my way around the site. I'll go back & give 'em another try.

[manxx]

I typical get around 30 hands with as many as 5-8 passed...if your partner passes prior to your bid and you do not have a game in your hand PASS. One more tip, when defending robots at less than a game play as fast as you can...if you are on the lead take all your tricks off the top and follow suit as quickly as possible..If you are declarer at 1 level play as fast as you can again...1 trick 99% of the time will not change you position at the finish..SPEED is important

 

One one mre tip, I seldom open 1N -- it seems like 95% of the time my robot partner passes..I will open a 4-5 minor rather than 1N now

 

And remember this is total score NOT Best Played Hands SPEED UP YOUR PLAY

[jamegumb]

In the hopes it may help someone somewhere...the anatomy of a 16420 in Robot Reward:

 

Hand 1 (NV, 3rd seat) AJT5 / KJ6 / KQT86 / 9 - pass out; good choice as nothing makes.

 

Hand 2 (Vul, 2nd seat) Q / KJ984 / AK92 / 763 - East opens 1 spade. Bidding proceeds 1S / X / 2S / 4H / All pass. CHO has J654 / AQ752 / Q64 / 2 and makes 5. +650 / running score 650.

 

Hand 3 (NV, dealer) AK6 / AQT9654 / - / AQ2 - bidding (with opps silent) goes 2C / 2D / 2H / 3D / 3N / 4H / all pass. Dummy has 752 / J3 / AJ832 / 973 Take a spade on trick one and lead the heart queen on trick 2. West takes it and leads a club. +450 / 1100.

 

Hand 4 (Vul, 4th seat) AT8 / KQ84 / T72 / A95 - East in third seat opens 3 spades. Double for takeout and watch partner play 4H. Partner has 75 / A7532 / AJ98 / 63 and makes 4. +620 / +1720

 

Hand 5 (Vul, 3rd seat) J83 / KQ2 / KJ9 / AKT5 - felt too balanced so passed in 3rd seat in hopes of another deal; no such luck - 4th seat opens 1H and opps reach 4S. Cash two clubs and play a diamond, which turns out to be the way to set the hand as partner has the queen. +50 / 1770.

 

Hand 6 (NV, 2nd seat) T965 / AKT87 / AQ5 / K - in front of me, East opens 1 spade. Double for takeout, raise CHO's 2 heart bid to 3 hearts. Partner eventually plays in 4 hearts with K8 / QJ52 / K6 / T9643, and makes it on the nose. +420 / 2190.

 

Hand 7 (Vul, Dealer) K9 / AKJ8 / 752 / AK72 - opps silent, bidding goes: 1 club / 1 diamond / 2NT / 3 Hearts / 4 hearts. Partner has J54 / T942 / KJT43 / Q. East leads a stiff diamond that his partner ducks. Hearts are Q-fourth onside, but partner can't navigate all of the difficulties after unblocking the club and playing AK of hearts. I may well have done the same. -100 / 2090.

 

Hand 8 (NV, 4th seat) A9 / Q8 / AQT86 / JT65 - pass out; running score 2090.

 

Hand 9 (NV, 3rd seat) A95 / K / AJ74 / AK865 - quickly raise partner's 2 spade bid to 4 spades, then wonder if I've done the wrong thing as he tables KQJ832 / T87 / 8 / JT7. Nope, as clubs are Qxx offside. +450 / 2540.

 

Hand 10 (Vul, 2nd seat) KQT86 / AQ / K954 / 43 - East opens a club; I double and west redoubles. Partner competes to 1 heart, and then we're silent as the opps go to 3 clubs. Good thing they sat there, as 3NT was cold. Play as fast as possible on defense to get to the next hand. -130 / 2410.

 

Hand 11 (NV, dealer) AT / A4 / AKT43 / A852 - open 2NT, partner raises to 3NT with 9 scattered points. Makes 5. +460 / 2870.

 

Hand 12 (Vul, 4th seat) K43 / QT / Q94 / AKQ98 - quick auction, raising partner's 1NT directly to 6NT. He's got AT / A964 / AKJ32 / 75, and we take 12 tricks. +1440 / 4310.

 

Hand 13 (Vul, 3rd seat) AK6 / 865 / AJ94 / 832 - pass out; later reflection shows we'd have made 3NT if the club queen were onside. It wasn't. Running score 4310.

 

Hand 14 (NV, 2nd seat) T7 / QT / AT76 / AKQ64 - pass in 2nd seat to watch opps bid 1D / 1S back to me. Double that; partner competes to 2H but opps buy the contract in 2 spades; they make 9 tricks. We can take 9 tricks in clubs. -140 / 4170.

 

Hand 15 (Vul, Dealer) K9 / AKQ3 / 76 / QJ863 - pass out; turns out partner had a 9 count and due to hearts and clubs being 3-3 and the diamond jack onside, we can make 3NT. Missed opportunity, I guess. Running score 4170.

 

Hand 16 (NV, 4th seat) - / AKQ / A7652 / KQ872 - partner surpises me by opening 1 heart. Quickly blackwood (why, I'm not sure) and get to 6 hearts. Partner holds KJ7 / T87642 / KQ / A3. On the spade opening lead, he throws a diamond rather than ruffing with one of the big hearts. As the heart jack is stiff, this costs an overtrick. +980 / 5150.

 

Hand 17 (NV, 3rd seat) KT8 / K9 / A984 / A753 - raise partner's 2 spades opener to 4 spades and hope for the best. He's got A96432 / JT4 / J / QJ8. Spades didn't break, but the heart queen was onside (doubleton, and was led), so we make the contract. +420 / 5570.

 

Hand 18 (Vul, 2nd seat) AK54 / AQJ743 / Q7 / A - open 2 clubs with this; not sure if that's wise or not. Partner bids 2 diamonds, I bid my hearts and he bids 2 spades. Raise this to 3 spades, and he surprises me by jumping to 7. Partner holds QJ9763 / 6 / AJ / KQJ2 - opening 2 clubs certainly turned out right here. +2210 / 7780; about here (maybe 9 minutes in) I sensed that the game might turn out big.

 

Hand 19 (NV, dealer) QT / AJ75 / AK4 / A753. Borderline opener given the situation; here I opened it, which turned out badly. Partner had a yarborough and the opps (who may well have passed the hand out otherwise) bid to and played 1NT, making 3. -150 / 7630.

 

Hand 20 (Vul, 4th seat) AK3 / Q8652 / A5 / 432. Hoping for a passout, but east stymies that by bidding 1 spade in front of me. I double and west uses the blue card. CHO, always looking for trouble, then leaps to 3 diamonds with Q962 / J / JT9762 / 98. West hits this; while just looking at these hands the contract doesn't seem horrendous, it plays very badly since the diamonds are offside and west has a void in spades. 3 down, -800 / 6830. So much for dreams of a big game.

 

Hand 21 (Vul, 3rd seat) A863 / K5 / KJT / QJ73. Partner opens 1 heart and East doubles. I redouble and partner bids 2 hearts before East has to rescue himself. I raise this to 4, and we make 11 tricks when East leads a club away from the King (he probably wouldn't have taken this trick, anyway). +650 / 7480.

 

Hand 22 (NV, 2nd seat) T98 / A4 / A964 / AQ74. Pass out; partner held 2 / QT7632 / KQJ2 / 92, and we'd have made 11 tricks in hearts since everything was onside. Oh well, not sure we'd have gotten to game anyway. Running score 7480.

 

Hand 23 (Vul, dealer) AQ4 / 873 / Q84 / K532. Pass in first seat and raise partner's 1 heart bid to 4. He has 5 / AKQ95 / T52 / Q976. He's able to throw a diamond loser on a spade, but still loses 2 tricks in clubs. I did too much. -100 / 7380.

 

Hand 24 (NV, 4th seat) T5 / K / AKJ3 / KQ8432 - pass out; we can make 10 tricks in clubs (and opps can make 8 in spades). Running score 7380.

 

Hand 25 (NV, 3rd seat) KQT9 / Q84 / A74 / KJ9 - pass in 3rd seat (hoping for another deal), but West opens 3 hearts. I guess to double this, and partner bids and makes 4 clubs with 743 / 3 / KT9 / AQ8643. Had I guessed to bid 3NT, we'd have made it (East has no entries). Not the first or last time I'll do the wrong thing. +130 / 7510.

 

Hand 26 (Vul, 2nd seat) KT72 / T94 / AQ / AKQ8 - opps are silent and bidding goes 1 club / 1 diamond / 2 spades / 4 spades. Hey - I get to play a hand (my 2nd of the session). Partner has AJ84 / Q3 / JT973 / J5. A diamond is led; I play off two top spades (queen dropping), then throw some hearts on some clubs and make 11 tricks. +650 / 8160.

 

Hand 27 (NV, Dealer) AJ96 / KJ72 / A8 / K62. Pass in first seat, and East in 4th seat opens 3 clubs. Here (like before) I double, and partner bids 3 hearts. Without thinking too much, I raise this to game; turns out this shows 17+ (even after passing 1st seat) - it's not that far from what I have but is enough to encourage partner to cuebid in clubs. We settle in at 5 hearts, and I get to see partner's collection of K32 / Q654 / T652 / AJ. Ugh. Hearts are also 5-0 (and clubs 0-8); CHO plays pretty well for off two. Turns out with good defense they can only make 7 tricks in clubs; at least I didn't have to spend any time or energy playing or defending. -100 / 8060

 

Hand 28 (Vul, 4th seat) 72 / QJ964 / A6 / AQ65. Bidding to me is 1D / Pass / 1S / ? - I enter with a double, and partner bids 2 clubs. Opps eventually double this; partner holds QT543 / T / J32 / K832. Double dummy the contract can't be set, and indeed CHO takes 8 tricks. +180 / 8240. Maybe I should have redoubled. [/s]

 

Hand 29 (Vul, 3rd seat) AKJ532 / QJ / Q952 / 4. In front of me, East bids 1 heart. I overcall a spade and West raises his partner to 4 hearts. Not expecting partner to chime in, I bid 4 spades, which is off two (partner had Q76 / 8 / 763 / KQ7632). Good news: opps can/will make 11 tricks in hearts; opps didn't double. -200 / 8040.

 

Hand 30 (NV, 2nd seat) AKQT86 / A4 / 93 / AJ5 - another dubious overbid of 2 clubs here; opps are silent and bidding goes 2 clubs / 2 diamonds / 2 spades / 3 hearts / 3 spades / 4 diamonds / 4 spades. Was hoping partner would introduce notrump, but wasn't so lucky. Heart jack is led and partner holds - / KT952 / AJ764 / 982. Win the heart in hand and play three rounds of trumps (they're 4-3, but the jack doesn't fall); then play a heart to the board, and west tosses a club. Use the ruffing finesse to get my 10th trick; contract can be made if West ruffs the heart to the board and then plays a diamond assuming I play for him to have the KQ. Not sure I'd have done so. +420 / 8460.

 

Hand 31 (Vul, dealer) - K6432 / K32 / J / AQT4 - pass in first seat; partner opens 2 hearts in 3rd seat and gets overcalled in diamonds by East. I raise partner's hearts to game. He has Q98 / AT9875 / 3 / J85. East cashes a diamond and then plays a club, which goes through to partner's jack. Partner leads the heart ten to the board; East covers this with the queen and partner wins in dummy. Not a huge believer in restricted choice, CHO then plays for the drop in hearts on the way back. Not a success, and the contract is off one as the club king is offside. This one I'd have gotten right. -100 / 8360.

 

Hand 32 (NV, 4th seat) - AJ9 / - / J865 / AKQT73 - West opens 1 heart and partner overcalls 2 diamonds, which is passed to me. I delicately raise this to 6. Partner holds Q / T6 / AKQT72 / J654, so we have 13 top tricks. Except that they ruff the opening club lead, so it's good we stopped in the small slam. +920 / 9280.

 

Hand 33 (NV, 3rd seat) - AJT92 / AQ / A / QT753. Perhaps dubiously, I open the bidding with 1 spade. LHO overcalls 2 clubs and partner raises to 2 spades. My general rule for opening NV is that I won't even consider doing it unless I'm prepared to take a simple raise to game, so I'm not about to violate that here. We sit in 4 spades and partner holds K86 / 9842 / K7543 / 9. Diamond is led, which I win with the stiff ace in order to play a club. RHO wins this with the king and leads another diamond. I toss the heart queen on this, then lead back to the ace of hearts and ruff a club in dummy. Ruff a heart in hand, then ruff the next two tricks with the king and ace of spades to guard against any overruffs. Ruff the 4th club with my last spade in dummy, ensuring 10 tricks. +420 / 9700.

 

Hand 34 (Vul, 2nd seat) - QT92 / AJT9 / A / QJ98. East opens a diamond, which I double; partner bids 3 clubs, which says 10-12 but generally shows a decent hand. Here I overbid to 5 clubs (system: 19-20), and partner raises me one more to slam. He's got K / 764 / JT42 / AK752. You definitely need luck for big scores in this game, and here mine was in. East led the ace of spades instead of a heart. And the ruffing finesse through the spade jack worked, so partner threw hearts on two spades, then cross-ruffed for 12 tricks. +1370 / 11070.

 

Hand 35 (NV, dealer) - 6 / 86532 / A7 / AKQT8 - pass in first seat, and west opens a club. Partner overcalls 1 spade and I jump to 3NT. Partner holds KQJT9 / K / KT94 / 762. West, holding AQT4 in hearts, leads the ace of this suit followed by the queen and ten, crashing his partner's J97. +400 / 11470.

 

Hand 36 (Vul, 4th seat) - AK6 / KJ64 / QT7 / QJ2 - the bidding is 1H / P / 1NT to me. I double and partner sits in 2 spades with T9732 / Q2 / 86 / AT53. He makes ten tricks when the opps don't play diamonds. +170 / 11640.

 

Hand 37 (Vul, 3rd seat) - AQ7654 / 97 / 3 / AQ97. This one gets passed out, which is a shame as we've got a double fit in spades and clubs and can take 10 tricks in either suit. Though the opps can make 11 tricks in either diamonds or hearts, so it's possible we'd not have been allowed to play there. Running score 11640.

 

Hand 38 (NV, 2nd seat) - J7 / AK3 / A65 / AT953. East opens 2 spades, which I double; West raises him to 3 spades, passed back to me. I double again and partner finally introduces hearts at the four level. He has Q3 / QJ642 / K2 / J842. Unfortunately, KQx in clubs is offside, so we are down one. -50 / 11590.

 

Hand 39 (Vul, dealer) - KJ4 / A7 / QJ842 / Q64. Hand gets passed out; partner has 11 points and everything is very friendly so we probably had a NT game. Sigh. Running score 11590.

 

Hand 40 (NV, 4th seat) - KQ74 / QJ76 / A854 / 5 - another pass out, as partner didn't feel like opening a weak two bid with AJ8653 / - / Q97 / 9763; shame, as we'd likely have made game. Opps can also take 10 tricks in hearts. Running score 11590.

 

Hand 41 (NV, 3rd seat) - QJT7 / KJ32 / K4 / A96 - partner opens 1 diamond, I bid a heart and he bids 1 spade. Raise this to game, where he plays. Spades are king-fourth onside, but the hearts and diamonds are offside and the game isn't easy. Double dummy it makes, but partner goes off one. Not sure whether I'd have made this or not, I'd lean toward not. -50 / 11540.

 

Hand 42 (Vul, 2nd seat) - Q5 / AJ / AKJ9842 / Q4 - can't even open this, as east bids 1 heart in front of me. Hoping for some luck I double, and West raises his partner to 2H. I reopen with 3D, and West competes to 3H. I reopen again with 4 diamonds, and play there. As expected, partner has just about nothing, though enough to help us to nine tricks. Opps can make 9 tricks in hearts. -100 / 11440 - about here (with 5 minutes or so to go), the bubble felt like it was bursting.

 

Hand 43 (NV, dealer) - T654 / A872 / AKJ73 / - - pass in first seat and watch the opps bid 1 club / 1NT. Double this and see partner freely compete to 2 spades after West rebids his clubs. East raises west to 3 clubs, and I bid 4 spades, which is doubled. Given the state of the match, I probably should have redoubled, but had some serious doubts here. Anyway, partner held AQJ8 / J64 / T54 / J43. Everything was onside, and we could have made 12 tricks after the opening diamond lead. CHO played a bit "safer" and held himself to 10 tricks. +690 / 12130.

 

Hand 44 (Vul, 4th seat) - AKJ63 / AJ983 / T3 / K - West opened 4 clubs; here I guessed to overcall 4 spades and played there. Partner held Q9 / K72 / QJ9652 / T8. West led the ace of diamonds, and then a heart. So I was able to draw trumps (which were 2-4) and set up diamonds without losing control. +620 / 12750.

 

Hand 45 (Vul, 3rd seat) - A2 / A7 / AKQJT72 / A9. Nice hand. I open the bidding with 2 clubs; after a double partner bids a positive 2NT, showing 8 to 11. I raise to 7. He's got the KQ of spades and K of hearts, so we have 13 tricks off the top. +2220 / 14970; hopes getting higher again.

 

Hand 46 (NV, 2nd seat) - AJ7 / 4 / AT5 / AKQT73. Still needing some scores, I open 2 clubs and see another positive 2NT from partner. This time I raise it to 6. He's got K943 / KQT / K943 / J6. Spade is led, and he plays low from my hand. This draws the queen from West, so 12 tricks are easy. +990 / 15960. About here I think there were 3 minutes or so left.

 

Hand 47 (Vul, dealer) - J9874 / AJ2 / A6 / KJ2 - pass in first seat, then watch partner bid 1D and 1NT over my 1S. Raise this to game; he's got A52 / K9 / KQT43 / Q74. Cards are friendly and he makes 11 tricks. +660 / 16620.

 

Hand 48 (NV, 4th seat) - AQT982 / QJ4 / AJ / AJ - East bids 1 heart in front of me, and I rush out a 4 spade overcall. Too much, as partner's hand is laughable: 763 / 983 / 753 / 7643. I go off two. -100 / 16520.

 

Hand 49 (NV, 3rd seat) - K92 / 963 / KQJ63 / Q4 - pass out. Running score 16520.

 

Hand 50 (Vul, 2nd seat) - QT83 / T / KQJ5 / AK92. East opens 2 hearts in front of me; I double this and it gets raised to 4 hearts by his partner. My partner doubles (showing 12+ points) and it's back to me. I think for a few seconds (which is agonizing in this time frame), and bid 4 spades. Partner has KJ9 / 3 / A9874 / T654. Spades are 3-3, but unfortunately diamonds are 3-1. And the guy with three diamonds (and the ace of trumps) leads one. East doesn't underlead his ace of hearts for the potential second diamond ruff, so I'm only down one. Nice defense, opps. -100 / 16420.

 

Hand 51 (NV, first seat) - recognized time was short and I needed a vulnerable game (or NV slam) for 17,000. So I passed QJ4 / K82 / KT5 / AKJT, and the deal passed out. partner had K8532 / AT / A9 / 8643, and the breaks were good and club queen onside. So a spade slam was actually on (whether or not there was time for it). Running score 16420.

 

Hand 52 - (Vul, 4th seat) - no hand record here; I only remember that we bid game. And it was making, though time ran out about 2/3 of the way through the hand. Sigh. Final score 16420.

 

Perhaps it's appropriate I saw 52 hands; maybe the next Right Through the Pack installment should have Master Robert dealing with all the cards that run through his head while trying to deal with this many hands in 25 minutes.

 

I expect one of us will reach 20,000 some day. But this was not to be the day.

[nathan2008]

very nice report... You have played 40 hands without counting pass-out hands... very fast. I agree with most of your biddings.

[jamegumb]

very nice report... You have played 40 hands without counting pass-out hands... very fast. I agree with most of your biddings.

 

Thanks; naturally, I agree with most of my bidding as well - though naturally not everything. There's not a whole lot of time to ponder here, so every once in a while you make a click you'd really like to have back. Usually about the time your electronic partner is returning with -800.

 

It's also become increasingly apparent to me just how crucial both computer speed and network speed are toward playing a maximal amount of hands. I've gotten my three top scores (in the 16-18,000s) on my "A" setup - fast computer, fast network; unfortunately I've only played about 5% of my tourneys on that setup. Most have been played on the "B" setup - middling computer, middling network; there's also now the "C" setup of iPad and decent network.

 

I generally get about 50-55 hands seen in the "A" setup, 35-45 on the "B" setup, and 30-35 on the iPad. If an additional hand is worth, say, 175 points, then my expected outcome on the fast setup should be over 2000 points higher than the slower setup. And that's for average matches; the difference may well be exacerbated at the extremes - my high score on the "B" setup is below 15,000. I recently got a 14,980 on the B set-up while seeing 37 hands (6 of those were passed out, so only 31 actually played); the pace was unlikely to continue but it's easy to extrapolate "what might have been" given a few more hands here.

 

And the iPad setup is just for fun/convenience. BBO needs to allow autoplaying singletons there, for one thing.

 

I don't know what computer set-ups others are generally using. But it's going to be difficult for anyone to reach 20,000 unless they're using something pretty speedy.

[Lord Molyb]

My computer is really slow, even though it's new, takes about 45 seconds for the robots to play the hand so I only get about 40 hands done per robot race. :(

(That includes passouts also)

[SelfGovern]

Wow I'm shocked if it's that much lol. Just how slowly were you playing your singletons before?!?

In tempo, I am sure. Doesn't everyone?

[nxw0016]

How is everyone doing in the 15 minute race now? And with the new web version/mobile app how many hands do you usually get to finish (without counting passout hands) in 15 minutes?

It seems to be the robot has become slower since they got rid of the flash version of BBO.

Any thoughts?