Was that a viable bid or scheming the system?

[22tango2]

I was disgusted with my result on one hand in a ACBL Roboo tourney i played a couple of days ago.

 

W, the dealer, had 10 HCP and passed

N had 5 HCP and passed

E had 9 HCP and passed.

 

I had 16 HCP with:

♠: J 10 9 7

♥: A 10 2

♦ A K Q 9 3

♣: Q

 

Obviously there is only 1 bid for me, 1 ♦. That's what i bid and then it was passed out. I played 1 ♦ and made 2. Not so bad, I guess. given the hand and 5 pts. from my partner.

 

Then I looked at the other tables - 7 people played 1 no trump!?#

 

Why/how in the world would one open 1 NT with a singleton Q??

 

Is there some strategy in playing these matches that sets aside all normal conventions to take a huge risk?? Hoping for a big reward in return for big penalty?

 

As a side observation: a couple of people bid 1♦ and made 3 or 4 D. I understand why my result lagged those who made better plays than I did.

 

It's the 1 NT bids that are baffling.

 

dan

[hrothgar]

There are a number of people, myself included, who advocate opening on 4441 and some 5431 patterns to avoid an awkward rebid.

Some like to have a a stiff honor. Others don't care so much.

 

I am pretty sure that there are a lot more people practicing this style when they play with robots.

 

GIBs bidding after a 1NT opening is often better than it is after a more wide ranging opening.

Moreover, the opening sometimes throws off its defense.

 

Somewhat surprised that you've never seen this before.

Its far from uncommon.

[1eyedjack]

I confess that I would have opened 1N opposite a GIB robot. No guarantees. There never are.