GIBS and the card dealing system

[toastlots]

I have been using GIBS for quite some time.

 

Whenever I start a new table I seem to get the first hand with sufficient points so I can bid, but then follows at least 9-10 hands (it might be more but i normally give up at this point and leave the table for a break) where I can neither open nor respond to my GIB partners bids.

 

This does happen every single time.

 

Is the system set up deliberately so that I seem to spend my entire time defending?

 

There is nothing wrong with gaining experience in defending, but after a while it can get boring and soul destroying and to be honest any player needs to learn and experience both defending and attacking.

 

Does anyone else experience this lack of attacking hands when playing with GIBs?

[1eyedjack]

I don't know if this helps to add some perspective:

 

From 09 October 2013 to 31 October 2013 inclusive you played 366 hands against GIB.

 

Passed out: 19

You declared: 109

Your GIB partner declared: 87

Opponents declared: 151

 

From 01 November 2013 to date 15 Novemebr 2013 you played 384 hands against GIB.

 

Passed out: 32

You declared: 131

Your GIB partner declared: 93

Your opponents declared: 128

[helene_t]

It might be that you or your partner tend to be dealer on the first board because you sit NS, which makes it slightly more likely that you declare.

 

Other than that, I think what you observed is just a coincidence.

[toastlots]

Thank you both for those replies.

Wow, I didnt know such a record of what I have played was possible to record and bring up.

But now that you have, yes it does seem to bring a little perspective into things.

I guess it always seems worse than it really is.

I think i will try sitting north a little more often thoug

[1eyedjack]

I didnt know such a record of what I have played was possible to record and bring up.

 

Yes, as you see from my response to your other thread, this is possible for a limited time (which is why I could only go back as far as 09 October)

 

As for analysing and summarising the results, there are third party applications that drill into MyHands and do the organising for you. The most sophisticated and powerful of these is a program called BridgeBrowser written by Stephen Pickett. I think that this costs a fee, but the data goes back well beyond the last 2 months.

 

I make do with a program called Double Dummy Solver, written mainly by Bob Richardson. It is funded by voluntary donations but available to download for free from his "Bridge Captain" software website here

http://www.bridge-captain.com/downloadDD.html

 

For others reading this thread who are familiar with the program the latest version is 9.94a, and it has been steadily improving in functionality and bug fixes. One of the recent enhances, for those who play in ACBL events outside of BBO, is the facility to download results from ACBL events and The Common Game (I think that this requires a subscription).

 

Anyway, this is what I used to get a count of the hands that you declared.

 

The program runs under Windows (or emulators thereof).

[toastlots]

Yes, as you see from my response to your other thread, this is possible for a limited time (which is why I could only go back as far as 09 October)

 

As for analysing and summarising the results, there are third party applications that drill into MyHands and do the organising for you. The most sophisticated and powerful of these is a program called BridgeBrowser written by Stephen Pickett. I think that this costs a fee, but the data goes back well beyond the last 2 months.

 

I make do with a program called Double Dummy Solver, written mainly by Bob Richardson. It is funded by voluntary donations but available to download for free from his "Bridge Captain" software website here

http://www.bridge-captain.com/downloadDD.html

 

For others reading this thread who are familiar with the program the latest version is 9.94a, and it has been steadily improving in functionality and bug fixes. One of the recent enhances, for those who play in ACBL events outside of BBO, is the facility to download results from ACBL events and The Common Game (I think that this requires a subscription).

 

Anyway, this is what I used to get a count of the hands that you declared.

 

The program runs under Windows (or emulators thereof).

 

Thank you for that.

I should have responded well before now.

I should have added at the time that these statistics were produced I had been playing in many gib tournaments where one almost always plays every hand which I believe skews those statistics rather a bit

I have just played 15 boards on a gib table and only 3 hands were 12+ face card points

This from memmory (rather than seen statistics) happens every session or seems to do so.

This does get rather boring defending all the time, and I almost feel forced to pay for gib tournaments just to get a few attacking plays?

 

This happens almost every session i start a gib table

[1eyedjack]

There are a number of dangers to avoid here. This may not be all of them:

 

1) Using too small a sample size

2) Using a sample that had not been randomly selected

3) Using a non-robust method of selection (ie memory)

4) Drawing unwarranted conclusions from the sample (ie overstating the significance of the an apparently surprising observed result.)

 

I start from a position of trust: I trust BBO to deal hands that have the outward appearance of randomness. I know that they are not truly random, but I expect them to conform to statistically expected frequencies. I have to say also that my personal observations do not cause me to doubt it. To dent that trust I would need to see some fairly compelling evidence.

 

I am not a statistician. But what little I know informs me that with a small population you should not be surprised by large deviations from the norm. I am also conscious that memory is a fickle source.

 

You have made one important point: In many GIB tournaments you are dealt a hand that is guaranteed to have at least 10 HCP with no other hand at the table having more than you. In such cases I would expect your side (perhaps not you personally) to declare more than half of the hands. If you know GIB's bidding system and quirks you might even skew the declaration in favour of yourself at partner's expense, such as by opening NT outside of normal parameters, where the declaration then tends to favour opener. Playing at GIB tables other than tournaments (and some tournaments) that "best hand with South" feature does not apply. Added to which, in most GIB tournaments you get to play the hand even when dummy.

 

But that factor should, I would have thought, give rise to the opposite effect to that which you claim to observe (that you defend a high proportion of the time).

 

To be honest, unless you do the job a bit more rigorously and impartially, I would not expect you to get a lot of support for your position among readers of this thread. I provided you with a tool to do this earlier (assuming that you have a Windows machine).

[johnu]

I have been using GIBS for quite some time.

 

Whenever I start a new table I seem to get the first hand with sufficient points so I can bid, but then follows at least 9-10 hands (it might be more but i normally give up at this point and leave the table for a break) where I can neither open nor respond to my GIB partners bids.

 

This does happen every single time.

 

Is the system set up deliberately so that I seem to spend my entire time defending?

 

A similar thing happened to me in hold'em poker. I used to lose every time I started off with pocket aces. When I flopped a 4 card straight or flush, I completed a hand less than 5%. On the other hand, my opponents never lost with pocket aces, and against me, they completed a straight or flush about 90% of the time. My luck finally changed when I started to play under an assumed name and finally found a lucky baseball cap after going through several boxes of them. I also changed the way I stacked my chips and bought a super sized set of dice to put on top of my cards during play.

 

I would suggest creating a new user ID so that GIB doesn't recognize you, and switch your mouse to the other hand. You should also buy a supply of baseball caps and keep switching them until you find one that works. May the force be with you.

[Bbradley62]

It looks to me like you played three GIB sessions today (including the one you mentioned), totalling 39 hands. (Here, "today" means 2/22 in my time zone, which might be different than yours.) This is still a small sample size, but... 3 of the hands were passed out. Of the remaining 36, you declared 8, your partner played 9, and you defended 19. That's pretty darned close to average.