robot play with less conventions

[shucks]

I very much enjoy the robot tournaments and play quiet a bit. However I can not get anyone in my locality to play. The problem is that no one in 90 miles uses all these conventions and they do not want to learn as none of their friends do either. I have played in Nationals and Regionals and I know that a lot of people everywhere do not either.

 

I believe that if there was a second level of these robot tournaments which would use only yellow card or less many more people would play. I submit that GIB is way over the heads of most recreational players.

 

If this is not possible, does anyone know of another site which has simpler bridge but tournaments like BBO?

 

Thanks

[PhilG007]

I've always found the GIBs quite a challenge either as partner or adversary Sometimes their

erratic behavior is almost human (!) :)

[mlbridge]

Robots have major flaws.

 

They often indicate with their bid a certain point count which turns out they are far short of. In competition, they often make bid indicating game force to at least 3nt when they do not have the points.

 

They sometimes bid nt even though they do not have the stop in opp overcall suit because they assume you have the stop.

 

If you passed multiple times while Opp bids, one cannot then do a penalty double even at the 4 level because robot thinks it is for takeout. In fact, it is always dangerous to penalty double opp in competition because robot may continue to bid and not leave it in.

 

Robot's cue bids drive me nuts. Seems like it can never just give you a simple raise of your suit.

 

Finally, I hate the transfer options after 1nt opening. Seems like some programmer went berserk and put in every convention one can find.

 

Robots almost never do a penalty double.

 

On defense, it will often not lead your bid suit.

[mlbridge]

Oh, I forgot. If the robot passes and you open a weak 2 and the opp does not bid, the robot will still raise you because of some silly application of law of total tricks and you end up going down one.

[drunnels]

WOW. I thought I was alone. I have every one of those complaints. BUT it's a free deal, so......

Whenever the bot makes a foolish call, I raise it to 7 and then sit back and watch. Other times I just curse and logoff.

[drunnels]

And another thing. I hit REDEAL constantly because the robot hogs the hands.

[croquetfan]

if you pass robot's bid with a marginal hand and later compete by raising robot's suit it often decides it's some kind of cue bid and will never stop bidding!

[PhilG007]

Robots have major flaws.

 

They often indicate with their bid a certain point count which turns out they are far short of. In competition, they often make bid indicating game force to at least 3nt when they do not have the points.

 

They sometimes bid nt even though they do not have the stop in opp overcall suit because they assume you have the stop.

 

If you passed multiple times while Opp bids, one cannot then do a penalty double even at the 4 level because robot thinks it is for takeout. In fact, it is always dangerous to penalty double opp in competition because robot may continue to bid and not leave it in.

 

Robot's cue bids drive me nuts. Seems like it can never just give you a simple raise of your suit.

 

Finally, I hate the transfer options after 1nt opening. Seems like some programmer went berserk and put in every convention one can find.

 

Robots almost never do a penalty double.

 

On defense, it will often not lead your bid suit.

 

I said that GIBs were almost human Then I remembered that GIbs are programmed by humans(!) A.I. never makes mistakes

[xbabarx]

GIBs is my best p

[pitbull]

I have written over 20 emails to the programmers because of many of the flaws already mentioned. I have yet to receive a reply. I have come to the conclusion that they do not want any negative feedback. They can declare a hand well but their defence is just awful....they never give you a ruff and often don't lead your suit or suits in some cases. You can bid two suits and they lead the unbid suit. Their bidding is beyond belief. I have been taken to the 7 level without checking for key cards......I have had a clear penalty double ( I had previously overcalled 1NT) and a four card suit bid!! I am a 74 year old who made life master in 1973 and have played for 60+ years. Now retired I like to play to occupy my time but these robots have me screaming at my computer. There has to be a way to improve them

[barmar]

We get dozens of robot reports every day, we don't have the resources to reply to them -- the robot programmer spends his time actually coding.

 

Every few months we upgrade the robots, the improvements are all based on feedback like yours. But we can't fix everything all at once. Please don't give up on us.

[shucks]

I didn't mean to dis our robot's bidding...I feel it is in fact too advanced for most recreational players.

 

Why couldn't we have a lower tier tournament where certain conventions were eliminated. This doesn't seem all that complicated. Of course i know nothing about coding.

 

Shucks

[barmar]

We have one programmer who spends much of his time just fixing the bugs in the existing bidding rules. Creating a new system for the robots would be a huge undertaking, and we just don't have the resources to do both.

[OldPlayr]

A robot is the perfect partner - keeps it's mouth shut and just plays.

[barmar]

A robot is the perfect partner - keeps it's mouth shut and just plays.

And when he puts you in a 4-2 fit and you curse him out, he takes no offense and comes back the next day.