Are we setting up correctly?

[ClarkNK]

We have recently started using this website and have run into these impressions:

 

We started with the free option, and we are quite sure we were seeing repeat hands come up.

 

So I was told that is "probably because you aren't paying", which may or may not be true, but just in case, I bought some BB$ to rent a robot to see if that made any difference. The process I now use is I login, go to "casual", create a table with robots (pay with the weekly robot option), then replace each robot with the other players usernames.

 

So question 1: Is that the proper way to set up our game? and

 

Question 2: Does it make any difference if we pay for the daily robot vs. the weekly robot?

 

Having done that, we are still under the impression that the hands are not random. For example, yesterday we played 11 hands and the contract went to E-W in all but one hand. Now, I understand that is possible (but pretty unlikely) even if the hands are random. And none of us have photographic memory, but we would also swear that we occasionally see a repeat deal.

 

So question 2: Have others experienced this apparent lack of randomness? And if so, what is the solution, if any?

 

Thanks for any comments or insights.

[paulg]

We have recently started using this website and have run into these impressions:

 

We started with the free option, and we are quite sure we were seeing repeat hands come up.

All the hands you've played are available at http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/index.php. Please show us the repeat hands.

 

So I was told that is "probably because you aren't paying", which may or may not be true, but just in case, I bought some BB$ to rent a robot to see if that made any difference.

The BBO hands are all random wherever you play. It makes no difference if you are 'paying' or not.

 

The process I now use is I login, go to "casual", create a table with robots (pay with the weekly robot option), then replace each robot with the other players usernames.

 

So question 1: Is that the proper way to set up our game? and

 

Question 2: Does it make any difference if we pay for the daily robot vs. the weekly robot?

 

Having done that, we are still under the impression that the hands are not random. For example, yesterday we played 11 hands and the contract went to E-W in all but one hand. Now, I understand that is possible (but pretty unlikely) even if the hands are random. And none of us have photographic memory, but we would also swear that we occasionally see a repeat deal.

 

So question 2: Have others experienced this apparent lack of randomness? And if so, what is the solution, if any?

 

Thanks for any comments or insights.

The hands are random. You are wasting your time and money with the way you are setting up the game, just open the table and invite your friends to play.

 

The difference between the daily robot and the weekly robot is that the latter is a stronger player. Basically it thinks for longer before making a decision.

[Stephen Tu]

The link paulg posted is broken (the period of his sentence got erroneously included in the link), use http://bridgebase.com/myhands instead.