Extraordinary card play by the robots

[pilowsky]

Never give up, never surrender.

I must have been tired so I played this out. The clever people just claimed 4♥-1.

Watch the ingenious card play by East at the end.

This is why you pay extra for robots in ACBL tournaments.

[Cyberyeti]

Already went wrong when W played a spade not a heart which kills it stone dead before E blows a gasket.

 

I'm trying to see what E visualisd and I can't see anything that makes any sense.

[pilowsky]

Amazed me. Money for nothing...

[FelicityR]

Utterly bizarre. Like watching some schoolchildren who have just picked up their first few bridge hands of their lives defend. (And that's perhaps - my apologies - an insult to schoolchildren as I am sure that some would have got the defence right.) How on earth does BBO expect people to pay for the robots when they do things like this? It's not rocket science to work out the distribution and the remaining cards. One error I can perhaps accept, but even the first is chronic; the second is just utterly ludicrous.

 

But as they say "It's not over until the fat lady sings." Or in Cyberyeti's words, "the bot blows a gasket'.

[pilowsky]

And so, that's how pilowsky beat some real experts and some other people and why he doesn't think he knows much about Bridge...yet.

[Huibertus]

Utterly bizarre!

 

This proves the bots are not able to count to 13. Leaders Three ♠ (and no more) are known, 4♥ are assumed (if leader has 5 ♥ the contract has been made), 3 ♣ ({assuming not 4 as in that case again the contract has been made). Therefore leader must have a diamond remaining...

[bberris]

Bots screw up. So do people. But the bots don't make clicking errors. I don't know what caused this but I know that the bots solve problems by generating simulated deals. This one seems ridiculous, I agree.

 

Anyway, I'd rather sit across from a bot, even a free one, than a random partner in an individual who calls himself advanced or an expert. I've seen much worse and I've done worse myself.

[pilowsky]

And then look at what the robots did next.

[Cyberyeti]

And then look at what the robots did next.

 

You were cold for 13 tricks as the cards lie from trick 1. Win the club in hand, heart to dummy, spade finesse, cash the hearts and then the spades and (as you cash the last spade)

 

[hv=pc=n&s=s5hdkc8&w=shdacq9&n=shd9ca4&e=shdqj6c]399|300[/hv]

 

W is squeezed in the minors, yes the robots' defence is unbelievable, GIB opens 1N with 5M so it wasn't that that caused an issue

[AL78]

You were cold for 13 tricks as the cards lie from trick 1. Win the club in hand, heart to dummy, spade finesse, cash the hearts and then the spades and (as you cash the last spade)

 

[hv=pc=n&s=s5hdkc8&w=shdacq9&n=shd9ca4&e=shdqj6c]399|300[/hv]

 

W is squeezed in the minors, yes the robots' defence is unbelievable, GIB opens 1N with 5M so it wasn't that that caused an issue

 

Wow, so West has to lead an unsupported ace or lose it.

 

Looks like the sort of hand where a pair would punt 6NT against me on a cross-imp evening. :lol:

[pilowsky]

Well, 'cold' is a strong word coming from the abominable snowman of the internet, but if you're saying that I cluelessly pulled off a squeeze without noticing, I'll take it. Any kindness in a snowstorm...

[Cyberyeti]

Well, 'cold' is a strong word coming from the abominable snowman of the internet, but if you're saying that I cluelessly pulled off a squeeze without noticing, I'll take it. Any kindness in a snowstorm...

 

You limited yourself to less than 13 tricks (as the cards lie) when you cashed the hearts too early, you needed to play one spade (to the 10 or beating the J) before cashing the rest of the hearts, E solved your problem by pitching a spade. Yes you then executed the squeeze.

[pilowsky]

You limited yourself to less than 13 tricks (as the cards lie) when you cashed the hearts too early, you needed to play one spade (to the 10 or beating the J) before cashing the rest of the hearts, E solved your problem by pitching a spade. Yes you then executed the squeeze.

 

ty - you made my day

[pilowsky]

Speaking of squeezes. I just played my regular daily (every other day or so) Challenge against a Star.

...and lost 8 IMP's to 30. A moral victory of sorts, he beat me 3/2 with 3 ties.

The brilliancy prize goes to TheOtherGuy for this amazing squeeze against the (not advanced) robots.

Here's the link.

Watch how an Expert connives to conjure an overtrick out of thin air: a thing of beauty.

Only to be watched if stoned. Don't say you weren't warned.

♠10 led. The bidding alone was worth the price of admission compared to what happened at my table.

[hv=pc=n&s=sqjhakjt7daqj7c73&w=st842h96d98654cj4&n=sak96hq82dtckqt52&e=s753h543dk32ca986&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=1hp2cp2dp2hp3dp3sp4dp4np5cp6hppp]399|300[/hv]

[johnu]

Never give up, never surrender.

I must have been tired so I played this out. The clever people just claimed 4♥-1.

Watch the ingenious card play by East at the end.

This is why you pay extra for robots in ACBL tournaments.

An unlucky guess by East at the end. It's a 50-50 tossup which card to play at the end.

[johnu]

Speaking of squeezes. I just played my regular daily (every other day or so) Challenge against a Star.

...and lost 8 IMP's to 30. A moral victory of sorts, he beat me 3/2 with 3 ties.

The brilliancy prize goes to TheOtherGuy for this amazing squeeze against the (not advanced) robots.

Here's the link.

Watch how an Expert connives to conjure an overtrick out of thin air: a thing of beauty.

Only to be watched if stoned. Don't say you weren't warned.

♠10 led. The bidding alone was worth the price of admission compared to what happened at my table.

[hv=pc=n&s=sqjhakjt7daqj7c73&w=st842h96d98654cj4&n=sak96hq82dtckqt52&e=s753h543dk32ca986&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=1hp2cp2dp2hp3dp3sp4dp4np5cp6hppp]399|300[/hv]

Another solid play by East to unblock diamonds to avoid being endplayed in clubs. If the hands were different people would be marveling at what a great play this was.

[pilowsky]

Another solid play by East to unblock diamonds to avoid being endplayed in clubs. If the hands were different people would be marveling at what a great play this was.

 

Is that what avoidance play is?

[Cyberyeti]

Is that what avoidance play is?

 

The robot is playing for declarer's diamonds to be less good than this, but it's misere here. If partner had the J or Q he'd surely have beaten the 10, so declarer's diamonds are an open book and you should make sure of one trick.

[pilowsky]

Absolutely supererogeratory card play by the advanced ACBL robots.

This time I carefully had to watch the discards and manage a crafty series of deceptive card plays to achieve the ridiculous result.

.

West leads the ♥10 and yes you guessed it! East ducks - T26Q - Here's what happened next,

[hv=pc=n&s=sa5hqdkqj8653ckt6&w=st864hat95dt2caq2&n=skq932h732da9cj94&e=sj7hkj864d74c8753&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1np2hp2sp3nppp]399|300[/hv]

[DavidKok]

Well, West could simply not fathom that you opened 1NT with this shape. I'm not sure I would blame them all that much, actually. I do confess I don't see the benefit of leading the ♥T over the ♥5, or why East is ducking. Also East should have somehow informed West of their amazing heart holding (which should be impossible based on the play to trick 1?), so West can freely pitch hearts and come down to ♠T864 ♣A in the 5-card ending. Then you can throw West in (spade ace, king, club) for 'only' 12 tricks, or more reasonably just take your top 11 tricks.

[pilowsky]

Well, West could simply not fathom that you opened 1NT with this shape. I'm not sure I would blame them all that much, actually. I do confess I don't see the benefit of leading the ♥T over the ♥5, or why East is ducking. Also East should have somehow informed West of their amazing heart holding (which should be impossible based on the play to trick 1?), so West can freely pitch hearts and come down to ♠T864 ♣A in the 5-card ending. Then you can throw West in (spade ace, king, club) for 'only' 12 tricks, or more reasonably just take your top 11 tricks.

 

I know right! - I open on my HCP - it seems to pay dividends - although I get a few weird hands. I've started to draw the line at hands with voids.

[pilowsky]

In a death-defying display of defensive devilry, the East robot cunningly and contemptuously ignores convention and gives me a convincing lesson in card-play.

Watch the trapeze act in ♦ in the end. I advise sun-block.

 

This is from a matchpoints Tournament - not a minefield I really like to enter, so I tried bidding "normally".

Here's the hand.

♠J led

[hv=pc=n&s=saq32haq76dkck652&w=sjt94hjdj643cj973&n=s7hkt5dt8752cat84&e=sk865h98432daq9cq&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=ppp1cp1dd1np2cp3nppp]399|300[/hv]

[pilowsky]

In an astonishing and action-packed array of artistry, the androids avoid annoying me again.

The ending is a real joy to watch.

Don't try this without medical supervision.

[shyams]

I'd find it hard to match South's astonishing cardplay.

[Cyberyeti]

I'd find it hard to match South's astonishing cardplay.

 

Yup, robots not much worse than declarer.

 

What should OP have done ?

 

You start with 4 spades one heart, one diamond and 2 clubs providing you can get to dummy to take the diamond.

 

So, win the spade in hand, cash a club and lead a diamond while you still have a spade entry to dummy, as it happens with ♣Q dropping and W unlikely to fly ♦A, you can now run the 9♣ and make 10 tricks trivially.

 

The rule of restricted choice says that once the ♣A has fetched the Q, since he might equally have played the J from QJ the queen is more likely to be single than from QJ.