[Bbradley62]

First, North makes a simple raise that could easily have been passed out at the 2-level; then he makes a slam try after partner shows a minimum.

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[ArtK78]

Not a slam try - lead directing 4♦ bid on the way to the 4♥ sac against 3♠.

[barmar]

GIB often walks the dog in competitive auctions when it has a 10-card fit. Once the opponents show that they also have a fit, it keeps bidding.

[Bbradley62]

 barmar, on 2011-November-02, 12:02, said:

GIB often walks the dog in competitive auctions when it has a 10-card fit. Once the opponents show that they also have a fit, it keeps bidding.

Does this mean we like it that way?

[barmar]

It seemed to work well this time. 4♥ goes down 1 when the opponents can make 4♠.

it's kind of a timid way of bidding, hoping that the opponents will let you buy the contract at a low level, but intending to keep competing if they push you. When you're not too weak (GIB has 9 HCP), this sometimes works.

[calm01]

'Walking the dog' was losing bridge from the very first day it was invented. Opponents (sometimes even GIB) can also count their fit(s) if given the bidding space.

Why - with a super fit (10+) - give the opponents space to describe their hands and show both strength as well as support and/or make lead directing bids or locate a double fit when you know where you want to be and have no intention of punishing opponents?

Answer - you prefer losing as opposed to being able to bid more often.

So why has a human psychological problem apparently been actively been programmed into GIB?

Call in the vet quickly to humanely put down that electronic dog!

calm01

[fred]

 calm01, on 2011-November-04, 15:30, said:

So why has a human psychological problem apparently been actively been programmed into GIB?

I don't think it is really intentional - IMO it is closer to being a bug.

I am guessing the North's hand does not fit very well into GIB's rules and that this caused it to make the initial (stupid IMO) 2H bid.

The fact that GIB bid freely 2 levels higher than it did when it limited its hand with a non-forcing 2H and after partner passed throughout is in a sense easy to forgive given the ridiculous situation GIB put itself in. But this does illustrate one of GIB's glaring weaknesses - it does not understand that one is NEVER supposed to bid 4H in an auction like this (let alone make a slam try!).

GIB's lack of consistency after it has limited its hand has been one my pet peeves for a long time now. Unfortunately finding a general solution to this problem is a lot easier said than done. Our GIB programming staff is aware of this issue and I am hopeful that they will begin to try to attack it before too long.

But even if they don't make any headway, if GIB's logic for knowing how high to raise on the first round were to be improved, auctions like this one would be considerably less common.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com