[lindgm]

In Robot Duplicate competitions, the Robot in pair with the human player, plays the hand, if it has got the bid.
I think it would be better if the human player always played the hand, independent on which of the two that got the bid. I think the human player should have as much influence as possible on the game, since it is the human players that compete, not the Robots!

[barmar]

We made this change months ago, except for the ACBL robot duplicates. Changing the latter requires agreement by ACBL.

[Bbradley62]

The last update we have about this from BBO staff is:

uday, on 2012-August-28, 10:39 said:

ACBL Games - have to make sure it is OK w/the ACBL, working on it.

Any more current information?

[barmar]

We just go the approval today, to try this on an experimental basis. We haven't decided the exact schedule, but it should be coming soon.

[Leo LaSota]

 barmar, on 2013-January-28, 15:08, said:

We just go the approval today, to try this on an experimental basis. We haven't decided the exact schedule, but it should be coming soon.

Barmar,

Thank you for the good news. The ACBL robot games are a good measure of ability at certain aspects of bridge and requiring the human to declare all of the hands for their side will only measure ability even more.

By the way, please make an announcement in a news story before you begin the "experimental" trial.

[pigpenz]

It would be nice then if they dont flip the table around or make sure there is a bidding box for view
Thats what i hated about commercial gib, eg you get used to bid to your right you declare for partner but were programmed to bid being to your right.actually i dont mind taking a break when gib plays.

I would like to see games where we dont always have the best hand at the table to me that
would be real bridge

[barmar]

If you use the web version, the bidding diagram is always visible.

When we first added Human Declares, we didn't flip the table around and there were complaints. Then we flipped the table and other players complained. Some have suggested that this be made an option, but our policy is to keep them to a minimum.

[pigpenz]

 barmar, on 2013-January-29, 10:09, said:

If you use the web version, the bidding diagram is always visible.

When we first added Human Declares, we didn't flip the table around and there were complaints. Then we flipped the table and other players complained. Some have suggested that this be made an option, but our policy is to keep them to a minimum.

yes i understand
it just a visual mind cue type of thing
since you are used to what happens in rotation from your point of view.
that was one the things I hated the most in the commercial GIB version.

[lindgm]

 barmar, on 2013-January-28, 15:08, said:

We just go the approval today, to try this on an experimental basis. We haven't decided the exact schedule, but it should be coming soon.

Very good!
Looking forward to it!

[lizlemon]

 lindgm, on 2013-January-29, 13:22, said:

Very good!
Looking forward to it!

I appreciate the effort to provide more human play, but this change definitely favors the fast-playing, more experienced players (maybe that's the idea?)

For slower intermediate players like me who time out a fair amount, this change slows down the game quite a bit.

Why not provide an option if you want the robot to play his hand, or if you want to play when the partner robot becomes declarer?

Or, how about if you let the intermediate players use the full 55 minutes now that play is slower, rather than kicking out players who are thinking near the end of game?

[barmar]

 lizlemon, on 2013-February-02, 07:47, said:

I appreciate the effort to provide more human play, but this change definitely favors the fast-playing, more experienced players (maybe that's the idea?)

For slower intermediate players like me who time out a fair amount, this change slows down the game quite a bit.

Why not provide an option if you want the robot to play his hand, or if you want to play when the partner robot becomes declarer?

Because then it wouldn't be fair. For this to be a proper duplicate competition, all the humans need to be playing with the same rules. It would be like a pro-am allowing the am to switch seats with the pro (you decide whether the robot is the pro or am in your partnership).

Quote

Or, how about if you let the intermediate players use the full 55 minutes now that play is slower, rather than kicking out players who are thinking near the end of game?

We changed this on Jan 22 -- we only kick out players who are red (disconnected), not if they're slow.

We did increase the length of the 18 board tournaments.

55 minutes really should be enough time for 12 boards. It's the same length as the speedballs, but it's not as fast paced because there's only one human at the table who needs to think.