[kjpod]

Twice tonight during an IMP Instant tournament I found the bots I played against deviated from the rest of the field in an otherwise identical auction. One hand the East bot held:

♠AKQ1097
♥83
♦42
♣J75

At every table the player opened 1♦, double by West, pass by North. At this point East bids 2♠, after which if South sensibly passes the auction ends and the bots score +170 or +200.

Except at my table. At my table East bid 2♦, after which West bid 2NT and East jumped to the cold 4♠, resulting in a completely out-of-my-control 6.6 IMPs loss for me.

Admittedly it's a close decision, and if GIB had decided half the time to go one way and half to go another, then I'd chalk it up as rub of the green. But being the only player to get this opposition bidding seems wrong.

On the second hand again the East bot was the deviator.

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At tables where South (in fourth seat) opened 1♣, West doubled, North redoubled, and East bid 2♠. Except at my table, where the bot chose for some reason to bid 2♥. Commonly, over 2♠ South bid 3♣, ending the auction and scoring +130. But having less reason to step in front of a potential penalty double of 2♥, I passed, and North reopened with 3♣, over which East now pressed on with 3♥.

This story had a happier ending for me. I chose, perhaps dubiously, to compete with 4♣, and North, most definitely dubiously, carried on to 5♣. But hold on! West led a trump and I pulled a second round, then led a spade up. West bot, never suspecting his partner held five spades, ducked, and I chalked up +600.

So, overall a gain for me, but still a concern, that the bots are clearly playing differently against me than against the field I am scoring against. Is this a bug or a feature?

[the hog]

"At this point East bids 2♠"
I m not sure I am reading this correctly. Are you suggestion E should bid 2S? If this is what you meant you are kidding, right?

On the second hand you opened 1C in 4th seat with this hand and a stiff S? I would have passed out he hand.

[iandayre]

This is the way the instant tournaments work. You play against the current version of GIB, but the human players you are competing against played in the past against an earlier version. So yes, it is common that they bid differently against you than they did against your competitors.

And as you have already seen, this can help you or hurt you.

[wank]

kjpod, on 2015-January-24, 19:41, said:

Admittedly it's a close decision,

no it's not. east has a game force on the first hand.

[Bbradley62]

iandayre, on 2015-January-24, 20:36, said:

This is the way the instant tournaments work. You play against the current version of GIB, but the human players you are competing against played in the past against an earlier version. So yes, it is common that they bid differently against you than they did against your competitors.

And as you have already seen, this can help you or hurt you.

One possibly interesting/helpful analysis might be to determine whether the newer GIBs played better or worse than the older GIBs.

[Bbradley62]

On this board, it certainly appears that GIB's bidding has improved.

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[Bbradley62]

the hog, on 2015-January-24, 20:02, said:

On the second hand you opened 1C in 4th seat with this hand and a stiff S? I would have passed out he hand.

If I had been sitting North, it wouldn't have gone three passes to you.

[kjpod]

the hog, on 2015-January-24, 20:02, said:

"At this point East bids 2♠"
I m not sure I am reading this correctly. Are you suggestion E should bid 2S?

No, I am saying that is what the bot, the older version apparently, actually did. It would not be my choice either, but it is better than 2H.

Quote

On the second hand you opened 1C in 4th seat with this hand and a stiff S? I would have passed out he hand.

I'm as big a fan of passing as anyone, and I'm aware of the Rule of 15, but that seems to take the rule too far. Too much offensive potential in the hand.

[kjpod]

iandayre, on 2015-January-24, 20:36, said:

This is the way the instant tournaments work.

Thanks for the clarification.

[1eyedjack]

Bbradley62, on 2015-January-25, 11:10, said:

On this board, it certainly appears that GIB's bidding has improved.

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what would be the difference between an immediate 4S by East contrasted with via 2D?

[Bbradley62]

1eyedjack, on 2015-January-25, 15:15, said:

what would be the difference between an immediate 4S by East contrasted with via 2D?

Dunno. Maybe East doesn't want to handcuff partner if his intention was to double-and-correct to clubs. Barring that, it's certainly possible that 4♠ is best, but 2♦ is an improvement over 2♠ if that bid is not forcing.