[tmgrl4]

I did a search in these forums and didn't find this information.

I am a beginner and I know the bots use 2/1 and that is hard for me, but I enjoy playing the tourneys.

I noticed recently on the Best Hand tourneys, for example, which allow you to hover over the left upper right by the seating/vulnerability board, to see the current scores as you play.

Several times yesterday, I played Best Hands.

As soon as my first hand came up for the 25 minutes of timed play, I hovered over the left upper board, and there was already a person with a score.

How can this happen? Time delays around the world.

Also, sometimes the hands are horrible and, yet, the top winners earn 10,000 points and those just below not far behind.

Is there something to know about the bot play that would be helpful other than to
tell me to LEARN, since I am a beginner?

Thanks, all.

terri

I am just getting up the courage to play in the BIL tourneys and haven't been dead last in those at least. I am a real beginner, just a few months, but love bridge.

[helene_t]

I have the same experience. Sometimes other players will be on the scoreboard at the time I get to make my first call. I suppose they have faster connections than I have.

[TimG]

tmgrl4, on Feb 21 2010, 08:46 AM, said:

Also, sometimes the hands are horrible and, yet, the top winners earn 10,000 points and those just below not far behind.

These are not duplicate tournaments, everyone does not get the same hands.

[tmgrl4]

Ah...not getting the same hands. Now that makes sense. I do better on the duplicate board tourneys (not much, LOL). Much better when I play real-time live tourneys at BIL, where I don't have to understand 2/1.

Also, twice on the Best Hands I was in the top group, or least the $BB earning list.

Thank you!

I thought about connection time and speed, but my computer is pretty fast

terri

[barmar]

In Best Hand tournaments, good strategy is to pass out many hands that you would normally open, because you don't want to waste time playing part scores when time is limited and you're being ranked on total points. So all the players who show up immediately on the leaderboard probably have 0 points because they passed out the first hand.

BTW, if you use the web client instead of the windows app, you don't need to hover over the diagram to see the leaderboard, it's displayed the entire time. This is very useful to see how far you are from the players around you.

[bid_em_up]

barmar, on Feb 21 2010, 09:17 PM, said:

So all the players who show up immediately on the leaderboard probably have 0 points because they passed out the first hand.

It has been my experience that these scores are usually positive (sometimes negative), and I do not recall ever seeing a zero score.

[barmar]

You're probably not using the web client, so you don't see the scores that pop up in the first 5-10 seconds. I don't think even jdonn can bid and play a non-passout hand that quickly. If you're checking the leaderboard after you play the first board, then by that time there will be some boards that were actually played, and they'll have non-zero scores.

A couple of nights ago I bid and made a slam on the first board.

[bid_em_up]

barmar, on Feb 22 2010, 09:01 PM, said:

A couple of nights ago I bid and made a slam on the first board.

And I bet it took you more than a minute to do so.

I frequently see positive scores (1430, 620, 590, 140, etc.) and one minute has not elapsed off the clock. The clock still says 25 minutes.

Explain that.

[jdonn]

You can bid and play a full hand in well less than a minute if you are fast and gib doesn't think forever on it. Probably as fast as 30 seconds is just possible. Anyway sorry for playing quickly and ruining all your experiences!

[jdonn]

bid_em_up, on Feb 23 2010, 11:58 AM, said:

I frequently see positive scores (1430, 620, 590, 140, etc.) and one minute has not elapsed off the clock. The clock still says 25 minutes.

Explain that.

Other players are faster than you and can finish a hand in less than a minute! That wasn't hard to explain.

[Jlall]

1 board in less than 1 minute?! UNPOSSIBLE!

[bid_em_up]

jdonn, on Feb 23 2010, 12:03 PM, said:

bid_em_up, on Feb 23 2010, 11:58 AM, said:

I frequently see positive scores (1430, 620, 590, 140, etc.) and one minute has not elapsed off the clock.  The clock still says 25 minutes.

Explain that.

Other players are faster than you and can finish a hand in less than a minute! That wasn't hard to explain.

I must just get the slow bots (not to mention the dumb ones as well).

[barmar]

Read the GIB Robot Discussion forum, you'll see that we ALL get the dumb ones.

But I think Josh and Justin really are just faster at playing with them. Josh has mentioned in the past playing over 30 boards. I think my max is around 24, and that probably included about 8 passouts. Lightning fast bidding and playing is something you need to excel at this form of the game.

[TimG]

I've kept track of deals played and passouts for my last 100 or so games. The most deals I have finished is 35, the most passouts is 17, and the most non-passouts completed is 21. Unless I am terribly consistent, I must be completing some non-passout deals in less than a minute and I don't consider myself especially fast.

[A2003]

TimG, on Feb 24 2010, 10:14 PM, said:

I've kept track of deals played and passouts for my last 100 or so games.  The most deals I have finished is 35, the most passouts is 17, and the most non-passouts completed is 21.  Unless I am terribly consistent, I must be completing some non-passout deals in less than a minute and I don't consider myself especially fast.

====================================
Tournament description:
Says
Boards: 25
Duration: 25 minutes.

Is 35 boards possible?

[barmar]

Ignore "Boards: 25", it's not enforced in Robot Race/Rewards.