[gszeszycki]

NO matter HOW GOOD (or bad) robots become at declaring there is no substitute
for practice. Temporarily switch robot to dummy and human to declarer any time human/robot pair win the auction (a patch may have to be introduced to keep dummy from seeing all 4 hands under these circumstances).

The benefit of increased practice alone is worth the switch but there is an additional benefit. The strongest declarers will get to bring their skills to bear more often and they wont be so fearful in the bidding because they are worried about a robot butchering their bidding with horrid play. The human player may also practice damage control much more effectively than a robot will. When faced with a truly horrid contract the human player may take a line of play that offers far less chance of getting totally slaughtered.

Robots are ok for practice but nothing is gained by watching them play as dummy.

[barmar]

gszeszycki, on May 6 2010, 03:17 PM, said:

Robots are ok for practice but nothing is gained by watching them play as dummy.

Except maybe in Robot Race tourneys, where speed is of the essence.

Yours is probably the most frequent request about robot games.

[jdonn]

It's about time we had an angry thread on this topic.

[junyi_zhu]

gszeszycki, on May 6 2010, 07:17 PM, said:

NO matter HOW GOOD (or bad) robots become at declaring there is no substitute
for practice. Temporarily switch robot to dummy and human to declarer any time human/robot pair win the auction (a patch may have to be introduced to keep dummy from seeing all 4 hands under these circumstances).

The benefit of increased practice alone is worth the switch but there is an additional benefit. The strongest declarers will get to bring their skills to bear more often and they wont be so fearful in the bidding because they are worried about a robot butchering their bidding with horrid play. The human player may also practice damage control much more effectively than a robot will. When faced with a truly horrid contract the human player may take a line of play that offers far less chance of getting totally slaughtered.

Robots are ok for practice but nothing is gained by watching them play as dummy.

I think at least player should have an option to whether allow gib to declare. This way actually can attract more players, cause players tend to blame gib when the result is bad. Now, with this option on, nobody can really blame gib. Also, it makes bidding easier. The adjustment of bidding to declare more by the human player is non-existing and the bridge experience is certainly more pleasant for everybody. Also, if one thinks gib plays better, he still can allow gib to declare.

[Free]

I think we've had this suggestion a lot. Gwnn?

Btw I agree, GIB shouldn't declare any contracts if it's playing with a human.

[helene_t]

Some single-user software, in which the human is always South, allows the human to declare on behalf of the robot partner, meaning that dummy is on the bottom of the screen when you are declaring, which is not consistent with how BBO otherwise works.

Alternatively, the board could be turned 180 degrees, which means that if the opponent (whether it's a robot or a human) who bid hearts during the action on your left, during the play you will now have the heart length on your right. I expect many will get declarer play messed up because of the confusion.

Anyway, this is a minor issue. So I support the suggestion.