[boatchik]

Hi.

I just played in a robot tournament and I want to complain about the robots' bidding. This is not the first time I have been on the receiving end of some really wacky bidding by a robot on BBO in a tournament, but I felt compelled to say something to you after my experience in the tournament this afternoon.

Today, I bid 2D over the opponent's opening 1D bid. The robot then bid a S [holding the 752 of Ss only]. I went to 4Ss, holding AJ986. Then, the robot took me to Blackwood and then slam [6Ss]. I was astounded to see when the bidding was over that my robot partner had only 3 HCPs in his entire hand. That is just wrong. My question to you: Can BBO fix it so that the robots' bids are more like people on BBO? I'm really trying to earn some master points, but as long as a robot's bid is that unpredictable, this is not the way to do it, and it's a costly and discouraging experience as well.

Thanks!

Just call me "Blasted" [by my robot partner].

[Bbradley62]

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boatchik, on 2013-January-05, 16:12, said:

Today, I bid 2D over the opponent's opening 1D bid. The robot then bid a S [holding the 752 of Ss only]. I went to 4Ss, holding AJ986.

So you bid 2♦ Michaels over opp's 1♦, showing that you had 5 spades and 5 hearts. North dutifully showed his 3-card support for one of your suits at the lowest available level. Then, since you still had 5 good spades, you bid game all by yourself when your partner might have had a yarborough. So, basically your first two bids were both very misleading to your partner.

boatchik, on 2013-January-05, 16:12, said:

Then, the robot took me to Blackwood and then slam [6Ss]. I was astounded to see when the bidding was over that my robot partner had only 3 HCPs in his entire hand. That is just wrong. My question to you: Can BBO fix it so that the robots' bids are more like people on BBO? I'm really trying to earn some master points, but as long as a robot's bid is that unpredictable, this is not the way to do it, and it's a costly and discouraging experience as well.

Thanks!

Just call me "Blasted" [by my robot partner].

Of course GIB does not have a slam-worthy hand, even if you actually do hold what you said you had. Hopefully the programming staff can do something about this frequently-reported situation.