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In an earlier posting ("Light" Preempts), I expressed the opinion that playing light pre-empts and holding ♠ -♥8xxx♦AQ109xxx♣Ax the correct call in second seat was either "1♦" or "pass." I was informed that GIB has an "absolute requirement" of 11HCP to open the bidding at the 1 level; and that "light pre-empts" was meant as a floor rather than a prescription. So how to explain the robot's opening bid on the display hand? Imagine my surprise when, at trick 6, "knowing" partner had ♠A or K to reach the "absolute requirement" of 11HCP I saw partner ruff, instead, with ♠5. Of course, I knew something was up because partner could not have ♥K as well, which would have given the robot 13 HCP to my 12 HCP; in which case declarer's play of the ♥suit (and, for that matter, the whole hand) made "absolutely" no sense But the one thing I knew was that partner had no fewer than 11 HCP.

In any case, the hand the robot the robot opened at the 1-level here is a much-less desirable opener invirtually every way than the hand on which it opened 3♦. I don't object to the light opening, but, short of strong pre-empts of 4 of a major (in the absence of NAMYATS or an alternative) I do think it's a major distortion to pre-empt with such a strong hand, which is not "very light" or "light" but "sound" and then some. For this reason, the blocks on my convention card are check "Sound (vulnerable)" and "Light" (non-vulnerable)".

The one way that the attached hand is superior as a 1-level opener is that it contains 5♥s as compared to 4. Note, though, that the robot opened 1♣ on this hand. In my limited experience, the robot tends to open weak 5-6 major/minor 2 suiters in the 6-card minor suit and never bids out its pattern, so the major suit can get lost. I believe there is a substantial body of expert opinion to the effect that, if this type of hand is opened, it is preferable to open in the 5-card major, since that is where its future more likely lies.