[thepossum]

Imagine you are a robot sitting opposite a human who opened 2NT opposite this

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What would be your options?
I'm not necessarily upset with GiB just disappointed with myself really - the human in said picture

[LBengtsson]

Here I will guess that the robot bid 5♦ only. With a human partner I would bid a conventional 3♠ - a minor suit slam try - followed by 4♦ which is forcing to at least game imo. We maybe missing two aces, but I would not stop below 6♦. You have an alternative, the ace and king asking 4♣ bid, Gerber, but even if partner shows 2 aces, except if he shows 4 kings, you do not know which kings he has, and a slam might depend on a finesse. I prefer the 3♠ followed by 4♦ route and try to find out what partner has.

[pescetom]

LBengtsson, on 2023-March-15, 10:18, said:

Here I will guess that the robot bid 5♦ only. With a human partner I would bid a conventional 3♠ - a minor suit slam try - followed by 4♦ which is forcing to at least game imo.

I wouldn't try this with a pickup human partner, I wouldn't know what to make of his bid after 4♦: 4NT could be natural or RKCB, 4♥ could be RKCB or a splinter or a first-level control or an indifferentiated 1st/2nd level control, u.s.w.
With a regular partner I too would bid 3♠ and then whatever shows diamonds (in our case, 4♣), developments after that are clear to us.

According to GIB System Notes (not always reliable) it plays 3♠ as Minor Suit Stayman (usually at least 54 in the minors, forcing to game).
Opener would normally bid a 4+ card minor if he had one. Otherwise he would bid 3NT.
If responder's next bid is 4 of a major, he is promising a singleton or void in that suit.

So it is only likely to elict 3NT or 4♣ here, not much use.
I cannot deduce from those notes what would happen if responder now bids 4♦: certainly better not to try.

[smerriman]

3♠ forcing a 3NT response, followed by a single-suited diamond slam interest bid, is what most established partnerships would do.

GIB doesn't play that, and in fact has precisely 0 bids to look for slam in a minor, or even just play game in a minor. It has also been programmed to never bid Gerber in any circumstance (which I'm glad for). It'll probably just count its HCP and bid 4NT.

[pescetom]

smerriman, on 2023-March-15, 13:06, said:

GIB doesn't play that, and in fact has precisely 0 bids to look for slam in a minor, or even just play game in a minor.

See above about 3♠?
Looks like a bid to look for minor slam, although limited to responder with both minors and with developments unclear.
But yes not with a single suit.

smerriman, on 2023-March-15, 13:06, said:

It has also been programmed to never bid Gerber in any circumstance (which I'm glad for).

But has been programmed to respond to Gerber (according to the System Notes).

[smerriman]

Yeah, I meant a specific minor. MSS is more a byproduct of what it plays as 1NT - 2♠, just one level higher, rather than something specifically programmed for 2NT here. And yup, it will respond to Gerber if a human bids it, but that's it.

[thepossum]

Hi

Thanks for the comments
I honestly don't know if there were many options after my 2NT. Slightly light sadly so only the gamblers went to 6
Maybe not such a gamble
It's a good 19 points

People who opened 1 diamond managed to find 5 or 6

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[pescetom]

thepossum, on 2023-March-15, 15:07, said:

I honestly don't know if there were many options after my 2NT. Slightly light sadly so only the gamblers went to 6
Maybe not such a gamble
It's a good 19 points

If you won't take offence, it's a rotten 19 points: closer to 1NT than to 2NT if anything but 1♦ was fine in any case.

[johnu]

thepossum, on 2023-March-15, 03:54, said:

Could GiB have bid better

Apparently not

[thepossum]

pescetom, on 2023-March-15, 16:54, said:

If you won't take offence, it's a rotten 19 points: closer to 1NT than to 2NT if anything but 1♦ was fine in any case.

I'm always optimistic. I'm never bidding 1NT with 19 points - maybe an overcall

It's a 50% chance of slam even rejecting the quant - assuming partner has the points they say
- and I reckon North could have bid 6NT - but it left the decision up to whether I had 20 or 21 points. Sadly I only had 19

Maybe the Possum could have bid better