[benellis58]

The NS result on this board was fine: 95.38 % For making 4NT with 2 overtricks. I mention this only to remind Huibertus (and probably some others) that, as I have OFTEN mentioned, the purpose of my "moaning about bots" is not and never has been about bragging about a result or complaining about a result, and that the "moaning about bots" is actually intended CONSTRUCTIVELY in order to alert the powers that be of the many problems that need to be fixed. If the robots were better, it would enhance the BBO site for the benefit of all players, observers, and BBO itself...and in order to FIX a problem, someone with the power and ability to do so (such as a technological wizard like Lorserker) must first be made AWARE of the problem. Consequently, I will now expose another weakness of the GIB system.

The basic issue here is GIB's bad response system to a 2C opening bid. 2NT is described as "Positive no trump - 2-5 clubs; 2-5 diamonds; 2-4 hearts; 2-4 spades, 8+ HCP", which is pretty useless. It's too vague in terms of shape and suit length, and it has NO upper limit on HCP. Worse, it has many huge detriments: It wastes the entire two-level of bidding. It reduces the possibility of the BIG hand (the 2C opener) being "captain" and controlling the auction. It very likely wrongsides the contract, as there is now a strong possibility that the BIG hand will be exposed AND led through. It makes it harder to find a 4-4 major fit (or, for that matter, ANY fit). I have seen the robots COMMIT this silly 2NT response even with two unstopped suits...very possibly leading to situations where a hand has no play from the WEAK side (the 2NT bidder) yet would have been ice cold from the STRONG side (the 2C bidder).

ALL those deficiencies, and WHAT, pray tell, is the advantage? Answer: There is NO advantage. If the 2NT bidder were a human rather than a robot, I would say that his only reason for bidding like this would be to hog the hand from his partner!

With the South hand, the BIG hand, the 2C opener, I now checked the GIB definitions for what both 3NT and 4NT by me would show over the robot North's 2NT. Here's what I saw:

3NT: "2-5 clubs; 2-5 diamonds; 2-4 hearts; 2-4 spades; 22 HCP". 4NT: "Quantitative invite to 6NT; 23-24 HCP". Notice that just as North really told South NOTHING other than that he had a flattish hand with 8 or more (unlimited at the top!) HCP, South is now telling NORTH...NOTHING other than that HE has a flattish hand with a certain number (either exactly 22 for 3NT, or 23-24 for 4NT) HCP. Whatever decision is made, the partnership is doing it PURELY based on HCP. Perhaps a suit fit would be superior, or perhaps a better knowledge of shapes would aid in evaluation of prospects, but with this poor structure, NS will never be able to find out. It is just a VERY bad way of playing responses to a 2C opener.

Anyway, on the actual random hand (as ALL bridge hands are random), I decided to be a good boy and follow the system that we were stuck with. I bid the correct (as per the GIB system) 4NT, quantitative, and North, with a mere 8 HCP (and not a GREAT 8 at that) and his pancake flat hand, made the quite reasonable decision to pass. I happened to play the heart suit the winning way on THIS random layout (although had the EW hands been reversed, it would of course NOT have been the winning way). But whether we reached a great spot or a horrible spot, whether our result was a top or bottom, is NOT the point. If that was ALL this was about, I wouldn't have written the post! What the post IS about is that the 2C system requires improvement, and if and when it IS improved, the bridge experience will be much better for players and BBO will become a much more attractive site for people to visit, to join, or to remain loyal to. In other words, it will be better for EVERYONE if the GIB system is improved! Now if Huibertus (or others of his ilk) wants to call that "moaning about bots", he's more than welcome to...but I STRONGLY disagree, and since this thread has already received well over 110,000 views since Diana created it a mere four and a half months ago, I suspect that some people might see the merits of what I am addressing in this post.

https://www.bridgeba...S8%7Cmc%7C12%7C

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robot sitting East bids a HIGHLY questionable 3H (showing his decent but unspectacular hearts for the THIRD time...vulnerable...opposite his partner West who has been silent for the entire auction). Then, despite declarer play being by far the best part of his bridge game, he butchers the play.

https://www.bridgeba...DT%7Cpc%7CDK%7C

[diana_eva]

Happy New Year Benellis!

Thank you for the kind words, and plese keep the reports coming. We're reading them and taking notes on what can be improved for the future versions of gibbo.

[benellis58]

Thanks, Diana. That's great news!

It's time-consuming to write my reports, but I feel that I owe it to you since you were wise enough to see the need for a thread such as this and you were inspired to create it back in August of 2025. It's very rewarding to see that by exposing the atrocities of GIB we are finally seeing some improvement thanks to Lorserker's great work.

There's still a huge amount of upgrading to be done, but thanks to your creation of this thread and to Lorserker's technical expertise, I feel that progress will continue to be made and that one happy day in the future it will no longer be necessary to point out the weaknesses of GIB and GIBBO. Until then, I will remain motivated by your statement that you are reading the thread with the intentions of fixing the problems that are reported. I already wished you a happy new year a few days ago, but I'll say it again today, and I say happy new year to Lorserker also.

[benellis58]

I opened 1D as South because this was a "best hand" game and I passed partner's 1H response for the same reason. The GIBBO robots sitting EW did NOT defend well, as you will see.

To his credit, East made the normal lead of the spade queen...but he soon fell from grace...FAR from grace. After winning the spade king in the North (hidden) hand, I led North's stiff 8 of diamonds towards dummy South's exposed QJ109 and East foolishly popped his king from K632. Did he REALLY think declarer would play the diamonds THIS was if he had A8 doubleton in the North?

Now East decided to shift to a club. Okay, COULD be "right" from his perspective, but he led his...TWO of clubs (!) from 42 doubleton! I guess he LOVES misleading his partner! West, reasonably enough, inserted his jack, so I won North's king and led trump (hearts). East ducked the first, won the second, and played back his only remaining club, the FOUR. West won and obviously could now have given East a club ruff, but poor West had been DECEIVED by the foolish sequence of East's club plays, so he understandably did not provide the ruff. Instead, probably ALSO misled by East's earlier very stupid pop of the diamond king, West attempted to cash the diamond ace. I ruffed in the North and had all the remaining tricks, scoring plus 170. East's extremely bad defending had "earned" his GIBBO partnership a score of ZERO percent on the board.

https://www.bridgeba...C9%7Cmc%7C10%7C

[benellis58]

Not my table, but an example of a HOPELESS GIB definition:

Forget the fact that 2D was a less than perfect call by the anonymous human sitting South, and just LOOK at the definition of 2D: "biddable diamonds".

That's IT, that's ALL! Those two words are the complete, entire definition!

Is 2D weak, strong, pre-emptive, game-forcing, slam interest, signoff, natural, artificial, fit-showing, shortness, WHATEVER? Who KNOWS, because the definition says NOTHING except "biddable diamonds", whatever THAT means in GIB's world. GIB can have whatever meaning they want...but maybe it would be a good idea to let players KNOW what the bid is SUPPOSED to mean in GIBland! While I disagree with the anonymous human's choice of call, he has my COMPLETE sympathy for being subjected to such a useless definition.

https://www.bridgeba...S7%7Cmc%7C10%7C

[benellis58]

The GOOD News: I would have expected a GIB robot to lead a heart (!) on this auction (yes, EVEN from K9 doubleton!), because I had similar auctions MANY times against GIB robots, and they LOVED to lead the suit that the weak two bidder had opened on their right. To his credit, the new and improved GIBBO robots are much wiser and no longer appear to have that sick, twisted affection for that particularly stupid type of lead. If we looked ONLY at West's clubs, diamonds, and hearts, his lead would be reasonable. He didn't stupidly lead the known enemy suit of hearts and he didn't swing blindly and wildly for the fences by leading his stiff 9 of diamonds. He led a club, from his four-bagger to the queen. BUT now for:

The BAD news: He did NOT select what appears to be a FAR better choice: a SPADE from...KQ10842!

East then defended VERY poorly. Once East popped the diamond ace, I was guaranteed to take 12 tricks with the aid of the virtually MARKED hook for the club queen, but if East CHOSE to pop, surely he should then have returned a SPADE. It wouldn't have mattered here, but on ANOTHER random layout on ANOTHER random layout, it might well have. Instead (despite the fact that it was irrelevant to the outcome here), he did what the GIB ...AND (sadly!) even the new and improved GIBBO robots very perversely and very stupidly LOVE to do: he returned a DIAMOND, the very suit that DECLARER had just played!

https://www.bridgeba...C7%7Cmc%7C12%7C

[benellis58]

Silly balance by the GIBBO robot sitting West. He's at unfavourable vulnerability...at the THHREE level, with no particularly great shape.

But, okay, it often pays to be aggressive, and balancing often CAN pay off. Fair enough. But...why on EARTH does he make this aggressive balance in his FOUR-card suit?

https://www.bridgeba...D2%7Cpc%7CCJ%7C

[benellis58]

Silly 3S bid by the GIBBO robot sitting East. If he chooses to compete over North's 3D, surely his correct action is to double...not to REVERSE!

https://www.bridgeba...H8%7Cpc%7CHJ%7C

[benellis58]

Declarer play is probably the part of bridge that most humans are best at. It is definitely the part of bridge that GIB and GIBBO robots are best at!

And yet...watch in AWE as the GIBBO robot sitting East declares 2H and MAGICALLY turns his TEN tricks into only nine. One of his specialties: How to make tricks disappear!

https://www.bridgeba...CH8%7Cmc%7C9%7C

[benellis58]

Here is a hand that a fellow BBO player just showed me. He wrote: "Has BBO improved? 95 % on this one. Evidence suggests answer is NO".

To be fair, I think he's referring to the robots rather than to BBO as a whole, but I'm only speculating about that and I could be wrong.

Also, to be fair, my personal opinion is that the GIBBO robots are better than the GIB robots, but that they still have numerous weaknesses and still require huge upgrades. Of course, my opinion and the opinion of the other BBO player are both just that - opinions.

What cannot be denied, however, is the accuracy of what the other BBO player stated here when he sent me the hand: "3NT without a heart stopper - CHECK. Early pitch of East's fourth spade - CHECK. Late pitch of West's 10 of diamonds, giving the show away - CHECK."

I replied to him, "Yes, and you can ADD to that the ridiculous lead of the stiff club."

My correspondent gave me permission to write up the hand (using, as you can see above, many of his own words) and post it, so here it is in all its "glory", as the GIBBO robots allow him to take all 13 tricks:

https://www.bridgeba...DQ%7Cmc%7C13%7C

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robot sitting West wins his club ace at trick three and then...looking at THAT dummy (!)...he plays...another club!

I've written many times about their foolish, illogical LOVE for immediately returning the suit DECLARER just played, but this hand takes the cake! Stunningly stupid!

https://www.bridgeba...S8%7Cmc%7C12%7C

[benellis58]

West's spade lead? Fair enough. East's CLUB play at trick three after winning his diamond ace? VERY questionable. He KNOWS from the auction that declarer has at most three hearts. COULD a club sometimes be "right" and a heart sometimes "wrong"? Sure, I suppose so...but I would think that a heart strongly rates to be better on most layouts.

https://www.bridgeba...HA%7Cpc%7CH4%7C

[benellis58]

North's 3D call actually worked out well because it made it easy and attractive for me to bid 4S...but I still think that 3D, despite the good result, was a BAD bid. On top of the fact that it was just plain silly to introduce a new suit at the THREE level on a flat 2-4-4-3 hand with a mere 6 HCP and a "suit" (ha, ha!) of J972, his bid didn't come CLOSE to matching his own GIB definition of "9+ total points".

https://www.bridgeba...H9%7Cpc%7CHK%7C

[benellis58]

Let's just say that the GIBBO robot would probably not have many human players agreeing with his opening lead. Yes, the robots lead fourth best... but from AKQ3?

https://www.bridgeba...CST%7Cmc%7C8%7C

[benellis58]

The result was obviously good, but that doesn't excuse the 2S bid by the GIBBO robot sitting North. It certainly seems more normal for him to balance with a double rather than bidding 2S.

https://www.bridgeba...SQ%7Cpc%7CS8%7C

[benellis58]

Yet ANOTHER hand where I ask "What's going on HERE? Did a GIB robot somehow sneak into the West seat and push aside the GIBBO robot who was supposed to be sitting there?" Check out his lead against my 1NT:

https://www.bridgeba...ST%7Cpc%7CH9%7C

[benellis58]

I felt like having some fun (?) so I psyched a 1D response and later leapt to 3NT.

The GIBBO robot must be a mind reader, because to his credit, he actually led a DIAMOND anyway. Wow! I'm impressed! I'll be more careful against HIM next time!

BUT...a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum, because...the GIBBO robot sitting EAST...DUCKED (!!!), so I won (!) dummy's jack! Maybe I WILL psych against HIM again!

I think what this hand REALLY shows, however, is the VERY sad lack of faith that the GIB and GIBBO robots have in their partner's leads! This characteristic is perhaps what compels them to have their perverse HATRED for returning partner's suit and their even MORE perverse LOVE for returning declarer's!

https://www.bridgeba...DK%7Cpc%7CD9%7C

[benellis58]

AND...Yet ANOTHER hand (!) where I ask "What's going on here? Did a GIB robot somehow sneak into the West seat and push aside the GIBBO robot who was supposed to be sitting there?" Check out his lead against my 3NT (although at least he didn't lead a DIAMOND, as a GIB robot probably would have done!):

https://www.bridgeba...CD4%7Cmc%7C9%7C

[benellis58]

Not my table, but at least two points of "amusement" in this hand.

The first is the fact that the GIBBO robots will NEVER become competent defenders unless they begin to SIGNAL. Just look at trick one...and look at the card that North follows with (and no, they do NOT play upside-down signals).

The second is that the GIBBO robots are far better at declaring than they are at ANY other aspect of the game, but even though declarer play is the STRONGEST part of their game, watch how the GIBBO robot absolutely butchers the declarer play in his 5H contract.

https://www.bridgeba...SJ%7Cpc%7CCQ%7C