[benellis58]

The GIBBO robot sitting West can and should beat North's 4S contract. All he has to do is win the first heart with his queen, then cash the heart ace and the club ace, thereby booking the contract after the first three tricks. At trick four he then leads a third round of hearts, promoting his partner East's J107 of spades (trump) into a guaranteed winner. Result: Down one.

Instead, the GIBBO robot sitting West won the heart queen at trick one and then shifted (!) to a diamond (!) at trick two, allowing me to take ELEVEN (!) tricks.

His play was bad, because his partner had led the (stiff) 4 of hearts, and even though I (as the human playing for the North robot) played my 8 from 86 doubleton, West SHOULD have known that East's lead was a singleton, because the only heart that West had not seen was the 6...and if EAST had held the 64 doubleton, he would have led the six, not the four. Then again, East IS a GIBBO robot, and they often foolishly play all spots as interchangeable equals, so maybe that bad habit is West's excuse for totally botching the defence.

https://www.bridgeba...HA%7Cmc%7C11%7C

[benellis58]

Given the auction and the play to the first four tricks, surely West should have cashed his spade ace right after winning his club ace. That would have held me to 11 tricks instead of the 12 he let me take. Instead West succumbed to one of the worst of the many bad habits the GIBBO robots have: He immediately played another club (!), the exact suit that I, the DECLARER, had just played. BAD strategy, Mr. GIBBO robot, BAD play, and - most of all - VERY bad habit!

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

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robot sitting West is a very nice guy: He doesn't want South to have to GUESS the spade suit, so he very graciously pops his spade ace. Presto: no guess for declarer!

Some might think that it's not that West is a nice guy, but that he's a horrible bridge player, but I say "Come on: It's Be Kind to Robots Day, so let's at least PRETEND that he made the atrocious play because he wanted to be generous".

https://www.bridgeba...C2%7Cmc%7C10%7C

[benellis58]

Why on Earth would West lead a HEART on this auction? Answer: Because he's a GIBBO robot!

https://www.bridgeba...C7%7Cmc%7C10%7C

[benellis58]

Not my table, but obviously a very good result for NS. The REAL story, though, is that the GIBBO robot in the East never ONCE did anything other than PASS...with AKQ10932, J10, J2, K2!

https://www.bridgeba...S8%7Cpc%7CSA%7C

[benellis58]

West wins his club king at trick two, and instead of continuing HIS suit (hearts), he returns MY suit (clubs), which allows me to make an overtrick and gets HIM a "well-deserved" score of 3.6 % on the board. I guess the GIBBO robots will NEVER learn that it's usually a bad idea to return DECLARER'S suit.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2h8k44fa

[benellis58]

50 % on this board for 3S down one, but the story is the monstrously stupid bidding by the GIBBO robot in the North, who could possibly become a Hollywood star if he is cast in the leading role of a remake of "Frankenstein".

After I bid 2D, why would anyone in the North seat except for an absolute M.O.R.O.N. do anything other than bid 2S? He knows that I have at least 5 spades and at least 4 diamonds. He has ALREADY shown at least 5 clubs, he has a mere 7 HCP (4 of them in the enemy heart suit), and from his perspective although the hand rates to be a misfit, he DOES have TWO-card support for my FIRST suit, spades.

The ignorant and disobedient fool stupidly (VERY stupidly, as usual) bids 3C, which (sigh, here we go AGAIN!) does not even respect his own GIB definition. It says "6+ clubs; 2- spades; 9-13 total points", but this sad-faced clown has only FIVE clubs (which he has ALREADY shown) and he has only SEVEN HCP with NOTHING added for distribution (since we don't have a fit!), which means that the 7 HCP are also only 7 "total" points.

It's a shame that the GIBBO robot in the North is so incredibly stupid, because that very stupidity might be the only thing preventing him from becoming a major movie star. After all, he DOES have the LOOKS to play Frankenstein!

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p88729b

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robot in the West pops his diamond ace at trick two, allowing me to easily take 10 tricks. He would have been much better off NOT popping, but if he defended WELL he would probably have been expelled from the GIBBO Robot Union for being DIFFERENT from all the other (hopeless) GIBBO robots.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/mm79nrca

[benellis58]

Luckily I was able to make 2S in the silly 5-1 fit, so my robot "partner" and I at least got a score of 67.9 % on the board, but that does not detract from the fact that I consider his 2S call to be astoundingly stupid for many reasons. I'm also not a fan of the GIBBO system of new minor forcing, but that's less of an issue than the I.D.I.O.T. in the North "retreating" from NT with HIS hand. Why was his "retreat" so astoundingly stupid? Well:

One: The spade "suit" that he "retreats" to (!) is a pathetic J8752. which is not much of a port in ANY storm.

Two: He has TEN (!!!) HCP. with aces (!) in BOTH (!) unbid suits, AND the jack of diamonds, which will often be (and in fact on this hand IS) a very good card filling out the suit his partner (me) opened in. So why on EARTH is he afraid of playing in NT?

Three: He is "retreating" from the ONE level, where his partnership will require only SEVEN tricks to achieve a plus score...to the TWO level where it will require EIGHT.

Four: He is "retreating" from the HIGHEST scoring strain (NT) to a LOWER scoring strain (spades)...in a MATCHPOINT game.

I have asked 12 good bridge players to examine the evidence and...oh, excuse me a moment, they're back with their verdict.

Me: What have the 12 of you decided?

Foreman of the Jury: Our decision is unanimous: The GIBBO robot is guilty on all four charges. We find him to be one of the worst bridge players of all time, and sadly, we believe that he must pay for his sins. Consequently, we are issuing a stiff sentence.

Me: Now wait a minute. Sure, he's an absolutely terrible bridge player, but he's a nice enough guy. I don't want him imprisoned. Please show him some mercy.

Foreman of the Jury: Very well. In view of your recommendation for leniency, the only punitive measure that we will take is to contact Hollywood and strongly advise all major studios to refrain from making him a movie star. Someone ELSE will have to ply Frankenstein's monster.


https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/yc2e45md

[benellis58]

At trick seven, the GIBBO robot in the West seat...PANICS and plays a heart (!!!). It does NOT turn out well for him.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p949pn7

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robots sitting East-West start off GREAT. West, a new and improved GIBBO robot (thanks again, Lorserker!) actually makes the BEST lead of a heart, where the disgustingly clueless GIB robots of the past probably would have stupidly led the 7 of clubs from 74 doubleton...because they were THAT bad. Bravo, Mr. West! Excellent choice of a heart lead! I commend you!

The GIBBO robot sitting East wins his heart king and...and...and...actually RETURNS his PARTNER'S suit, something the robots usually HATE to do! Well done, Mr. East. Truly well done! AND...he even returns the CORRECT heart, the 9, whereas the robots often treat spots interchangeably and often ignorantly return the WRONG spot (which here would be the 5). But here East was PERFECT. Bravo, Mr. East! You and your partner Mr. West are really impressing me here! Perhaps a new era has arrived and the GIBBO robots are FINALLY competent. Wow! This is exciting!

But...not THAT exciting...because sadly, after these flawless first two tricks, West falls HEAVILY from grace! All he had to do was play a third round of hearts and EW would have taken SEVEN tricks, holding me to only six, and defeating my 1NT contract one trick.

Instead, after that awesome beginning, he reverted to his status as one of the worst players of all time. He cashed his two high spades (!) and then played a THIRD spade (!). so I made an OVERTRICK in my contract, finishing with EIGHT tricks instead of the SIX that they should have held me to.

The EW robots "earned" a score that they are VERY familiar with: ZERO percent. Ahh, and for two tricks it had looked as if they were FINALLY about to get a defence right. Now, I know that there's an expression that says "You can't win 'em all", but maybe with GIBBO robots the expression should be "You robots CAN lose 'em all"!

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p8vrcwf

[benellis58]

At trick three the hopeless GIBBO robot in the East stupidly pops his spade ace, sparing me the guess that I or anyone else almost CERTAINLY would have gotten wrong.

https://www.bridgeba...C4%7Cmc%7C12%7C

[benellis58]

The GIB definition of South's 3H is "6+ hearts; 14-19 total points".

Three questions:

WHY must he have at least 6 hearts, especially in balancing seat?

WHY must he have at least 14 total points, especially in balancing seat?

And finally: WHY must the GIB definitions always be SO bad?

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

[benellis58]

Nothing special here - just something that struck me as mildly amusing.

EW are silent during the auction and NS bid as follows:

S: 1NT. N: 2C. S: 2D. N: 3NT.

West is on lead with 10863, 10853, K3, AK3. He doesn't have much to go on, and as is often the case with leads, "anything" could be right or wrong, depending on the random layout of the random hand being played.

West decides to lead a major. He leads a...heart. Here's what I found (mildly) amusing: Having chosen to lead a major, he perversely chose his weaker one, since hearts, the suit he led, were ten-eight-FIVE-three while spades, the suit he DIDN'T lead, were ten-eight-SIX-three.

Yes, I realize that the suits are basically (although not EXACTLY) the same, and that it will probably be totally irrelevant that the third highest card in one suit is the 6 and the third highest in the other is the 5...but I thought that it was a PERFECT illustration of how the GIBBO robots so often...and so perversely...opt for the LESS attractive of two choices.

https://www.bridgeba...C3%7Cmc%7C10%7C

[benellis58]

Typically illogical lead from the GIBBO robot sitting North. If he's GOING to led an unsupported ace from a four-card suit, would it not be a LOT wiser to lead the ace of the suit that he and his partner South had BOTH bid rather than the ace of a suit that NEITHER had bid?

On this hand, his imbecilic lead of the club ace cost the contract and turned what should have been an EASY plus 100 North-South into an EASY...MINUS 140 for NS. In other words, the dimwit got what he deserved for his typically boneheaded lead. But even if his lead had cost nothing, or even if it had surprisingly turned out to be the BEST lead on some other layout, it would STILL have been an illogical and imbecilic lead that by pure dumb luck and against all logic and all odds just HAPPENED to land on its feet.

Have I ever mentioned that I have nothing but contempt for the bridge abilities of the GIBBO robots? Yes, I thought so!

https://www.bridgeba...CH5%7Cmc%7C9%7C

[benellis58]

It didn't matter, since the hand is open and shut for exactly 8 tricks for NS in spades, but why on EARTH would the lamebrained GIBBO robot in the West shift to a SPADE (!) at trick two rather than the quite obvious queen of hearts? What a DROKE!

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

[benellis58]

This hand shows the absolutely bizarre "logic" (ha, HA, HA!) of the GIBBO robots when it comes to their (atrocious) leads. This board was played by NS in a heart contract 10 times, 4 times in 3H and 6 times in 4H. I played in 3H and made 9 tricks for p;us 140 and a score of 100 % on the board. The other three players who declared 3H took only 7 tricks and went down 2. Of the 6 pairs who played in 4H, two took 8 tricks, going down two, and four took 7 tricks, going down three. There were another two NS pairs who played in 3NT, one going down one and one going down three.

But back to the main issue: the perversity of the robot leads. At my table, I opened 1D and rebid 1NT over pard's 1H response. Pard then invited with a jump to 3H and I passed. The robot in the East then led a...DIAMOND...the suit that I, his LHO, had OPENED...bercause the GIBBO robots perversely LOVE to lead ENEMY suits.

At all the other tables where NS played in heart contracts, my South hand also opened 1D and North also responded 1H, but all the other Souths then rebid 2C (rather than 1NT as I had done). North then bid an invitational 3H just as he had at my table (but this time over 2C by South rather than over 1NT as at my table). Three of the Souths passed 3H and six of them raised to 4H. At ALL the tables where South had rebid 2C, the GIBBO robots sitting East led a...CLUB...the suit that South, their LHO had bid over North's 1H.

So: When South showed DIAMONDS (as I did), the robots led...DIAMONDS, but when South showed diamonds and CLUBS (as all the other Souths did), the robots led...CLUBS! If CLUBS were SO attractive, why didn't they lead one against ME, where it would have made MORE sense than at the other tables, since I had NOT bid clubs but at the other tables they HAD bid clubs! It REALLY seems that they absolutely LOVE to lead suits when the OPPONENTS bid them! It truly IS Bizarro World with these logic-free GIBBO robots.

The first link below is to my table. Then, for comparison, the second link is to one of the tables where NS bid 4H. Gaze in awe at the totally illogical leads of the robots under BOTH scenarios:

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

https://www.bridgeba...CH2%7Cmc%7C7%7C

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robot sitting East makes the ASTOUNDINGLY imbecilic lead of his stiff jack of spades and "earns" himself yet ANOTHER of the ZERO PERCENT scores that he seems to specialize in. The "defence" that follows the insane lead is about as "good" (ha, ha!) as you would expect from GIBBO robots.

Examine this hand carefully and then you will likely ask yourself, as I did, "How is it possible for anyONE, anyTHING, or EVEN any ROBOT to be SO fantastically, categorically, utterly, mind-blowingly STUPID?

https://www.bridgeba...CT%7Cmc%7C11%7C

[benellis58]

If you look at the hand linked at the bottom of this post, your first reaction will probably be to say "Good grief! Why on Earth would Benellis58 open THAT hand...in FIRST seat...with 2D???!!!"

Your reaction makes perfect sense. because it is a weird action. However, I have not one, not two, but THREE answers to the question:

First Answer: Look who my "partner" is - a GIBBO robot!

Second Answer: Look who my opponents are - two more GIBBO robots!

Third Answer: Look at the expectedly ridiculous "defence" that the two chowderheads sitting East-West delivered against North's 3S contract!

East has two minor suit singletons and decides that he wants to lead one of them. Does he opt for his stiff queen of CLUBS, the suit that his PARTNER West freely bid at the three level? No, of COURSE he doesn't. He opts for his stiff 9 of diamonds (Curse of Scotland), the suit that his OPPONENT South OPENED. He of COURSE makes what is a "standard" choice for him and ALL GIBBO robots, because the GIBBO robots HATE to lead partner's suit but LOVE to lead declarer's.

Declarer North wins his diamond ace and at trick two leads his spade 5 (trump) towards dummy's J82. East, holding Q1076, POPS (!) his QUEEN (!), probably fearing that he'll NEVER score it unless he takes it RIGHT NOW. This cowardly and braindead play gets what it deserves when West perforce overtakes with his stiff king.

West now cashes two diamonds. Maybe he thinks he'll NEVER get them unless he takes them RIGHT NOW. After all, there are "only" FIVE of them remaining in dummy. By cashing his two diamond winners, he immediately establishes all three remaining diamonds as winners in the dummy.

While West is busy establishing THREE diamond WINNERS for the dummy, East pitches the 3 of hearts and then the queen of clubs. At trick 5, West is still on lead. He has at this point VOID, 7542, VOID, K7653. He can see that dummy South, to his right, has J8, AQ, the high 865, 102, So, what does West play - a club or a heart? Sorry for asking such an EASY question. Since he's a GIBBO robot, he of COURSE plays a...HEART (!)...INTO dummy's AQ doubleton. North ends up taking 9 tricks for plus 140 and a shared top of 96.43 % with one other NS pair who had the same result.

And THAT is why Benellis58 made that weird opening bid: He knew that he was playing WITH an imbecile, AGAINST two imbeciles, and that if East-West ended up "defending" they would "defend" as they so often do: utterly atrociously.

https://www.bridgeba...CS3%7Cmc%7C9%7C

[benellis58]

Typically poor bidding judgment (or, to be more accurate, typically poor lack of bidding judgment) by the GIBBO robot sitting North. He foolishly leaps to 4S on his almost flat 5-3-3-2 7-count. He has no reason to believe 4S can make, and he also has no reason to believe that he needs to IMMEDIATELY shut the opponents out, considering that he has an ace opposite a partner who opened the bidding and that his partnership has the master suit.

The hand was actually very friendly for NS. The club ace was onside. The heart jack was onside (and that wasn't even needed because West led the AK, setting up South's queen, and hearts split so no EW ruffs were available).

Yet despite the friendly layout, the hand still went down two. Imagine if the layout had been UNfriendly! And all for what? To shut out some club partial for EW when NS had the master suit and North had an ace?

As always, one random hand proves nothing, but it serves as a good example of why it's silly to bid 4S with a hand like North held. That won't make a difference to the GIBBO robots, though, because as we know from SO many other situations, they are incapable of thought and incapable of ever learning. That just MIGHT be one of the many reasons that they are such abominably bad bridge players.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p9w6vya