[thepossum]

OK

I have generally been reasonably impressed with the accuracy of GIBs bidding provided you play strictly to its system. However I've noticed an increasing frequency of seriously bad bids in recent tournaments.

These include
1. Competing with partner over the suit resulting in insane fits and levels. Seemingly a seven Trump fit with only 3 key cards is worthy of a grand slam rather than a nice game in a 9 card fit.
2. Variability seems to have some link with spped of device, internet and or server. Is it dependent on load
3. Hugely variable leads with no apparent reason between hands leading to differentials of two to three tricks

I've generally been more friendly than most to GIB but having had my last three instant tournaments ruined by insane bids I'm in a bad mood

Just a request to the site and owners from whom we rent robots and pay for tournaments.

Is there good documentation about the system, server, specifications, issues with different devices, differences depending on load.

I've noticed some very peculiar patterns over six months, thousands of hands and hundreds of tournaments

Regards P

Usually a happy, relaxed tolerant possum that doesn't like having three tournaments in a row ruined by insane bids (not by me). I make enough errors of my own with a bot doing it, unless it has been designed specifically to make occasional insane plays.

[Vampyr]

There have been some discussions about allowing the use of bots that bid and play better than GIB, but BBO management is not interested.

Continually paying programmers to make tweaks to GIB seems like throwing good money after bad, but it is a psychological fact that people will value something more (and be more loathe to give it up) if they have already made significant investment in it.

[steve2005]

Gib can bid fairly accurately with normal hands.
But lots of situations cause Gib fits
some bids that just dont fit Gib's system
competition
unusual distribution and I don't mean freaks just the normal sort of aberration your system should be able to handle
balancing
bidding after passing
much more...

[hrothgar]

If you are interested in improving your declarer play, then Bridge Master is a MUCH better choice than playing with GIB.

If you are interested in improving your bidding, then doing nothing is a MUCH better choice than playing with GIB.
(I'd recommend focusing on books. If you really want to play with a computer, go with Jack or WinBridge)

[zhasbeen]

Vampyr, on 2018-November-04, 07:48, said:

There have been some discussions about allowing the use of bots that bid and play better than GIB, but BBO management is not interested.

Continually paying programmers to make tweaks to GIB seems like throwing good money after bad, but it is a psychological fact that people will value something more (and be more loathe to give it up) if they have already made significant investment in it.

2 thumbs up!

I don't think there is even a pretense anymore that GIB can be fixed. IMO nothing qualifies as an "upgrade" that doesn't correct the long list of serious
GIB problems that include the leaps to slam, often off 2 aces; the worst doubling judgment by far I've ever seen, clueless handling of 2-suiters, and on, and on, and on...
If anything it is worse than a year ago when I started.

[zhasbeen]

hrothgar, on 2018-November-04, 14:36, said:

If you are interested in improving your declarer play, then Bridge Master is a MUCH better choice than playing with GIB.

If you are interested in improving your bidding, then doing nothing is a MUCH better choice than playing with GIB.
(I'd recommend focusing on books. If you really want to play with a computer, go with Jack or WinBridge)

Hrothgar-

Although I’m not in the mood for having much good to say about GIB (see my response to next post), there are several things about the BBO robot tournaments that have kept me playing despite GIB.
I have Bridge Master 2000 and Jack 6, btw, and agree that Jack 6 is much better than GIB. However, I believe that the combination of BBO robot tournaments and Bridge Master is better for practicing declarer play than either one by itself.

I find that robot ratio of challenging hands-to routine is much greater than what I see in offline games in clubs and tournaments. There are lots of little traps, especially in managing entries, blocked suits, etc. While GIB makes lots of errors on defense, it does lay down some slick defenses on occasion. More than anything these hands make you think, and you can play a lot of them in a short time. Also, GIB’s discarding makes it harder (for me, at least) to follow the discards than in normal play.

The replays are nice too (although sometimes depressing—"man, did I ever butcher that one”)
Add hundreds of experienced players to compare results with and you have enough for me to be more excited about playing in the BBO robot tournaments than playing solo with Jack 6. Having all the other players is the difference maker.

All that said, the cumulative frustration of dealing with GIB will surely have me play playing far fewer tournaments in 2019. And, if there is ever a site with similar set up and better robots I will be gone. While the first level of BBO support has been helpful, the people in charge of the robots don’t seem to appreciate our business.

[zhasbeen]

thepossum, on 2018-November-04, 01:19, said:

OK

I have generally been reasonably impressed with the accuracy of GIBs bidding provided you play strictly to its system. However I've noticed an increasing frequency of seriously bad bids in recent tournaments.

These include
1. Competing with partner over the suit resulting in insane fits and levels. Seemingly a seven Trump fit with only 3 key cards is worthy of a grand slam rather than a nice game in a 9 card fit.
2. Variability seems to have some link with spped of device, internet and or server. Is it dependent on load
3. Hugely variable leads with no apparent reason between hands leading to differentials of two to three tricks

I've generally been more friendly than most to GIB but having had my last three instant tournaments ruined by insane bids I'm in a bad mood

Just a request to the site and owners from whom we rent robots and pay for tournaments.

Is there good documentation about the system, server, specifications, issues with different devices, differences depending on load.

I've noticed some very peculiar patterns over six months, thousands of hands and hundreds of tournaments

Regards P

Usually a happy, relaxed tolerant possum that doesn't like having three tournaments in a row ruined by insane bids (not by me). I make enough errors of my own with a bot doing it, unless it has been designed specifically to make occasional insane plays.

Hey Possum-

I can empathize and share your frustration. However, I've been a glutton for punishment thus far-

Fwiw, I don't believe it has any effect on matchpoint scores; at least in the long run. In a game not long ago, GIB dragged me kicking a screaming to 6, after which the EW GIB's cashed their 2 aces. On the very next hand I bid 6 clubs, and GIB bumped it up to 7; down 1. I got a above average on both boards but it still made me want to break some furniture.