[kcostell]

I've mentioned before that Ben has a tendency to make "no win" plays (plays that could not possibly gain on any layout of the cards) at the very end of a hand while defending.


This hand from yesterday's St. Patrick's Day Event was another example of this.

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At trick 11, Ben knows that Declarer still has two trumps left (I showed out), and that board's spade is high. But still he leads a spade (100% definitively conceding all of the remaining tricks) instead of a heart (which at least has a chance of finding me with the king).

[kcostell]

An amusing hand from yesterday's Goulash. 38 pairs reached 6d doubled +1 for +1740. A few redoubled to get +2230, beating out the grand slam. But the best scores went to the people who bid a conventional 4NT for the minors, short circuiting Ben. Turns out setting non-vulnerable opponents 11 tricks doubled scores +2900, even better than a vulnerable grand.

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[pilowsky]

6♦?
https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/ffb4mz27

[wbartley]

It doesn't seem possible that a neural net trained on GIB bidding and human bidding could result in this auction. There's something very wrong here.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/4u6hwumx

[shyams]

Bots are defending & declaring worse than what they used to a couple of years ago.

Don't ask me for concrete examples etc. I've been playing hundreds of hands per week against these bots and I intuitively know it to be true.

[Dale57]

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/ycks4y25

BEN bids 4♣ (Gerber), partner responds 4NT (3 aces), BEN bids 5D (1 or 4 keycards in an unspecified trump suit).

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/3p7nybps

BEN bids 4♣ (Gerber), partner responds 4♠ (2 aces), BEN bids 6NT with no aces.

[Dale57]

From the 6/10/2026 Interstate Individual (BEN) tournament

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/y63jkrzd

After his partner balanced with 1NT, BEN bid Stayman and invited game with 4 hcp.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2yjx6n8r

Opposite a 2NT opening, BEN, with a semi-balanced 10 count, bid Stayman and showed a diamond suit. How do I stop in 4NT?

[Dale57]

From the 6/12/2026 Interstate: https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p9a7sp8

Why did BEN win Trick 2 with the jack, rather than the 9?

[Dale57]

From the 6/21/26 Inter-state with BEN: https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/y8ure46h

Explanation says Lebensohl, forcing 3C. BEN then passed with a singleton club.

[Dale57]

From 6/24/2026 Inter-state BEN: https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/yebtbrj5

1N/4N described as Quantitative. BEN responded 5D, described as 1 or 4 keycards in an unspecified trump suit.

[mwaterman]

1st hand in USA Inter-State Robot Individual (with Ben) - Jul 16
hand 1

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north was robot
4s bid described as 1-4♣, 6+♦, 1-3♥,3♠, 10 HCP 11+total points
so I end up in 4s down on diamond lead(yes I know there are lines of play that make) when 3nt is where I belong. robot should never jump to 4 on less than 3... what gives?

[pescetom]

mwaterman, on 2026-July-16, 18:38, said:

1st hand in USA Inter-State Robot Individual (with Ben) - Jul 16
hand 1

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north was robot
4s bid described as 1-4♣, 6+♦, 1-3♥,3♠, 10 HCP 11+total points
so I end up in 4s down on diamond lead(yes I know there are lines of play that make) when 3nt is where I belong. robot should never jump to 4 on less than 3... what gives?

I think the robot's first bid is equally bad. 4♥ is where you belong, but good luck finding that in this auction.

[Dale57]

From the 7/19/26 BEN tournament: https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/yckvejrd

BEN cuebid/control bid hearts with Qx. 1H-1S-4C (splinter)-4H supposedly showing ace of hearts.

How do I include a picture of the board?

[super69]

Even though there have been several posts about this, no change has been made to get Ben to bid correctly after he makes a 2N lebensohl relay over the opponent's weak 2 opener:

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/224kpujd

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[shyams]

I thought that in duplicate tournaments, the bot play logic is structured such that the same action will repeat at all tables.

So then, here is a strange one from "Just Declare Daylong" of 11 Sep 2026.

Board 4. Played 88 times. Of that, 80 tables recorded 3S=, 7 tables recorded -1, and mine alone was where I was gifted an overtrick.

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At trick 3, West at my table played the ♣10. At all other tables, West cashed the ♣A.
*** I checked a few other tables; while some had played the ♦K at trick 2, there are many others who repeated my play -- i.e. played ♦10 knowing/believing that West will ruff it.
*** To me, there is zero reason for my West bot behaving differently compared to other tables where declarer also played ♦10 at trick 2.

This cannot be happening, am i right?