[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIBBO robots. West and North do NOT shine in the auction! West fell too much in love with his hand, and sent his poor partner for a 300 point penalty in 4D doubled. And North? Well...

Just LOOK at North's ridiculous 3H bid! He KNOWS from the auction that he and South have a 4-4 spade fit, so it seems STUPID for him to freely bid 3H on his 106 doubleton. Furthermore we see yet AGAIN (sigh!) that the GIBBO robot is ignoring his own GIB definition, which states "3+ hearts; 4+ spades; 7+ HCP; 8+ total points".

Fortunately, South was a HUMAN, not a GIBBO robot (!), so at least HE had the wit to correct to 3S! And that was when the GIBBO robot sitting West decided to send his partner for a number by sputtering out "4D". North had an easy double. This was a good score of 85.11% for NS, but as I have said many times, these posts are not dependent on whether the result ends up being good or bad - the purpose is neither to gloat nor to complain, but to EXPOSE the countless flaws of the GIB or GIBBO robots, and even though the result here was good, North's 3H call was still just plain BAD!

https://www.bridgeba...SJ%7Cpc%7CC3%7C

[benellis58]

With four strong trumps (hearts), the GIBBO robot sitting West makes a questionable lead of his stiff spade...and the GIBBO robot sitting East soon pitches a spade, allowing South to take eleven tricks despite the bad breaks in both majors.

https://www.bridgeba...D8%7Cpc%7CC9%7C

[benellis58]

The good news: I think it's safe to say that the GIBBO robots are quite a bit better than the GIB robots.

The bad news: I think it's safe to say that the new and improved GIBBO robots are still really, really bad bridge players.

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robots appear to be far better at leads than the GIB ones were, which is encouraging, but here's a hand where the GIBBO robot reverted to the ridiculous style of leads favoured by his untalented predecessors in the robot community. I would have expected a GIB robot to make this very foolish lead, but I was surprised to see that the far superior GIBBO robot also committed this particular atrocity.

https://www.bridgeba...CD5%7Cmc%7C9%7C

[benellis58]

Ridiculous 3S bid by the GIBBO robot sitting North. In addition to the question of why he would ever want to bid 3S on his miserable low-quality mere FOUR-bagger...especially when he has FIVE (!) diamonds, we also see that (ho hum, here we go AGAIN) he has ignored his own GIB definition. There is still SO much work to do to have these GIBBO robots even come CLOSE to being competent.

https://www.bridgeba...S9%7Cpc%7CD4%7C

[benellis58]

Not what I'd call great defending: To begin with, why would the GIBBO robot sitting West lead a CLUB at trick one...INTO declarer South, who has shown a good hand with at least five clubs and four hearts?

Even after his poorly-judged lead, the GIBBO robot sitting West should have held declarer to eleven tricks, but the GIBBO robot who had been BORN with TWO tricks managed to take only one of them! The ZERO that the East-West GIBBO robots "earned" on this board was truly well-deserved!

https://www.bridgeba...D3%7Cmc%7C12%7C

[pescetom]

 benellis58, on 2025-December-27, 06:30, said:

South, the only human in the game, decides to open 1NT with (only) 14 HCP, and NS then end up in 3NT. West makes the reasonable lead of a spade, which South wins. At trick two, South leads a heart, which East wins.

Does East return a SPADE, the suit his PARTNER led? No, of COURSE he doesn't, because he's a GIBBO robot, so of COURSE he plays a HEART, the same suit that DECLARER just played! For Lord knows what reason, the GIBBO robots love to do this sort of thing!

Declarer still goes down one...but ONLY one, rather than the two down that would have occurred if East had returned his PARTNER's suit instead of DECLARER's. But it seems these GIBBO robots will never learn.

NS scored 60.61% on the board.

https://www.bridgeba...D4%7Cpc%7CDQ%7C

This one really is gross (and typical).

[benellis58]

Yes, Pescetom, I agree. Thank you for participating in this thread. Your comments here and elsewhere are always greatly appreciated.

[benellis58]

The leads by the GIBBO robots are usually much better (thankfully!) than the dismal ones that were so often made by the inept GIB robots in the past, and that is a very positive development. Thanks again, Lorserker.

Sometimes, though, even the hugely improved GIBBO robots are not so great with leads. On the hand linked below, NS are in 5C and make two overtricks despite being off two cashable aces. Well, okay, there's no one who always finds the best lead.

But this, as always, is not about the result - it's about the fact that West's lead of DUMMY's first suit made no sense (especially on the auction that had taken place). Yes, his lead was a singleton - but he was VOID in trumps.

As a side issue, we might also mention that the GIBBO robot did not BID the hand well. Just look at how many tricks EW can take in diamonds, a suit that was never even mentioned.

https://www.bridgeba...H8%7Cmc%7C13%7C

[benellis58]

The GIBBO robots sitting East-West bid too much and end up minus 300. Their score on the board is a dismal but very well-deserved 2.69%, while NS score 97.31%.

The real issue, though, is West's ridiculous, senseless 3H call. EVEN if he chooses to compete, he should just bid 3S. That would have the same result, but at least he wouldn't have so obviously alerted the world to just how bad his bidding is.


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

[shyams]

benellis58, on 2025-December-29, 01:10, said:

The GIBBO robots sitting East-West bid too much and end up minus 300. Their score on the board is a dismal but very well-deserved 2.69%, while NS score 97.31%.

The real issue, though, is West's ridiculous, senseless 3H call. EVEN if he chooses to compete, he should just bid 3S. That would have the same result, but at least he wouldn't have so obviously alerted the world to just how bad his bidding is.

The bidding by bots is atrocious but it's certainly not what earned your side 97%.

1. I reckon most human Souths will also double East's 1♣ opening
2. Your choice to pass East's 2♠ despite North having freely bid 2♦ may be what won you the MPs. I'm guessing most other Souths chose to raise to 3♦ without or despite reading North's bid explanation.

Yes, the bidding debacle is worth escalation by you here. However, maybe you ought to take credit for that judicious PASS.

[benellis58]

Thank you, Shyams, but as always my objective in these posts is never to either gloat about a good result or cry about a bad one. My only goal is always to report the wretched play of the GIB or GIBBO robots...in the hope that someone will take steps to improve them (as Lorserker has fortunately started to do).

[benellis58]

One of the many, many, MANY reasons that the GIBBO robots are such incredibly poor defenders is that they go out of their way to make things EASY for the opposing declarer. A good example is the hand linked below.

At trick 8, this is the heart situation: Declarer South has the stiff 8. Defender West, declarer's LHO, has 105. Dummy North has J9. Defender East, declarer's RHO, followed to the first two rounds of hearts but is now void as South leads the third round... but South does not KNOW with certainty that East has no hearts left.

South leads his last heart, the 8, towards dummy's J9. If West, with 105, makes the easy, normal play of the FIVE, declarer MIGHT decide to play for the actual layout and insert dummy's 9. If so, he has guessed correctly and will score both the 9 and the jack. BUT...is he GUARANTEED to guess correctly? Certainly not, and if he opts to play for EW hearts breaking 3-3, he MIGHT play dummy's JACK...in which case he will score ONLY the jack, but not the 9.

But against the hopeless GIBBO robot sitting West, declarer didn't HAVE to guess, because West very stupidly played his TEN (!!!!!) from 105! GIBBO robots lead better than GIB robots, but both types of robot are stunningly bad at even the basic principles of defending.

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

[benellis58]

With East-West spades breaking 3-3, 6NT is always cold for North-South, so the lead had no effect on the contract...but why on EARTH would the GIBBO robot sitting West lead the 6 of clubs... from QJ964...INTO declarer South, after South earlier responded 2C to North's 1S opening and after an auction where South has shown a powerful hand?

I'll also take this opportunity to criticize some GIB definitions:

North's 3S: The definition itself is okay, but is it REALLY necessary to begin it by needlessly saying "Jump rebid"?

South's 4NT: Part of the definition states "2+ spades". WHY, pray tell? Yes, South MIGHT have "2+ spades", but given the auction up to that point, might he not just be seeking essential information regarding a possible slam venture? As you can see, that is EXACTLY what I was doing, even though I had NO spades.

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

[benellis58]

Lots to unpack on this auction. West, North, and East are all GIBBO robots. I am South.

I imagine that the overwhelming majority of bridge players would disagree with my opening bid of 1D, which is not only shorter but also considerably weaker than my clubs, but I am a strong believer in creating prepared auctions (as my 1D call here certainly proves!). Does this approach sometimes backfire on me and lead to bad results? Yes, of course it does...but (at least in my experience) it pays off more often than it fails.

Next, I passed North's 1H response, which people might again find strange...but this was a "best hand" game, so I knew that North had at most 12 HCP and more often than not would have fewer. Obviously I do not usually pass partner's response, but in "best hand" games (again, in my experience) this move gains more often than it loses.

After West balanced with a double in passout seat and East bid 1S, I figured I'd take the opportunity to introduce the REAL meat of my hand, so I bid 2C.

North now bid 2S, something that I don't think any HUMAN would do at this point, because HUMANS (unlike GIBBO robots) are capable of thought. Given that I had bizarrely PASSED North's earlier 1H bid, a human would probably infer that I had perhaps psyched my 1D opening...or that I had a legitimate, but minimum opening bid. The fact that I now freely bid 2C would seem to indicate that I had not psyched, and that I had a legitimate, but minimum opening with diamonds and clubs. A good HUMAN player would probably also infer that I had three hearts. Why? Because with four it would have been even stranger that I had passed his 1H response, and with fewer than three, but with a hand that was now revealed to be a legitimate opener (thanks to my voluntary 2C bid)...and with a hand where I had now shown both minors, I would not have passed 1H with fewer than three hearts.

North's 2S call is also inexplicable, because it certainly looks like we have no game (based on my PASS of his 1H response) AND both East and West have SHOWN spades (via West's double and East's 1S bid)>. Furthermore, the definition of North's 2S is "4+ hearts, 12+ HCP, 13+ total points, forcing to 3NT". First, North does NOT have "12+ HCP", he only has 10. Second, how on Earth can he be "forcing to 3NT" with "only" 10 HCP - particularly after his partner (me) was willing to let the auction end in one lowly heart? I could see North bidding either 2D or 2H at this point, but 2S is beyond the pale! And, for what it's worth, had he bid 2D, I would have of course corrected to 2H.

East and West now compete to 3S and North bids 4H...the THIRD time he has bid his shabby (A9653) heart suit that is "only" a five-bagger. I suppose I could be charitable and give him a (probably undeserved) compliment by saying that he correctly inferred that I have three hearts (using the logic that I mentioned two paragraphs above), but A. I really doubt that the ROBOT (!) made that inference, and B. He has already described his hand (via his 2S call) and in fact has already overstated his values with 2S, so if it's "right" to now bid 4H, surely South should be the one to do it.

4H went down 2 for minus 200, but was still a decent score, with 65% on the board for North-South. For what it's worth, 3S East-West would not have made, but that's not the reason for this post. The reason for this post is to highlight some odd actions, including my own non-mainstream views.

https://www.bridgeba...C8%7Cpc%7CCT%7C

[benellis58]

Silly auction by the GIBBO robots sitting East-West. Typically poor, vague definition of 2S...and West doesn't even abide by the definition. Opposite a partner who passed at all three of his first bidding opportunities, West REVERSES (!) into 2S with A105, AK853, Q, Q1062, even though his own GIB definition states that he needs "4+ spades".

The definition of East's 3S is also poorly worded: "4+ spades; 8+ HCP; 8- total points". Broken record time: HCP can be less than or equal to "total" points, but they CANNOT be more, yet this definition, like MANY GIB definitions, incorrectly implies the opposite.

Bad GIB definitions, bad robot auction. In other words, nothing surprising here, folks.

https://www.bridgeba...S4%7Cpc%7CD9%7C

[benellis58]

I should probably mention one key point about this thread. I write a fair number of posts exposing various examples of the flagrant weaknesses of the GIB and GIBBO robots, but I could write many, many more, because they do something disgustingly bad with such astounding frequency that I would never have close to enough time to document them all. That said, it is encouraging that - as bad as the GIBBO robots still are - they are considerably better than the GIB robots were before the recent upgrade. That massive improvement, thanks to Lorserker's fine work, provides a small glimmer of hope that the GIBBO robots might one day move closer to a level of basic competence. If that day ever arises, playing with and against robots will become much more pleasurable for the human participants.

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIBBO robots. The result on the board was plus 200 North-South, for a score of 100% on the board for NS and 0% for EW, but that does not excuse North's ridiculous lead of a HEART, declarer's KNOWN second suit, INTO declarer. This is the type of nonsense that you'd always expect from the hopeless GIB robots, but it's surprising and disappointing to see it coming from the greatly improved GIBBO robots.

Of course, the EW robots didn't exactly shine in the bidding, but that's less of a surprise.

https://www.bridgeba...S4%7Cpc%7CCJ%7C

[benellis58]

Back to the bad old habits for the GIBBO robots on this board:

West wins his club ace at trick two, and then, as these rubes LOVE to do, plays another CLUB (the suit DECLARER just played!) right back at trick three. One advantage that humans have over robots is that humans can LEARN from their past mistakes!

Later, when West again gets in and leads the diamond queen, covered by dummy North's king, the GIBBO robot sitting East decides that it will be a BRILLIANT play to withhold his ace. Spoiler alert: It was NOT brilliant!

https://www.bridgeba...D9%7Cpc%7CDT%7C

[benellis58]

While the GIBBO robots stubbornly and stupidly persist in their LOVE for returning DECLARER's suit (as illustrated in the post directly above this), they also stick to their equally stupid HATRED of returning their PARTNER's suit!

On this board, East found the very effective lead of the club jack (and kudos to Lorserker for so vastly improving the leading skills of the robots), but after the GIBBO robot sitting West won the trick with his king, he showed the world how hopelessly inept he is by foolishly shifting to a diamond instead of continuing clubs. They lead a lot better than the GIB robots did, but it looks like they defend just as incredibly poorly!

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