[thepossum]

Hi all

I have been very reticent about jumping into occasional pairs with unknown partners - partly over anxiety over what the tournaments are like with regard to alerts and complaints and the like

I have considered taking a chance with a Bot from time to time

If I say I am playing GiB 2/1 in my profile and am partnering a Bot - do the Bots bids have tool-tip descriptions or do they all have to be alerted or announced when required

[stelios_t]

As you are probably aware, in a BBO pairs tournament (unlike FTF tournaments) each partner alerts their own bid. Therefore, the Robot presumably alerts its bids (though you won't see the explanation) and you are supposed to alert your own.
Disclaimer: Although I have played a lot of pairs *and* robot games, I have never played with a robot at a pairs game, so the above is conjecture based on my experience with BBO "philosophy."

[thepossum]

I was wondering if GiB actually does alert anything. Can anyone assist? I know in theory it should alert or announce around half its bids

Before I even risk joining a tourney with a robot partner

And from my side, I find the 2/1 system GiB plays rather complex to remember myself, and having to alert it all

I do have the card printed out and have Larry Cohen's guide to the ACBL card - oh no - that is one of the blue or red bids - I think I have to say something

Has anyone ever had trouble with a TD in an argument over misinterpretation of a GiB explanation

It would be good to have GiB 2/1 lite for tourneys

[pescetom]

thepossum, on 2023-March-31, 17:48, said:

I was wondering if GiB actually does alert anything. Can anyone assist? I know in theory it should alert or announce around half its bids

Before I even risk joining a tourney with a robot partner

And from my side, I find the 2/1 system GiB plays rather complex to remember myself, and having to alert it all

I do have the card printed out and have Larry Cohen's guide to the ACBL card - oh no - that is one of the blue or red bids - I think I have to say something
,
Has anyone ever had trouble with a TD in an argument over misinterpretation of a GiB explanation

It would be good to have GiB 2/1 lite for tourneys

I have recent experience of using GiB as partner in pairs tournaments.
Everything you or GiB does is automatically alerted and explained according to the GiB version of 2/1.
You can also cheat by hovering over potential calls to see what they mean to GiB.

I never had had trouble (at least when on this side) with a TD in an argument over misinterpretation of a GiB explanation, quite the contrary.
It seems normal for TDs to assume that anything goes and your robot partner is too dumb to form implicit agreements even if he can and does deviate from the descriptions supplied.
If your main objective is winning at any price (including $0.49) then this is good news.

[thepossum]

pescetom, on 2023-April-02, 16:06, said:

I have recent experience of using GiB as partner in pairs tournaments.
Everything you or GiB does is automatically alerted and explained according to the GiB version of 2/1.
You can also cheat by hovering over potential calls to see what they mean to GiB.

I never had had trouble (at least when on this side) with a TD in an argument over misinterpretation of a GiB explanation, quite the contrary.
It seems normal for TDs to assume that anything goes and your robot partner is too dumb to form implicit agreements even if he can and does deviate from the descriptions supplied.
If your main objective is winning at any price (including $0.49) then this is good news.

Thanks for letting me know
Was a bit nervous getting involved in any tournaments with other pairs having GiB as partner until someone assured me everything is alerted

You get a bit bored constantly playing the robot tourneys and best hand gets tedious too after a while

But reading your post makes me think you are talking about the Robot only daylongs/pairs. You have experience playing in human pairs tournaments with GiB

Anyone know if any pairs a reputation for being more or less friendly than others - that is another consideration - to play with other relaxed and friendly people

Also kindly don't make any insinuation that my concerns relate to anything underhand. I did take the "you" to refer to others though
- I must admit though I understand wanting to win something important at all costs. Like a world championship. Not some insignificant little tourney - that would be worth risking upsetting people

Quite the opposite for me though. I am trying to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and unpleasantness. Maybe I move in different circles with different objectives to most of the rest of you. I will take your statement about winning at all costs to relate to some others on this site and in clubs. Please don't tar me by association with that brush

The very fact you mentioned it is a reason why I am forced to avoid most clubs and human tournaments - who wants that unpleasantness. Maybe the world has changed

One of the first things I learned many decades ago were the ethics and philosophy of fairness at a Bridge table - but the whole world has changed on aspects of fairness and ethics anywhere

Some of us also learned or were brought up with pleasant and polite behaviour. That includes being nice and polite to people who let us down too - or just in general being polite to each other. That has changed worldwide too

Can you or anyone else recommend a human pairs tourney that allows robot partners that also has a standard or reputation of fair play, politeness and tolerance for errors. Or are there friendly Team tourneys full of pleasant sporting people happy for friendly dropins.

Maybe I should just risk one and see what abuse comes flying my way

What does the restriction "No enemies" mean?

Is Churros friendly?

I'm going to risk one and see

Can anyone explain how a torunament works that allows 40 secondns per bid/play with only 5 minutes per board - my basic maths suggests only 7.5 binds and plays on average per board

[barmar]

thepossum, on 2023-April-09, 23:18, said:

Can anyone explain how a torunament works that allows 40 secondns per bid/play with only 5 minutes per board - my basic maths suggests only 7.5 binds and plays on average per board

40 seconds is the limit, but most bids and plays take much less time than that. Remember that the pause expected after a skip bid is typically supposed to be 10 seconds, implying that normal tempo is less than that. And when there are robots, they take almost no time.

Speedball tournaments are 4.5 minutes/board, with no specific limit on each action, yet most tables finish on time.

[pescetom]

thepossum, on 2023-April-09, 23:18, said:

But reading your post makes me think you are talking about the Robot only daylongs/pairs. You have experience playing in human pairs tournaments with GiB

Yes I have experience playing in human pairs tournaments with GiB and no I was not talking about anything Robot only.

thepossum, on 2023-April-09, 23:18, said:

Also kindly don't make any insinuation that my concerns relate to anything underhand. I did take the "you" to refer to others though
- I must admit though I understand wanting to win something important at all costs. Like a world championship. Not some insignificant little tourney - that would be worth risking upsetting people

My use of "you" is generic and I make no insinuations about anyone, even myself.
And of course I was joking when I referred to checking one's own agreements as cheating (just to remind people that it is not allowed in most competition).

thepossum, on 2023-April-09, 23:18, said:

Can you or anyone else recommend a human pairs tourney that allows robot partners that also has a standard or reputation of fair play, politeness and tolerance for errors. Or are there friendly Team tourneys full of pleasant sporting people happy for friendly dropins.

Maybe I should just risk one and see what abuse comes flying my way

In my experience most human pairs tournaments offer fair play and politeness. An online tournament reflects its Director and you soon get a feel for that. I usually play pairs tournaments with either a regular human partner or a robot and I only encounter unknown human partners in the occasional automated tournament where no chat is allowed anyway. So I can't comment on how tolerant of errors pickup partners may be, although I suspect it will be less of a problem than when playing at a table. In any case you can avoid that problem by playing with a robot, they never say a word (yet).