[benellis58]

Same hand, different table, different (and strange!) auction by a different human. Here the GIB robot sitting West makes a DIFFERENT lead...but also, as expected, a STUPID one. THIS West also fails to find the obvious (and killing) heart lead, but here he does NOT lead a spade. Why not? Because HERE the OPPONENTS (NS) did NOT bid spades, so the lead was less attractive to him, because as we know from experience, he LOVES to lead suits that the ENEMY bids. Here, since they DIDN'T bid spades, he didn't want to lead one, and of course he wouldn't DREAM of leading HIS suit (hearts), so he made another of his favourite leads: his WEAKEST suit, clubs.

Declarer won and took a (losing) diamond hook at trick two. Winning his offside king, what did the GIB robot sitting West now do? Well, of COURSE he immediately...fired back a...DIAMOND (!), because these cretins LOVE to immediately return DECLARER'S suit, idiots that they are.

Declarer won and slid the spade jack, winning. Then when he played the spade queen, the GIB robot sitting West made the colossally stupid blunder of failing to cover with his king, allowing South to score five spade tricks when he was legitimately entitled to only four.

Just one MORE in the endless stream of examples illustrating how absolutely wretched the GIB robots are at "defending"!

https://www.bridgeba...HA%7Cpc%7CH7%7C

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. Knowing that his GIB partner is incompetent and that his two GIB opponents are also incompetent, the human South decides to operate by opening 1NT. North raises to 3NT, and West is on lead.

What does the GIB robot sitting West lead? Perhaps the spade king? That would appear to be the normal lead in theory, and perhaps unsurprisingly it would also be the best lead in practice on this particular hand. So...of COURSE that's not what West leads. After all, HE'S a GIB robot!

He makes what in theory appears to be the remarkably stupid lead of the ace of clubs. And in practice? Well, again unsurprisingly, it is the worst possible lead for EW and the best possible lead for NS. Not exactly a surprise WHENEVER a GIB robot is on lead!

South scores an easy 12 tricks, mainly thanks to the imbecilic lead of the ace of clubs.

https://www.bridgeba...H5%7Cmc%7C12%7C

[benellis58]

Not my table, but a very amusing story that, as usual, exposes the glorious ineptitude of the GIB robots:

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. The human South (whoever he is), knowing that the other three players at his table are all grossly incompetent, decides to experiment with a 1NT opening bid. This is passed out, leaving West on lead.

West has 1042, Q84, AKQ84, 107. Does he lead a DIAMOND? Sorry, silly question - of COURSE he doesn't lead a DIAMOND, because...HE'S a GIB robot!

He does, however shock the world by not making the EXPECTED GIB lead of the club 10. Nope, he leads the 2 of spades.

Declarer runs five spade tricks, and of COURSE West pitches a heart from Q84 and East pitches a heart from J72, so South is now able to rattle off FOUR heart tricks! Unfortunately, he blocks the suit and only takes three of them, proving that even humans can go wrong sometimes, but in South's defense maybe he caught brain flu from sitting at a table with three GIB robots. His failure to take his fourth heart trick didn't cost him anyway, as he had only legitimately been entitled to two heart tricks to begin with, if the EW morons had not BOTH pitched hearts, and he emerged with 8 tricks for plus 120 and a score of 100 % on the board, while the GIB robots sitting West scored a well-deserved ZERO for their pitiful attempt at "defending".

https://www.bridgeba...C5%7Cpc%7CCQ%7C

[benellis58]

Although I often criticize the horrendous play of the GIB robots, I must admit that they are very friendly. They are exceedingly generous in "defending" and are very nice in helping declarer. This hand is an excellent example of how very nice the GIB robots are.

First, West begins by making one of his most beloved (and usually most stupid) leads: his STIFF trump. The play to trick one makes it a virtual certainty that the human declarer will now "guess" the hearts correctly and lose NO hearts, whereas without the fatuous lead of the stiff trump, there is a very good chance that declarer might well lose a trump trick.

Thanks to West's GENEROUS lead, declarer leads a spade to dummy's king at trick two, intending to next play a heart to his 10 unless the queen pops up. This is his plan because thanks to the (silly) heart lead, declarer is confident that East was born with both the queen and jack of hearts.

But when the heart is led from dummy, East (with Q9 remaining) plays the...QUEEN, so of course South wins the king and cashes the 10, pulling all enemy (EW) trumps. WHY did East play the queen from Q9? It could NEVER gain, but it COULD lose...if declarer was about to misguess if East played the (normal and correct!) nine. In practice, this South would have (thanks to West's foolish lead) "guessed" right and inserted the 10 if East had CORRECTLY played the nine, so East's stupid pop of the queen didn't cost THIS time against THIS declarer...but it proved how "nice" the GIB robot is, because he went out of his way to ensure that declarer could not POSSIBLY go wrong.

Meanwhile, West stupidly pitched a diamond, making sure that declarer would EASILY end up with 12 tricks, resulting in a score of 96.4 % for NS and 3.6 % for EW. The GIB robots might be shockingly poor "defenders", but they are very nice and GENEROUS opponents who so frequently DONATE good scores to their opponents.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/bdhwh2j6

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. NS get to 3NT, which to put it mildly is not the world's greatest contract! Have no fear, though, because...two GIB robots are sitting East-West and "defending". The hand SHOULD go down one with the heart king offside, but the two GIB robots take only the heart king and ONE (!!!) spade, allowing NS to win ELEVEN (!) tricks and score 100 % on the board. The East-West "defenders", both GIB ROBOTS of course, "earn" themselves a VERY well-deserved ZERO for their clueless performance.

OR...maybe they were just being "nice" and "generous"...AGAIN! (Ha, ha.)

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

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. The final contract is 2NT by North, making exactly 8 tricks for plus 120 and a perfectly flat score of 50 %, but the story is about questionable bidding by North and (here we go again!) a ridiculous, illogical, inconsistent, poorly written GIB definition. (Ho hum, what else is new?)

North's 2D seems poorly judged. He has a crummy "suit" with J9852. He has a stiff 4 in spades, the suit his partner South overcalled in. He has length in clubs, with his K1092 in FRONT of his left hand OPPONENT who OPENED one club. He has a mere 8 HCP, and seven of those are in the enemy suits (the club king in the suit East opened, and the heart ace in the suit West showed via his negative double). The hand has all the indications of being a misfit...and both sides are vulnerable. WHY would North want to bid?

Anyway, after North's VERY questionable 2D call (which probably rescued EW from impending disaster due to their lack of a decent fit), East gratefully passes.

The human South bids 2H. He is not happy about this, particularly given West's negative double, but he doesn't trust his GIB "partner" on general principles based on vast experience observing unreliable and incompetent GIB robots. He also thinks it unlikely that DIAMONDS will be the ideal NS strain! West, like his partner East, GRATEFULLY passes, giving silent thanks to North for providing the EW partnership with a life preserver through his silly 2D bid. South risks his 2H call, BTW, despite the STUPID definition: "5+ spades; 15-17 HCP; 16-19 total points; forcing to 3NT". It makes NO sense for 2H to require those point totals and also makes no sense for the call to be forcing to 3NT.

North now bids 2NT...on the same pile of trash that he probably should have passed on the previous round. South WISELY passes, WISELY ignoring the GIB definitions of 2H and 2NT, both of which foolishly state that they are "forcing to 3NT". By IGNORING the ridiculous definitions, South manages to salvage a plus score of 120 rather than going to GIB's "mandated" 3NT and incurring a minus. Perhaps the moral is to IGNORE the GIB recommendations!

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p834wk2

[benellis58]

After East's diamond queen wins trick one, he knows (or should) know that West now has a stiff ace of diamonds remaining and that North is void. East also knows (or should know) that North knows that West has the diamond ace. Thus, regardless of the final result (which was 100 % NS for making their contract), East SHOULD know that playing a second diamond can only help declarer...yet East, a GIB robot, plays a second diamond anyway.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p8r4nfx

[benellis58]

This is a very rare post that for once does NOT expose GIB weakness. It's just an amusing (?) observation. Although it's irrelevant to the result on the board, and in fairness although East likely knows it's irrelevant, he decides to play the jack of hearts at trick one, perhaps purely to entertain his fans.

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

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. West declares 2H and makes two overtricks for plus 170 - a perfectly flat board as both sides score 50 %. But that's not the story.

The "story" is a question, and the question is: Why in the world would the GIB robot sitting North choose to lead the jack of diamonds on the auction that occurred? A second question is: Why do GIB robots absolutely LOVE to lead ENEMY suits?

Perhaps the answer to both questions is that GIB robots are incompetent cretins who have very little concept of how to play bridge? Just a thought.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/dur7xhcw

[benellis58]

SPEAKING of incompetent cretins, SPEAKING of GIB robots, and SPEAKING of stupid leads, observe what the GIB robot sitting West leads on THIS hand. I doubt that he would find many HUMAN players sharing his lead "strategy".

Okay, so it was a BIZARRE lead that the GIB robot made from the West, but how did it work out for him?

Answer: It worked out SO well that he and his poor innocent partner East (well, innocent on THIS board anyway!) scored...ZERO on the board when his bizarre lead allowed declarer to MAKE his 1NT contract for plus 90 and a score of 100 %.

Is anyone surprised that a twilight zone lead by a GIB robot totally blew a board? ANYONE? ANYWHERE?

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/yrbvdsr3

[benellis58]

4H? 4H? 4H? Why would the GIB robot sitting North LEAP to 4H after South merely competed with 2H in the passout seat? Why?

Now, I made it, for plus 420 and 89.3% on the board, but that doesn't mean that North's 4H was a good bid! I think THREE hearts would have been fine, and I would have carried on to four - sometimes making, sometimes not, depending on what the random layout happened to be.

In other words, North gained NOTHING by bidding four hearts rather than three, but if I had had a weaker hand, he would have LOST something - for NO reason. His bid here is similar to what the GIB robots frequently do when their partner opens a major and next rebids it, showing a sixth card in the suit. They often raise to three when they should pass, and leap to four when they should just raise to three.

I guess the best we can say about this apparent characteristic of theirs is that they're bad...but at least they're consistently bad with this particular habit.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/5n6t7a8e

[pescetom]

benellis58, on 2025-December-14, 18:30, said:

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. The human South opened 1NT, played it there after all three robots passed, and made exactly seven tricks to score + 90 and 50 % on the board. The contract certainly should have been defeated by the (inept) GIB robots "defending" in the EW seats, but we'll discuss that later in this post.

First, let's look at North's PASS of South's 1NT. Regardless of the result on this random hand, and regardless of whatever the layout happened to be on this or any other random hand where South opened 1NT and West passed, there must be something SERIOUSLY wrong with a system that mandates a PASS (!) with North's hand. In any DECENT system, North would have a way to explore contracts in clubs, diamonds, and possibly even hearts - all of which, given North's 0-3-5-5 hand, would likely be better in most cases than playing in no trump. Sadly, this hand illustrates one of the numerous instances where the GIB system is just plain hopelessly BAD!

As for how East "defended" 1NT, the words that immediately come to mind are: pathetically, hopelessly, stupidly, incompetently, and egregiously. I'm sure that other adverbs could be added to the list that would also describe the GIB robot's shameful and inept (yet TOTALLY unsurprising) "defensive" performance on the board.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/j99sw6s8

This one really is pretty bad, both for the auction and the defence.
To be fair to system, Gib system does have a way to find the minor fit after Stayman, just that the robot rarely reasons that far ahead. But it will still miss the 3-5 major fit which is a system bug.

[benellis58]

Thanks for your comments, Pescetom. It's always a pleasure to see you contributing to this thread (and others).

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. It didn't matter what North led on this hand, but that does not mean that his chosen diamond lead was wise - because it wasn't. Why do the GIB robots have such a deadly aversion to leading the suits that they and/or their partners have bid (again: not that it would have mattered here) and why do they tend to love making illogical leads that so often work out poorly for their side (be it NS or EW)? In short, why is leading one (JUST one!) of the numerous facets of bridge at which they are so despicably inept?

Another observation: Even some humans would agree with West's 3H call, but I think that double would have been a superior and obviously more flexible choice.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p87pbwx

[benellis58]

At trick three, instead of playing an OBVIOUS third round of hearts, the blinkered GIB robot in the West seat now plays his stiff club (trump). This allows the human South to easily arrange a later trump coup on East, thereby making his 3C contract for plus 110 and 100 % on the board. West gets a well-deserved zero, dragging his "partner" East along for the ride. GIB robots could save a lot of time by simply saying "I give up" every time their task is to "defend".

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/yckp7hhz

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots. I, South, decide to step out and "experiment" with a very atypical 1NT opening bid. The three GIB robots are all innocent of any wrongdoing up until North's 4C bid.

After North's transfer to 3C (via his 2NT call), I check the definition of 3H and see that it's natural, showing "4-5 hearts" and is not in any way asking, telling, or suggesting anything else. Although I had foisted a bizarre auction on North for which he was entirely blameless, I think he should have passed 3H. First, he has a mere 4 HCP opposite my known 15-17. Second, despite his six very decent clubs, his earlier transfer had already promised at least six. Third, he might well have had NO hearts, yet he actually has three to the jack. Fourth, his own GIB definition informs him that my 3H call is natural and has no special meaning. Thus, despite the fact that I had thrown my innocent partner a curveball, I think a good human player would figure out to pass 3H.

My robot partner bids 4C, however. I figure we might end up in the stratosphere and get a bottom, which would be my fault for "experimenting", but I say "What the Hell" and bid 4H anyway. My partner actually passes this, which is a pleasant surprise, but we're still in a silly and hopeless 4H - my fault for "experimenting".

However, the silly contract actually makes: 10 tricks, plus 620, and a score of 100 % on the board. I'm not posting this to brag. In fact, if anything, this is more like confessing than bragging, what with my bizarre bids of 1NT, 3H, and 4H, but the purpose is as always to expose the tremendous deficiencies ("defensive" deficiencies in this case) of the GIB robots and perhaps even to provide some laughs and entertainment.

I made the silly, impossible 4H because West led a trump (heart), which I won in hand. I led my stiff club towards dummy at trick two and the GIB robot sitting West stupidly and needlessly popped his ace and THEN even more stupidly RETURNED a club (because these incompetent GIB robots foolishly and perversely LOVE to lead or continue the suit that DECLARER plays - usually and unsurprisingly to their detriment). By the time trick three was over, these absolute cretins had already set up all of dummy's clubs, so it was child's play to draw trumps and claim my required 10 tricks. On a hand where my "stepping out" and "experimenting" had brought us to a bad, no-play contract that deserved to go down and deserved to be a bottom, these two GIB twits had managed to "defend" so unutterably poorly that NS ended up with a top rather than the BOTTOM that they expected and deserved. GIB robots show their "ability" once again!

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p8vppwb

[msheald]

diana_eva, on 2025-December-01, 16:37, said:

The original thread you kept hijacking was just a benchmark report of different bots at one point in time. It was not meant as a starting point for deep, philosophical conversations. When we do the next GIB upgrade, we'll publish a new benchmark and have the old ones for reference.

Your thread, on the other hand, has evolved from simple bashing to actual robot reports. Some of your posts are genuinely useful for our devs - thank you for posting the hands with each story. Many others focus on wrestling with robot explanations. We're working on improving those, but there will always be hands that can't be perfectly disclosed (even for humans, this happens). A lot of your posts also revolve around how robots defend - again, we're aware this needs improvement, but neither the explanations nor the leads will change until we release a specific update stating so.

For me, and probably other lurkers, your posts are amusing. Your endless hyperbole and dramatism are funny, even if you're a bit tough on our poor digital friends.

I really appreciate your comments - much better than those who embarrass themselves with overly aggressive defense of the robots for what they are, or overly aggressive attacks on the robots the for what they aren't.

Mike

[benellis58]

This one is all about the poor GIB system and the poor GIB definitions.

South's 2H is defined as "Transfer completed to hearts - 2-5 clubs; 2-5 diamonds; 3-5 hearts; 15-17 HCP". Not bad, but what is the purpose of beginning with the totally unnecessary words "Transfer completed to hearts"? Many GIB definitions omit very important information, yet many others (such as this one) put in totally useless, obvious, and insulting garbage such as the first four words of this one. Here's a suggestion, GIB: Include all the info that needs to be included all the time, but don't include the extraneous, obvious, and useless stuff.

South passes over 3C, but IF he had doubled, it would have been defined as "takeout". This exemplifies how bad the GIB system is. South is behind the club bidder and could easily have a hand with which he wants to make a penalty double. Meanwhile, why would he ever want to make a takeout double here - when East has shown both minors, and when North has transferred to hearts and subsequently PASSED when South bid 2H? If South wanted to compete for the contract, he already knows that hearts is the NS fit, so making a takeout double on this auction would be useless.

West bids 3D, defined as "2+ diamonds, 8- total points". First, WHY does this have to be eight or fewer total points? Second, you'll notice that West actually has...TWELVE...HIGH CARD POINTS! So the definition is silly and the GIB robot, with CONSIDERABLY more strength than his defined MAXIMUM, doesn't follow his own system. I can't blame him, because who would WANT to follow such an utterly pathetic system and such warped definitions?

North then bids 3H, stupidly defined as "6+ hearts, 3 total points". First, why does he have to have at least SIX hearts? His transfer promised at least five of them, and when South bid 2H over East's double of the 2D transfer, South's 2H was defined as showing "3-5 hearts", so North KNOWS that, and he might wish to compete even if he has "only" five hearts. Second, why does he have to have EXACTLY "3 total points"? That makes NO sense to begin with, and when we look at his hand we see that he actually has FOUR...HIGH CARD POINTS. So, just as West's 3D was ridiculously described as "8- total points", North's 3H is ALSO ridiculously defined as "3 total points"...and in both cases the hands do not match the definitions.

Next, West's 3S call is defined as "4- clubs; 2-3 diamonds; 4+ spades; 8+ HCP; 8- total points". This gets more and MORE ridiculous! Why would West NOW be bidding 3S -possibly with only four of them, basically forcing his partner (who is known to have length in both minors) to the four level? Also, when East had earlier bid 3C after previously doubling 2D, West had corrected 3C to 3D, yet the definition of 3S says that West could have as many as four clubs, yet has at most three diamonds. If had four clubs and at most three diamonds, would he not have earlier passed 3C rather than correcting to 3D? Furthermore, the definition of 3S makes the same foolish error that GIB definitions often make: It claims that 3S shows at least eight and possibly more (with no defined upper limit) HCP, but at most 8 and possibly fewer "total" points...despite the fact that HCP can NEVER be greater than "total" points. They might be equal or they might be less,but they cannot be greater...yet this hopeless definition implies the reverse!

This ONE hand is riddled with silly GIB system and theory, as well as really bad definitions...and GIB bids by the robots that don't even match those GIB definitions.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p8stkku

[benellis58]

West, North, and East are all GIB robots.
At trick two West pops his spade ace for no particular reason, something these characters often (TOO often!) do.
At trick three West wouldn't DREAM of playing a second club so that his partner could win and play a third round, punching declarer. Nah, West would MUCH rather return a...spade, something these characters often (FAR too often!) do, because they (stupidly) LOVE to return the suit declarer just played.
At trick four East says, "We've already set up a spade trick for declarer, so now I'd better cash my club ace before it runs away." He does that, setting up dummy's club king...even though declarer had no quick dummy entry to cash the spade trick that they had set up for him. so he couldn't have pitched his club quickly enough.

Declarer took 9 tricks for plus 140 and a score of 75% on the board. To be fair, with the very friendly layout, he was probably always taking 9 tricks anyway, so the EW plays didn't really cost, but...that does NOT mean that they were GOOD plays.

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p8fnun9

[benellis58]

Department of Bad Definitions, Starring GIB:

South's 1NT: "NT opener. Could have 5M - 2-5 clubs; 2-5 diamonds; 2-5 hearts; 2-5 spades; 15-". First (broken record time!), is it REALLY necessary to begin with the TOTALLY unnecessary words "NT opener"? Second, look at the utterly RIDICULOUS end of the definition: "15-". One can only assume that the author INTENDED to write "15-17 HCP" but CARELESSLY forgot to add the "17 HCP" and was too lazy and sloppy to bother checking or proofreading. This is shameful and embarrassing!

South's 2S: "Transfer completed to spades - 2-5 clubs; 2-5 diamonds; 2-5 hearts; 2-5 spades; 15-17 HCP". Well, hallelujah: at least this time the definition was actually COMPLETED...but was it REALLY necessary to begin (once again!) with TOTALLY unnecessary words (this time "Transfer completed to spades")? Maybe instead of wasting time and space on such useless drivel, the time could be spent on proofreading!

West's double: "Takeout double - 3+ clubs; 3+ diamonds; 3+ hearts; 2- spades; 14-20 total points". Well, okay, fair enough EXCEPT that that's not what West HAS. He's not respecting his OWN GIB definition! He has only Q5 doubleton of diamonds, not the promised "3+", and he has KJ5 of spades, not the promised "2-".

East's 3D: "4+ diamonds; 20- total points". Wow, thanks SO much for mentioning that he has from ZERO to TWENTY points. That's SO specific and VERY helpful...OR, perhaps a better description would be that it's basically useless.

South's double: "2-5 clubs; 2-5 diamonds; 2-5 hearts; 2-5 spades; 15-17 points; 18- total points". In other words, basically the SAME definition as his original 1NT opening. Nothing new, nothing the least bit useful, although at least this time the "15-17 HCP" part is actually complete. But how about saying the ONE thing that actually WOULD be useful, namely whether the double is penalty, takeout, or something from Mars? The GIB definition just repeats stuff that the world already knows from the 1NT opener but neglects to mention the KEY point of what the double is supposed to be. Hopeless!

This one single board includes NUMEROUS examples of how absolutely, overwhelmingly pathetic GIB definitions can be. Sloppy, poorly written, frequently useless garbage!

https://tinyurl.brid...se.com/2p8vzj5k