[HighLow21]

So BBO has now started automatically replacing players with Robots when they leave the table.

I find that they are awful. Anyone care to opine?
- They bid when they shouldn't. Especially in competitive auctions, they show no judgment.
- On defense I find their signalling and random play of cards to, again, show no judgment.
- It seems there are very few situations in which you can make a penalty double opposite a robot. They stick the double rarely, and when they do, they often defend in ways that allow the contract to make.
- Their declarer play is worse than average on BBO, and to me that is saying a lot.

Has anyone else had this experience?

And is there a way to turn them off entirely, say when hosting a table?

[barmar]

HighLow21, on 2013-December-13, 03:42, said:

And is there a way to turn them off entirely, say when hosting a table?

They're not there for your benefit. They're there for the benefit of the humans who would otherwise have been thrust into the middle of the hand by "Help me find a game", with no idea what has gone before. These hands are not very enjoyable to them.

It's just one hand, when it's over the robot will go away and you can get a new human partner.

[HighLow21]

barmar, on 2013-December-13, 09:30, said:

They're not there for your benefit. They're there for the benefit of the humans who would otherwise have been thrust into the middle of the hand by "Help me find a game", with no idea what has gone before. These hands are not very enjoyable to them.

It's just one hand, when it's over the robot will go away and you can get a new human partner.

Agreed, that's a fair point.

[HighLow21]

HighLow21, on 2013-December-13, 14:18, said:

Agreed, that's a fair point.

I guess maybe my reason for posting this is that until now, I hadn't played with Robots. I was under the assumption that they were reasonably good with some quirks. I'm finding them extremely erratic and disappointing.

[barmar]

HighLow21, on 2013-December-27, 10:21, said:

I guess maybe my reason for posting this is that until now, I hadn't played with Robots. I was under the assumption that they were reasonably good with some quirks. I'm finding them extremely erratic and disappointing.

We ran a test. We had them play thousands of hands from past BBO tournaments, and matchpointed them against the humans. They averaged 55%..

Yes, they have quite a few quirks. On the other hand, they never miscount trumps. Human memory is selective, you tend to remember the debacles more.

[HighLow21]

barmar, on 2013-December-27, 11:14, said:

We ran a test. We had them play thousands of hands from past BBO tournaments, and matchpointed them against the humans. They averaged 55%..

Yes, they have quite a few quirks. On the other hand, they never miscount trumps. Human memory is selective, you tend to remember the debacles more.

OK I guess I just need time to get used to their quirks. Still, I've had them make mistakes no human would make (and avoid ones that few humans would avoid!)

[barmar]

HighLow21, on 2013-December-28, 21:03, said:

OK I guess I just need time to get used to their quirks. Still, I've had them make mistakes no human would make (and avoid ones that few humans would avoid!)

I was playing in a robot tournament a couple of days ago, and one of the defending robots made a very good unblocking play to avoid being end-played.

[lycier]

HighLow21, on 2013-December-13, 03:42, said:

So BBO has now started automatically replacing players with Robots when they leave the table.

I find that they are awful. Anyone care to opine?
- They bid when they shouldn't. Especially in competitive auctions, they show no judgment.
- On defense I find their signalling and random play of cards to, again, show no judgment.
- It seems there are very few situations in which you can make a penalty double opposite a robot. They stick the double rarely, and when they do, they often defend in ways that allow the contract to make.
- Their declarer play is worse than average on BBO, and to me that is saying a lot.

Has anyone else had this experience?

And is there a way to turn them off entirely, say when hosting a table?

Yes,yes,I have ever played against that GIB for several times,they were so awful,I guess that may be a new secret weapon of bbo - expert GIB.