[Phil]

I've been playing a lot of instant tournaments. As long as you know a little about how the robots play, and have a reasonable game, you should be able to average 60-62%. A solid player should average more like 62-64%. In other words, I would not call them terribly challenging .

What about having an A flight for robodoops? If a player meets a minimum criteria - either an average score of 'x', a star player, or possibly 'X' (7-8+) as an ACBL rating on BBO, they can enter. Here's how it might be fun:

At a live tournament, an A pair event gets rated by adding the table count of the event plus the table count of lesser events running alongside.

This seems like a win/win/win. Newer players get the equivalent of a Gold Rush pairs on BBO that they can be more competitive in and win points. Better players can get more points and have a more competitive field to play in. BBO and ACBL increase table counts.

[1eyedjack]

Phil, on 2016-October-09, 18:21, said:

I've been playing a lot of instant tournaments. As long as you know a little about how the robots play, and have a reasonable game, you should be able to average 60-62%. A solid player should average more like 62-64%. In other words, I would not call them terribly challenging .

Your 60%+ result is no reflection on the competence of the robot; Only of the competence of the other human players sitting South against whom you are compared. *They* may not be particularly challenging, but that is another matter altogether.

Phil, on 2016-October-09, 18:21, said:

What about having an A flight for robodoops? If a player meets a minimum criteria - either an average score of 'x', a star player, or possibly 'X' (7-8+) as an ACBL rating on BBO, they can enter. Here's how it might be fun:

At a live tournament, an A pair event gets rated by adding the table count of the event plus the table count of lesser events running alongside.

This seems like a win/win/win. Newer players get the equivalent of a Gold Rush pairs on BBO that they can be more competitive in and win points. Better players can get more points and have a more competitive field to play in. BBO and ACBL increase table counts.

Live robodupes *are* flighted - perhaps not in the manner that you suggest. It is just the Instants which are not.

[barmar]

1eyedjack, on 2016-October-09, 23:24, said:

Your 60%+ result is no reflection on the competence of the robot; Only of the competence of the other human players sitting South against whom you are compared. *They* may not be particularly challenging, but that is another matter altogether.

The competence of the robots comes into play somewhat, because experienced robot players get to know their quirks, and learn how to take advantage of them. So if you get a good score, it's not necessarily a reflection of just your bridge skill, but also your skill at knowing how the robots play. You're still being compared with the other human players, but not just on the same expertise as in a human-only tournament.

[barmar]

1eyedjack, on 2016-October-09, 23:24, said:

Live robodupes *are* flighted - perhaps not in the manner that you suggest. It is just the Instants which are not.

They're stratified, not flighted. And we added stratification to instant tourneys in March.

[1eyedjack]

barmar, on 2016-October-10, 13:48, said:

They're stratified, not flighted. And we added stratification to instant tourneys in March.

Thanks - noted. Don't really understand the difference but expect it will come to me

[barmar]

From ACBL's explanation of stratification:

Quote

This type of game is different from most others because it produces more than one set of winners. The field is divided into two or three strata, each with a predetermined maximum and minimum masterpoint limitation.
...
All pairs in the event are ranked when computing the overalls in the top stratum. The pairs in the top stratum are then eliminated, and a second set of rankings is determined for the pairs remaining. Next, the pairs in the second stratum are eliminated, and a third ranking is done for the third stratum. It is possible for pairs in the second and third strata to place in a higher stratum, but pairs in the top stratum are eligible for awards only in the top stratum.

We also have a help file on stratification:

http://www.bridgebas...tification.html

It's a little out of date, since it only talks about ACBL pair games, but we now stratify all our robot duplicates.

[scarletv]

Quote

We begin by assigning each player a computed "stratification" score (higher is better). This score is assigned based on several factors including ACBL points, BBO points, BBO "Star", and a couple of other things.

Just curious what this couple of other things might be

[barmar]

scarletv, on 2016-October-12, 02:32, said:

Just curious what this couple of other things might be

I think the only other thing is that new BBO members who aren't ACBL members are put in A by default.

[Phil]

Would be awesome if I actually had a constructive response to my suggestion instead of explaining what strats are, thanks.

[TylerE]

1eyedjack, on 2016-October-10, 14:25, said:

Thanks - noted. Don't really understand the difference but expect it will come to me

Stratified - Field broken into, typically, A/B/C strats. All play all, masterpoints awarded by strat.

Flighted - Field broken into separate divisions, play with in division only. Like a KO event at Regional/National.

For the sake of completeness:

Strataflighted - Both stratified and flighted. Common in regional swisses. Typically there is an "A/X" flight and a "B/C/D" flight. Stratified within the flight.

[barmar]

Phil, on 2016-October-12, 09:02, said:

Would be awesome if I actually had a constructive response to my suggestion instead of explaining what strats are, thanks.

In general, you shouldn't expect constructive responses here. We read the suggestions, and add them to our near-infinite list of nice things to add.