BBO Discussion Forums: LOL(1) - BBO Discussion Forums

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I started these LOL series because as a frequent GIB tournaments member I am almost done with this.
GIB was MUCH better before they started to improve it. Yes I know it was doing some odd stuff like transferring to minor with 5 card suit etc but whatever they are doing to improve it started to make GIB do things that it never used to do.

Guys it is not improving. Let alone an improvement it is getting worse and worse. I am not even getting into not cashing setting tricks vs slams and grandslams where the guy who had a better hand judgement avoided a bad slam ends up losing 13 imps where GIB does not cash its 2 tricks vs a slam NT.

I am assuming that GIB is the #1 money maker of BBO and I am disappointed by the lack of investment that they try to keep their customers happy with this product. If it is is really that hard to keep GIB in at least a reasonable minimum standard then forgive me, but it is hard to imagine that it can not be done after so many years of it being on the BBO market. Of course if the investment costs more than the profit from GIB then I apologize for my rant.

It is not the case GIB gets worse over time. Every new release beats the old version by hundreds of IMPs over the course of large test matches (thousands of boards). So GIB gets better over time, essentially by definition. That doesn't mean it's impossible for fixing some problems to cause others. We try to watch for them and fix them as they come.

Sorry you are frustrated with the pace of progress. I also wish it was faster. But maybe it's not in the best taste to start a LOL series, essentially mocking BBO, then end the post by saying you have no idea how much it costs or how difficult it is to fix GIB so sorry if you overreacted. Better not to overreact to begin with. We all want GIB to improve faster, and I have some reason to think that will happen.

This particular bug has two parts. A negative doubler bidding a new suit next round should show (at least) 5+, not 4. That part is in the queue to be fixed. And not supporting partner as a higher priority after a negative double, I will add to the queue.

Hard to think 3♣ is right bid with 4♦, sure 3♦ is better.

jdonn, on 2017-June-01, 13:06, said:

Josh first of all thank you for the reply. Second I will take your word for the GIB not getting any worse.
However I did not mock BBO. In fact I am one of the people who almost always on BBO side in debates or arguments where people want to show BBO as a money trap. (You can see the validity of my word both in BBF and BW debates and FB debates about BBO)
My apologize was if my rant is due to lack of knowledge and simply giving slack to BBO in case GIB does not bring as much money as people think it does.

Let's talk about the pace of progress. As I said I will take your word for the improvement (of 100s of imps each upgrade). The improvement seen on GIB is NOWHERE even remotely at the level of satisfactory for me and for most customers regarding the pace and content.. This is even more disappointing if you consider the time that GIB has been on the market. This is a market that is created by BBO and people fell in love with the service.

• Having not to worry about a pd
• Competing with same opponents and pd with same hands.
• Reasonable price compared to what they charge for worse games in clubs.
• Being not cheater friendly events.
• Getting results as soon as you are finished.

And I really do not care much about how upgraded GIB does vs outdated GIB in their match of thousands of boards. If you have a statistics about how upgraded GIB rewards/punish the bad bids and plays of human opponents, have statistics of misexplanations compared to past, have statistics of number of complaints (legit ones) statistics of time passed for each upgrade and how many bugs/year fixed and how many left to fix, then I am all ear to what you will say.


You may be right about the title and rant I chose but seeing it as mocking the BBO is plain wrong. The progress, the pace of the progress, regardless of how many imps GIB improves each upgrade, is simply way too slow. To me it looks like BBO just invented a rocket that can travel the solar system but using it only in domestic flights in a small country on earth only. This is the future of bridge online. I am surprised WBF EBL and NBOs do not make an attempt to create their own engines and start selling masterpoints online like ACBL does. Allowing their own events to be broadcast only through their engines etc...What I am saying is, why does BBO holds itself and their own invention so back? Why wait someone else to smell the amount of profit and take it from their hands with a decent engine?

It is not just couple of bugs. There are just way too many of them to fix with upgrades.

• It is unacceptable to still not be able to signal with your pd in defense. After all these years if not decades we are all defending blind still. This is why no one enjoys being in defense in GIB events. Everything that explains how GIB signals is proven to be inaccurate and wrong so far.
• It is not acceptable to see the lousy job such as forgetting to update the explanations of bids AFTER the meaning of that auction which is recently updated.
• It is not acceptable to still show 30+ hcps for an overcall or 2 suited rebid at high levels.
• It is not acceptable for western cuebid to show stoppers instead of asking. GIB has to eventually learn to bid NT when having stoppers instead of cueing and forcing the guy (me) to bid NT with no stopper from the wrong side.
• It is not acceptable to invite an 15-17 hcp with the most lousy 8 hcp flat hand without any major, while to pass a 1 NT overcall which shows 16-18 with a 5 card M and 8 hcp (5 card M was AQJxx quality)
• It is not acceptable to not cash setting tricks.
• It is not acceptable to end up seeing dummy with 4 hcp and flat hand when the explanation says 10-12 hcp.
• It is not desirable business wise, not to be able to let the user fill a cc and play a system with GIB of his own choice after being on market for so many years. This alone makes BBO lose a lot of money due to the lack of 2/1 knowledge of users and their choice of not renting/playing GIB. People should be able to choose their own toys among options even if they play the same system.
• It is not acceptable to still make 2nd negative vs a 2♣ opener with 10 hcp and support in opener suit and pass on next round!
• (i can keep on this list forever)

With all due respect, GIB does not need upgrades. It needs an OVERHAUL imo. A complete overhaul which was due long time ago. Of course this is just my opinion and how I see things from outside. However, LOL at GIB in a post is probably the politest way of expressing my frustration as a customer who pays for the product and service. Not an attempt to mock BBO.

I think GIB and BBO in general would benefit greatly from opening GIB up to the community, or at least a much larger team.

MrAce, on 2017-June-01, 20:58, said:

It is not acceptable for GIB to randomly play high spot cards and honors when following suit when doing so either gives up a trick outright or sets up a potential winning line that wouldn't be possible if GIB played low.