[Tompster]

I only recently discovered that I could change default play options to allow for automatic play of singletons. I really think that should be the default BBO setting for all players. It has several advantages. First, it slightly speeds the game up. I play speedballs and anything to help speed it up is good. It also gives nothing away since there is a tiny pause before the system plays the card. Secondly it keeps people from deliberately slowing the game down. More than once I have had opponents just sit without playing in the 13th round. Not sure what they are doing but no reason not to finish the hand. And while I hate to say it, it also limits opponents ability to deliberately give a false impression of their distribution by hesitating over playing a singleton. Yes, I have experienced that one, too. What do you folks think?

[TylerE]

Autoplay singletons in a evil option that is basically cheating. It shouldn't exist. The timing gives far too much away.

[smerriman]

I can understand some people wanting it on, but it would be an absolute disaster having it on by default.

[sfi]

One situation where it would be really problematic is at trick one. An autoplayed singleton would almost always be too fast for normal tempo.

[smerriman]

I should have said, tempo is not the only issue here too. Suppose you play a card, then glance away from the screen for a second. The trick is completed, someone leads to the next one, and your singleton autoplays.

You now have no way of knowing what cards were played to the previous trick.

In fact, I take back my earlier statement. I have no idea how anyone could want this enabled.

[pescetom]

IMO auto-play on the last trick should be automatic, on other tricks (including the first) should be optional.
The tempo (in this case, random) should be hidden as far as possible by the system, as it should be with manual bids too.
The system should offer additional time protection on the first trick.

[pilowsky]

Some people randomise which card from equals.
Say at trick 6 I have a JT8 in a non-trump suit and signalling is not relevant. I will play whichever of the JT my cursor arrives at first.
The robots do the same thing. Against good players (better than me) this will make it hard for declarer to use 'restricted choice' to work out where the remaining cards are.

By the same token, I now also randomise tempo (slightly). Sometimes I will play a card quickly - sometimes more slowly - this is intended to prevent opponents from 'imagining' which cards I hold on the basis of timing.

More problematic in face-to-face bridge is that some people always arrange the cards in their hand in a particular way. This made it possible to work out the opponents holding from where in the hand they selected their next card.
This is one reason I much prefer online Bridge.

Turning on autoplay singletons is handy in 'robot race' where you really want to play quickly, It creates all sorts of problems in non-robot Bridge.

Oddly, I seem to recall that 'on' was a default in earlier iterations of BBO, but that was a while back so I may have misremembered.

[morecharac]

 TylerE, on 2021-February-28, 14:33, said:

Autoplay singletons in a evil option that is basically cheating. It shouldn't exist. The timing gives far too much away.

As a (now retired) director, I had the option of penalising people who deliberately took excessive time playing a singleton for unsportsmanlike behaviour. I never did it but the option was there.

I find that there is some variation in how quickly singletons autoplay. If you naturally play much faster or much slower than the autoplay, you may be giving away a lot more UI by even a slight deviation from your normal playing speed than Autoplay Singleton ever does.

If you have a connection so good that the timing of AS is always detectable then I envy you.

[morecharac]

The simplest solution would be to change the programming so that AS never works on the first trick and always happens on the final trick. (You want extra time to play that thirteenth card? Good luck finding a justification rather than a rationalisation.)

Once that's done, it makes more sense to have AS on as a default than to have those bloody Vugraph popups appearing at the moments when they're most concentration-shattering.

While we're at it, Confirm Bids should default to on. If there's one setting that should be an opt-out rather than an opt-in it's CB.

[pilowsky]

 morecharac, on 2021-February-28, 22:11, said:

Once that's done, it makes more sense to have AS on as a default than to have those bloody Vugraph popups appearing at the moments when they're most concentration-shattering.

To say nothing of the purulent "the Director has adjusted board..." etc

[bluenikki]

More problematic in face-to-face bridge is that some people always arrange the cards in their hand in a particular way. This made it possible to work out the opponents holding from where in the hand they selected their next card.

That is cheating, of course.

[mycroft]

...and why I have a habit of playing with my hand under the table. (and get your minds out of the gutters, I meant bridge).

I once got an opponent upset with me for doing that, because it's not fair in other games. Yes, well, I can see in Poker or Gin Rummy there would be a problem, but people will notice the second Ace of spades when all 52 cards are in play.

For a couple of years my regular partner played with a rack, and sorted by suits. Several times, concerned opponents, usually very good players, would comment on it, and warn her that some opponents (not them, of course) would use that information. I'm pretty certain that not all of them were entirely transparent about their concern - I'm quite certain that in some cases, what was actually being said was "your partner could use that information", and it was more a warning to me than a concern for her. Fine - I learned not to look at partner 30 years ago when I had that one, very distracting and unavailable, partner.

Count me in, too, for Autoplay Trick 13.

[morecharac]

 mycroft, on 2021-March-01, 10:20, said:

...and why I have a habit of playing with my hand under the table. (and get your minds out of the gutters, I meant bridge).

I once got an opponent upset with me for doing that, because it's not fair in other games. Yes, well, I can see in Poker or Gin Rummy there would be a problem, but people will notice the second Ace of spades when all 52 cards are in play.

My response has always been that the cards are too close for me to see if they're above the table.

One of the favoured players of our former club manager, a man who actually threw boards at my partner's feet once, would play with card hand resting on table and fingers already grasping the next card he expected to play, while his wife was choosing her card, then get audibly wrathful when he had to change cards.

He had the audacity to claim he didn't cheat and there were people who supported him. Usually the other people who berated their wives at the table with impunity...

[pescetom]

 mycroft, on 2021-March-01, 10:20, said:

...and why I have a habit of playing with my hand under the table. (and get your minds out of the gutters, I meant bridge).

I once got an opponent upset with me for doing that, because it's not fair in other games. Yes, well, I can see in Poker or Gin Rummy there would be a problem, but people will notice the second Ace of spades when all 52 cards are in play.

But they might not notice if you swap the King and 6 of spades with companion after seeing the dummy, for instance.

Below table is not illegal as far as I can see, but FWIW I don't much like it: if you find it stressful to vary the way you sort the cards (or not sort at all) then why not just lower your hand beneath the table at the moment you select a card, for instance?
The most important thing in any case is to be consistent (no unexpected lowering/raising). but good luck demonstrating that to a lazy Director or hostile opponent.

Isn't online great?

[Joe_Old]

I vote to leave autoplay singletons off, mostly because I like to think a little extra at trick one.

45 years ago Barry Crane mentioned at the table that players can be hard to read, but kibitzers' expressions give everything away.

Around that time I was playing against a teenager, now a world champion, being taught the game by his mother who was ethically challenged. The apple rarely falls far from the tree for he had become a "leaner" who therefore picked up more than his share of 2 way finesses. Knowing this I buried a Queen behind another card and at the appropriate time "forgot" to hold my hand back so he could peek at the suit. His reaction to losing that finesse was priceless.

I've never sorted my cards since. It has the added benefit of deterring kibitzers.

[mycroft]

I try to point out (at an appropriate time, not at the table) those people who when they play the last card in a suit, swap their hand around to be r/b/r again.

One time I figured I'd see if they know what they're doing, so after playing my second-to-last card in a suit, I swapped my hand around in a similar style...

I can't play with no sorting, but I do make sure that if I play the second-to-the-end K, it's not guaranteed that I have the Ace.

[bluenikki]

 Joe_Old, on 2021-March-01, 14:32, said:

I vote to leave autoplay singletons off, mostly because I like to think a little extra at trick one.

45 years ago Barry Crane mentioned at the table that players can be hard to read, but kibitzers' expressions give everything away.

Around that time I was playing against a teenager, now a world champion, being taught the game by his mother who was ethically challenged. The apple rarely falls far from the tree for he had become a "leaner" who therefore picked up more than his share of 2 way finesses. Knowing this I buried a Queen behind another card and at the appropriate time "forgot" to hold my hand back so he could peek at the suit. His reaction to losing that finesse was priceless.

I've never sorted my cards since. It has the added benefit of deterring kibitzers.

Story going around in 70s New Jersey: A 6:10 player had to find a queen. He leaned to his left: No queen. Just to be sure he leaned to the right: No queen.

So he shrugged and went with the odds. Lady in 4th seat opens her purse, takes out the queen, and says, "I've played you before."

[Tompster]

 sfi, on 2021-February-28, 15:27, said:

One situation where it would be really problematic is at trick one. An autoplayed singleton would almost always be too fast for normal tempo.

I think there is a misconception here. Autoplay is not instantaneous - there is a noticeable pause before it is played. What are the odds that your partner leads and you have to hesitate over your singleton unless the only object is to confuse declarer? Second, if you can't stand the default option, then go into options and turn autoplay off.

[Tompster]

 morecharac, on 2021-February-28, 22:11, said:

The simplest solution would be to change the programming so that AS never works on the first trick and always happens on the final trick. (You want extra time to play that thirteenth card? Good luck finding a justification rather than a rationalisation.)

Once that's done, it makes more sense to have AS on as a default than to have those bloody Vugraph popups appearing at the moments when they're most concentration-shattering.

While we're at it, Confirm Bids should default to on. If there's one setting that should be an opt-out rather than an opt-in it's CB.

These are good points. I would definitely support autoplay on the last round. I suspect the software would be difficult to produce which would turn autoplay on after the first trick.

[pescetom]

 Tompster, on 2021-March-01, 16:29, said:

I think there is a misconception here. Autoplay is not instantaneous - there is a noticeable pause before it is played. What are the odds that your partner leads and you have to hesitate over your singleton unless the only object is to confuse declarer? Second, if you can't stand the default option, then go into options and turn autoplay off.

If the delay of autoplay is detectable (as people who actually use it seem to suggest) then your argument is disingenuous: I can't turn it off for you and your partner may well be aware.

It is trivial for software developers to enable/disable autoplay only at a certain trick. Also to add random delay to autoplay bids (and manual bids for that matter).