What ought to be a robot’s strength

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your bridge game? Most players count winners; many also tally losers; experts track high-card points; and champions in addition calculate the opponents’ hand distributions. Luckily, though, that last capability is rarely needed.

If you wish to work on one, select high-card points. Remember what the declarer or the defenders have shown during the auction and have produced as the play proceeds.

You would think that this would be a strength of the robots at Bridge Base Online, but watch how this deal panned out.

In the auction, North’s two-club response as a passed hand was Drury, showing three or more spades and a maximum pass. The robot’s jump to game was optimistic.

West led the diamond ace and shifted to a low club. East won with his king and returned a club to his partner’s ace. West shifted to a low heart, dummy’s eight winning the trick.

Declarer, needing the rest, had to find the spade queen.

Taking that suit in isolation, you should cash the king and finesse twice (if necessary) through East. However, the robot played low to his ace and ran the jack through West, going down one when East produced the queen. Mathematically that was inferior, but why was South wrong on this deal specifically?

West had already shown 11points. (East would have covered dummy’s heart eight at trick four if he could have.) With the spade queen, West would have opened the bidding. If something is niggling you about the defense, tune in tomorrow.

— OCTOBER 22, 2021