[Thranduil]

https://tinyurl.com/239ywae7

I'd like to accept the invitation with my nice 14 HCP (probably would have opened 1NT 15-17 with my human partner anyways), but could not do so due to the lack of any control in spades. Therefore I bid 3♠, showing that I'd like to accept the invite but can't bid 3NT due to a lack of control in spades. And the bot went haywire, jumping to blackwood and then bidding 6♣, despite not holding a spades cuebid either.

Also, the description of the 3♠ bid needs to be changed, why does it show 18-19 HCP according to the automated description here when partner showed invitational or better? I need to have a way to ask partner for a spades stop with any hand that I am willing to accept an invite to 3NT with, - that means it should show 14 HCP or better.

[smerriman]

4NT is awful of course, though anyone who has played with GIB knows that it knows absolutely zero about slam and controls.

But I disagree with you on 3♠. With any unbalanced hand, you could bid a new suit, so it's only balanced hands left. Also, your partner is unlimited; it should really be them asking you for a stopper, since you're currently not in a position to place the contract. Having a bid which shows either 18+ or *exactly 14 that wasn't strong enough to open 1NT but is strong enough to play 3NT opposite a minimum limit raise* doesn't seem a good idea. And don't forget, we've already ruled out hands where GIB could have bid 2NT initially, so a shaky stopper may not be enough..

But I may well be wrong.

[johnu]

Thranduil, on 2024-December-19, 05:06, said:

I'd like to accept the invitation with my nice 14 HCP (probably would have opened 1NT 15-17 with my human partner anyways), but could not do so due to the lack of any control in spades. Therefore I bid 3♠, showing that I'd like to accept the invite but can't bid 3NT due to a lack of control in spades. And the bot went haywire, jumping to blackwood and then bidding 6♣, despite not holding a spades cuebid either.

Always check the meaning of a GIB system bid if you're not 100% sure. If you had checked, obviously you would not even think about bidding 3♠. Given the description of your 3♠ bid, GIB evaluated the strength of the 2 hands to be in the slam range, and GIB is not subtle or nuanced about slam bidding.

Also, where are you going if GIB doesn't have a spade stopper? Maybe 5♣ if partner has short spades, otherwise 5♣ is likely to be a stretch opposite a minimum 2♠ bid.

[smerriman]

For reference, a minimum 3♣ rebid by opener appears to be the majority position.

Of course, add ♥KJ to your hand so 3♠ is right and now we have the pure GIB bug.