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I am happy to report that my concerns that the ACBL might stop offering masterpoints for BBO robot tournaments were unfounded. BBO and ACBL have signed an agreement making BBO the sole online provider of ACBL masterpoint tournament. I am glad that will continue.
No mention if the level of play of GIB robots was part of the negotiation. Since the overwhelming majority of ACBL members are well below the advanced play level, it may not be a concern. My hope is that BBO will still continue its efforts to improve robot bidding. Since some of the weaknesses of GIB are hard-wired in and nearly impossible to change, I would have to believe that at some point BBO will have to consider either developing a whole new robot environment on its own, or purchasing/leasing one from another developer.
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BBO/ACBL Partnership
#1
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Posted 2016-June-30, 09:31
#2
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Posted 2016-July-01, 12:35
iandayre, on 2016-June-30, 09:31, said:
I am happy to report that my concerns that the ACBL might stop offering masterpoints for BBO robot tournaments were unfounded.
Just wondering -- why are you happy abt it?
I much prefer robot-bridge over random pickup pds, but what value does the ACBL blessing contribute?
Particularly, if they are granting BBO a monopoly...?
#3
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Posted 2016-July-01, 18:01
As far as my personal feelings are concerned, it makes no difference to me whether BBO has a monopoly or not. I haven't been to OKB or Swan in many years.
As far as ACBL masterpoints are concerned, there have always been players who care about them, and there have always been players that don't. I am one of the former, though they are hardly an obsession. I like to play for SOMETHING and I like to see that .90 masterpoints against my name when I win a robot tournament. I played no bridge of any sort for about 5 years from 2008-2012 (after being an active duplicate player for 30 years), and if I weren't for the masterpoints there is no chance I would have gotten interested in the game again the way I did.
As far as ACBL masterpoints are concerned, there have always been players who care about them, and there have always been players that don't. I am one of the former, though they are hardly an obsession. I like to play for SOMETHING and I like to see that .90 masterpoints against my name when I win a robot tournament. I played no bridge of any sort for about 5 years from 2008-2012 (after being an active duplicate player for 30 years), and if I weren't for the masterpoints there is no chance I would have gotten interested in the game again the way I did.
#4
- Group: Full Members
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Posted 2016-July-02, 09:02
OK, got it 
Re monopoly, though, I think it would only help computer-bridge development as well as the bridge-community at large, if some other provider wanted to step up and offer a better/stronger robot-pgm for online competitions (incl ACBL points).
It's getting very obvious that BBO is struggling hard with the maintenance and improvements of Gib,
and to me seems unlikely after all these years, that it will ever really move somewhere...
Re monopoly, though, I think it would only help computer-bridge development as well as the bridge-community at large, if some other provider wanted to step up and offer a better/stronger robot-pgm for online competitions (incl ACBL points).
It's getting very obvious that BBO is struggling hard with the maintenance and improvements of Gib,
and to me seems unlikely after all these years, that it will ever really move somewhere...
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