About the Free USA Inter-State Robot Individual

The Free USA Inter-State Robot Individual is a new challenge that brings together bridge players from across the United States. Players are grouped into teams based on their home state, and compete both individually and as part of their state team.

How Are the State Teams Formed?

Players are automatically assigned to a team representing their state, based on their detected IP address. A state must have at least 10 registered players to form a team. If a state does not meet this threshold, its players will be placed in the "Other States" team.

How Is the State Score Computed?

Each state’s score is calculated using a two-tiered system:

• The average score of the top 10 players in the state.
• The average score of all players from that state.

The final score of each state is determined by averaging these two values. This method ensures that top-performing players significantly contribute to their team's overall success.

Tournament Format

• The tournament consists of 12 boards and is free to enter.
• You do not need a partner to participate.
• Each table consists of one human player (sitting South) and three robot players.
• Your partner and opponents are advanced robots playing 2/1.
• You have up to 24 hours to complete your boards. You can register and play at your own pace, leaving and returning as needed between 1am and 1am US Eastern Time.
• After finishing, you receive a provisional result that estimates your standing based on results available at that time.
• Final results will be available the next day in the list of Completed Tournaments on BBO, in your Recent Tournaments under History, and via BBO Mail.

Other Game Features

• Human Declares: If the robot wins the bidding, the human player temporarily switches seats to declare and play the hand.
• Best Hand: The human player (South) is guaranteed to have the most High Card Points (or be tied for most HCP) at the table.
• Deal Pools: Not all players receive the same deals. This is an anti-cheating measure.

About the Robots

The robots used are the latest BBO Ben, an AI bridge robot that plays 2/1 GIB-style bidding. You can click on any bid to view its explanation or hover over possible bids to see how your robot partner will interpret them. However, since this is an AI-driven robot, it may occasionally deviate from standard GIB logic and make alternative choices.

Take bid explanations with a grain of salt — while the robot follows GIB principles, it has been trained on human-played deals and may sometimes choose the human action over the expected GIB action.