As the year comes to a close, we wanted to share an important improvement that directly affects how you play on BBO. Today, we are introducing GIBBO, the next evolution of GIB (Ginsberg’s Intelligent Bridgeplayer), bringing a noticeably stronger and more natural robot experience to your games.
As of December 16, 2025, all GIB robot games on BBO run on the new GIBBO engine. The name "GIB" is still used in some menus, labels and help pages, but the robot itself is GIBBO.
This major update, powered by neural network technology, marks a significant leap forward in the development of BBO’s most popular bridge robot, GIB.
To mark the occasion, we are officially rebranding GIB as GIBBO. The new name reflects both the scale of this upgrade and the new technology behind it.
What's New in GIBBO?
With Version 44, we have introduced several important changes that improve both bidding and card play.
- Neural Network-Powered Bidding:
- The bidding outcome is now evaluated using a neural network instead of traditional double dummy (DD) analysis.
- This makes simulations much faster and allows even Basic GIBBO to simulate during the bidding phase, a feature previously available only for Advanced GIB.
- The neural network estimates how many tricks a contract is likely to make. The bidding system, rules, and conventions themselves remain unchanged.
- Smarter Opening Leads:
- GIBBO makes more aggressive and standard opening leads, as opposed to the passive plays of its predecessor, GIB V43.
- Opening leads are now selected based on a neural network model, which evaluates possible outcomes and selects the card most likely to perform well, all while respecting established lead conventions (e.g., 4th best).
- Common-Sense Card Play:
- One of the most exciting improvements comes during card play. In situations where DD analysis concludes that “it does not matter” which card to play, GIBBO will opt for the common-sense choice, based on typical bridge patterns (e.g., 2nd-hand-low, third-hand-high).
- The robot’s decisions are now influenced by both single dummy simulations (run using the neural network) and double dummy analysis, ensuring that it plays in a way that challenges opponents while making life easier for the player.
- Improved Inferences:
- GIBBO’s ability to draw inferences from cards already played has been greatly enhanced.
- For example, after a successful finesse, future predictions adjust to reflect a higher probability of the finesse working again.
- GIBBO can also reason about concepts such as restricted choice.
- Faster Simulations:
- Thanks to the speed of neural network evaluation, GIBBO runs simulations on much larger samples of hands.
- This gives the robot more time to think and leads to fewer poor decisions, especially for Basic GIB.
What stays the same?
While GIBBO introduces numerous innovations, some aspects remain unchanged:
- Bidding rules and conventions remain exactly as they were in GIB V43, the upgrade enhances the accuracy of the bidding phase without altering the system.
- Opening lead rules (such as 4th best) and carding have not changed.
- Double Dummy analysis still plays a major role in GIBBO’s decision-making, although it is now supplemented by neural network evaluation.
- GIBBO remains deterministic. The same bids and plays always produce the same outcome.
In Summary
- Basic GIBBO simulates during the bidding phase.
- Opening leads are less passive and feel more normal, thanks to neural network predictions.
- Common-sense decision-making in card play with a focus on making life more difficult for opponents and easier for the player.
- Inference from previously played cards is significantly improved.
- Increased sample size in simulations leads to more accurate and timely analysis.
How much better is GIBBO?
We tested GIBBO vs GIB V43 over tens of throusands of deals and each time GIBBO was vastly superior. Below is an example from a set of 4 matches of 4,000 deals between GIBBO and GIB V43:
- Basic GIBBO vs. Basic GIB 43 - Matchpoints: GIBBO wins with 57.25%
- Basic GIBBO vs. Basic GIB 43 - IMPs: GIBBO wins +3633 IMPs (+0.9 IMPs / board)
- Advanced GIBBO vs. Advanced GIB 43 - Matchpoints: GIBBO wins with 53.86%
- Advanced GIBBO vs. Advanced GIB 43 - IMPs: GIBBO wins +1594 IMPs (+0.4 IMPs / board)
Notice for Instant Tournament Players
In Instant Tournaments, results may differ on deals that were originally played using older versions of GIB. Even when the same bids and plays occur, the robot’s behaviour has changed with the introduction of GIBBO, which can lead to different outcomes.
These differences are temporary. Over the coming days, the pool of hands used for Instant Tournaments will update with deals played using GIBBO, and these discrepancies will gradually fade.
We can’t wait for you to experience the improvements firsthand. Please feel free to share your feedback in the GIB upgrades thread in the BBO Forum.
