BBO has just announced a new feature for online pairs tournaments which we will start using on a trial basis at WCBU Tournaments from this coming Monday 11th July 2022.

If you register to play with a Robot and the Robot declares the hand, you - and not the Robot - will play the Robot’s cards as if you were the declarer.  This means that you will never be dummy and so you get to play the cards more often, just as you do when you play a casual game against the computer. Of course the defenders will only see the cards of the real dummy as usual.

If you begin the tournament with a human partner and it becomes necessary to bring in a Robot to replace them, here’s how it will work if your side declares the hand:

    If the robot is seated before the bidding ends, you will play the Robot’s cards.
    If the robot is seated after the bidding has ended, the robot will play out the hand.

This feature applies to the tournament as a whole – it is either ON or OFF for all players.