[blml] almost TD problem

[raija]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Easterson" <JffEstrsn at aol.com>
To: <blml at amsterdamned.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:15 PM
Subject: [blml] almost TD problem


> Ahoy blmlers!  This is not a TD or rules problem; rather one of
> behaviour and I'd be interested in a few opinions (punishment? if yes,
> severity thereof).
> The story was recounted to me by a lady acquaintance; I wasn't there -- 
> but let us assume her story is accurate.
> She was playing in a provincial French club near her place of (partial,
> some months of the year) residence.  She plays there occasionally, She
> is a player of discreet playing strength, middle class at most and very
> charming.  She also is reserved and does not like to make waves.  She
> was playing (at table) against the strongest pair in the club (in
> provincial French clubs this does not mean much), two elderly gentleman,
> one of whom was the expresident of the club.  The TD was very 
> inexperienced.
> She was first to call and passed.  LHO opened 1 diam. (5 card majors,
> strong NT, everything basically natural), her partner doubled and RHO
> bid 2 spades.  This was weak but that was only ascertained later, is
> however quite normal in the club I think.  The lady (not vul) held a
> 4-5-1-3 distribution with Qxxx in spades, Jxxxx in hearts, and Kxx in
> clubs.  The single diam. was a small one.  She passed, not necessarily a
> popular decision I suspect, 3 hearts is surely an alternative.  LHO bid
> 3 diam., partner passed as did RHO and she now bid 3 hearts.  Great
> uproar at the table, her partner had hesitated before passing said the
> opponents.  The lady hadn't noticed (I said she was only a discreet
> player).  TD was called. He repeatedly asked the lady if her partner had
> passed and she repeatedly said she didn't know, she had been
> concentrating on her cards, planning possible future action. Okay, as
> corollary to the rule "if it hesitates, shoot it" I think any sensible
> TD assumes there was a hesitation (wouldn't hurt to look at the hand of
> partner, which TD did not do).  If a player claims to not have noticed
> then either he/she was asleep, dead or protecting partner, not wanting
> to "betray" him.  That is my experience at this level.  But, in my
> opinion irrelevant, let us assume there was a hesitation. The question
> is now only if 3 hearts is an almost automatic bid (assuming a pass in
> the previous round) or if there is a logical alternative (pass).  In my
> opinion 3 hearts is automatic but that is not the point of this.  TD
> said to continue play/bidding.  LHO doubled 3 hearts and the lady made 9
> tricks (after it was passed out).  Her partner had something like  AJ10x
> in spades, KQ10 in hearts (or she had the 10)  xxx in diamonds and Q10x
> in clubs.  (Spades were 5-1.)
> After play the gentleman LHO who was N or S scored the hand as 3 hearts
> making, -140 for NS. The lady said it had been doubled. The gentleman
> said he knew this but refused to score it as doubled after the
> hesitation.  He was quite adamant about this and refused to call the TD.
>  The lady (who didn't want to make waves and cause any problems as a
> foreigner) did not call either so the score was recorded as 140.
> Now we finally get to my question.  Assuming that you, as TD, had been
> called, or was informed in some way of the occurrence, what would you
> do? (I don'tmean about the result, I mean what would you do or say to
> the gentleman who scored it.) Procedural penalty?  How high?  More
> draconic action?  The action of the gentleman is really mind-boggling,
> unheard of.  He refuses to record a result as played at table, willfully
> records a different result (score difference  of (for him) 75% or 0%),
> and does not call the TD.  How do you treat him as TD? Your reactions
> would interest me.  Ciao, JE
>
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This person (I cannot make myself call him a gentleman) intentionally wrote 
a wrong score on the scoresheet.  Un-f-believable arrogance!

There were three other people at the table. One of them should have called 
the TD.  But this really does not address your question.  I will let the 
experienced TD's on blml to make suggestions on how to deal with this after 
the fact.