[blml] almost TD problem

[Sven Pran]

> On Behalf Of Jeff Easterson
> 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.

Hearsay is always almost impossible to judge.

> 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.

>From this I assume we are discussing a club where the social event is at
least as important as bridge of quality?

> 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. 

Yes we would expect so, the normal call with at least 10 HCP is redouble.

 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. 

3H is absolutely an alternative with 6 HCP and good support to partner who
must be assumed to have both majors for his double. She definitely created
later trouble for herself in passing. 

> 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. 

In bride of quality there is a compulsory 10 seconds "stop" interval after
all calls on level three and higher in competitive auctions. Whether this is
a competitive auction or not can be discussed. I think it is, and in that
case her partner who had doubled was entitled to such a pause after the 3D
call.

I said above that my impression here is of a more "social" bridge club so I
wouldn't stress the point of a missing "stop" too much; but then again nor
would I pay too much attention to a possible hesitation unless it was
excessive and speculative.

 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. 

I suppose TD asked if her partner had hesitated (not "passed").

Her answer is OK in social bridge, not so acceptable in bridge of quality.

> 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.  

As I said, I think she created this trouble for herself in passing on the
previous round. Pass is certainly (IMO) a logical alternative now, but then
again "for this level of players"?

> TD said to continue play/bidding. 

At this time TD, in addition to saying "play on" (which he correctly did)
should have instructed the players to call him again if they felt damaged by
the alleged hesitation and subsequent auction.

> 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.

And this is completely unacceptable regardless of the level of the club. Her
LHO now violated almost every law in the book and should have been told so,
not by the players but by the Director. There is no excuse for any of the
four players at the table for not calling the Director in this situation.

>   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

First of all I (as a Director) would do absolutely nothing unless I were
called again to the table or was alerted by commotion so severe that I would
approach the table on my own initiative.

So let me assume that I now find myself at the table:

1: I would ask what is going on requesting a statement or confirmation from
each of the four players individually.

2: I would tell North who is responsible for recording results to record the
table result on the board exactly as obtained. I would remind him that no
player may under any circumstance assess any penalty or adjustment. The only
person who may make any ruling in bridge is the Director on duty. 

3: If North or South at this time then demands an adjustment of the obtained
result on the board I would inform them that this request comes too late,
they should know that TD must be summoned immediately when play is completed
and that they may not take any further action like recording an adjusted
score before the Director arrives at the table. By taking such action they
have already forfeited their rights to any redress. (And even if I should
consider an adjustment the alternative would in case be to assess the result
North/South would have obtained in their contract of 3D; allowing them to
withdraw their double is out of question.)

4: If this ends the story I would leave it there, but if commotion continues
I would order them to stop quarreling and concentrate on their bridge; and
if that doesn't help I would (if even another warning doesn't stop the
commotion) give a PP in the order of 100% of the top score on a single
board.

Regards Sven