[blml] almost TD problem

[Ed Reppert]

On Nov 15, 2006, at 5:32 PM, Sven Pran wrote:

> Hearsay is always almost impossible to judge.

Which is why it's not admissible in courts of law. :-)

> 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.

While I agree with that second paragraph, I've never heard of this  
compulsory stop, unless there was a skip bid, which in this case  
there was not. Certainly there's no regulation requiring it in the  
ACBL (don't know about France, or Norway for that matter).

> 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.

Not okay? Are you assuming she was lying? Or is concentrating on  
one's cards and planning one's future actions paying insufficient  
attention to the game?

>> 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).

This was a comment by the original poster...
I like to think I'm a sensible TD, and I don't now, never have, and  
never will buy the "if it hesitates, shoot it" argument. As for  
looking at the hand, you don't do that while it's still in play.


>>   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"?

If 3 hearts is "automatic" then pass is not an LA. That said, I agree  
that it is, not considering the level of play. As for whether there  
was a hesitation, if the player concerned agreed she'd hesitated, or  
was not sure, I'd say she did.

>> 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.

Yep.

>> 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.

LHO is a cheat, pure and simple. I would treat him as such.