[blml] Positronic brain [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[richard.hills at immi.gov.au]

When a positron meets its equal but opposite anti-
particle, an electron, they annihilate each other.

Does this also happen when authorised information
meets an equal but opposite amount of unauthorised
information?

European Championships, Warsaw 2006, Appeal 4

Imps

Dlr: North
Vul: Nil

         KQJ7643
         2
         7
         Q765
9                   AT5
A753                KQJT4
AKT865              3
K2                  AJ84
         82
         986
         QJ942
         T93

The bidding has gone:

WEST      NORTH     EAST      SOUTH
---       4S        Pass(1)   Pass
Dble      Pass      5S        Pass
5NT       Pass      6H        Pass
7H        Pass      Pass      Pass

(1) Break in tempo

Result: 13 tricks, NS -1510


The Facts:

The NPC of North/South called the Director at the
end of the match. East had taken a very long time
before passing over 4S, and again in the next
round of bidding.

North/South objected to the double and to the
raise to 7H.

The Director:

Ascertained that East had indeed taken a long
time, and that West had acknowledged this at the
table, and decided to allow the late call and
rule that there had been unauthorized
information. The Director consulted with a number
of players, asking them what they would have done
with the West hand (not mentioning the break in
tempo, of course). All the players would have
doubled, and all were thinking about raising to
7H, but not all eventually would have. When told
about the hesitation, all players agreed that it
made no difference, since all the information
they needed was contained in the bid of 5S.

Consequently, the Director ruled that there had
been no logical alternative to the Double, and
that the unauthorized information had not
suggested the raise to 7H.

Ruling: Result Stands

Relevant Laws: Law 16A

North/South appealed.

Present: All players and the Captains and Coaches
of both teams

The Players:

All concurred that there had been a break in
tempo. East admitted to thinking for a long time.
The captain of North/South, who had been sitting
on the North/East side stated that he had looked
at his watch after one minute and that five more
minutes had gone by before East passed. West
confirmed that the delay had been "a couple of
minutes". The captain of East/West, who had also
been sitting on the North/East side, called it
"a couple of minutes" too.

As to the alleged break in tempo in the second
round of bidding,West did not agree that it had
occurred. The tray may have returned "somewhat
slower" but one has to accept that as normal at
this level of bidding. The Captain of North/
South stated he had timed it to 4 minutes.

The Director told the Committee that the table
had not been in real time troubles, but that the
match finished with only a 2 or 3 minutes left on
the clock. For that reason, and because West did
not dispute the break in tempo, he had accepted
to consider the case even despite the late call.

North/South, by way of their captain, stated that
they did not contest that East had no Logical
Alternatives to his double, and that they
accepted that call. They did not accept however,
that 5S should have shown the CA. With the same
hand but only the CQ instead of the ace, East
could also have bid 5S. The break in tempo helped
in reducing that possibility. With the extra
information, 7H became an "educated gamble".

North/South pointed to the fact that not all
players that had been consulted had raised to 7H,
which surely must have meant that passing was a
logical alternative. Combined with the undeniable
unauthorized information, that must lead to an
adjusted score.

West stated that in order for East to bid 5S, he
needed to have HKQ fifth and the two black aces.
He had bid 5NT in order to find out what 5S was
based on, and raised to seven when he found out
it was based on hearts. He would have passed 6C.
He did not believe his partner could have had a
two-suited hand, since he would have bid 4NT with
that.

The Committee:

Ruled that there had been a significant break in
tempo by East on the first round of bidding (the
Committee preferred to call it "4 or 5 minutes"
to "a couple of minutes"), but not on the second
round.

The Committee found that 5S did indeed show a
very great hand, and should be considered a
grand slam invitation. The call was very close.

But in the end, the feeling in the Committee
prevailed that a break in tempo of 4-5 minutes
is very long and contains substantial
unauthorized information, and that a player ought
to be bending backwards in trying not to take
advantage of it.

The Committee's decision: Score adjusted to 6H by
East, making 13 tricks, NS -1010.

Deposit: Returned


Best wishes

Richard James Hills, amicus curiae
National Training Branch
02 6225 6285