[blml] Illegal convention

[Steve Willner]

[if the remedy for an illegal convention is to redeal]

> From: Alain Gottcheiner <agot at ulb.ac.be>
> Suppose a pair plays that some non-essential opening (say, 2H) could be 
> anything. That's an illegal convention. When they envision problems because 
> the system deals badly with their current hand, they open 2H (not too 
> often, of course). Problem solved.

Alain isn't devious enough.  Whenever a villain has a bidding problem 
(provided the board hasn't been played before), he just explains one of 
partner's bids as something illegal.  No need for prior arrangement or 
to sacrifice a perfectly useful 2H bid.

From: "richard willey" <richard.willey at gmail.com>
> In many cases players have no idea
> what is/is not legal to play at any given event.

True.

> "Direct calls, other than 2C or double must have at least one known suit"

This is indeed the ACBL GCC rule over an opening 1NT.  Notice it forbids 
the traditional 2NT "cue bid" showing a strong, unbalanced, but 
otherwise undefined hand.

> within District 25, Howard Pitch was able to get an exception made
> that permited players to play "Pitch" over NT opening in direct seat.
> [The method is know as suction everywhere else in the world].

My case was indeed in D25 (though a sectional, not a regional).  I've 
never heard of the exception before, thus proving Richard's first point. 
  Neither (apparently) had the director, though the exception would not 
have been relevant in the actual case.  (Opponents were playing 2D as an 
unspecified major.)


 From the absence of authoritative responses, it seems no one knows what 
the correct ACBL procedure is.  I'll ask Memphis.