[blml] Declining to ask a bid's meaning

[Steve Willner]

 >  So, cleverly, South doesn't ask...

Bo-Yin Yang called attention to this several years ago, and I wrote to 
Edgar Kaplan about it.  EK responded to the effect that knowledge of 
whether partner had asked a question or not was UI, but it wasn't clear 
to me how the NOS rights were to be enforced in practical terms.  Adam's 
post makes the same point.

For a possibly entertaining example, here's a recent post to 
rec.games.bridge:
> IMPs, neither vulnerable, you hold:
>  4 JT62 AT54 K732

> RHO deals and opens a strong club, 16+, any distribution.  You pass (do 
> you agree?), LHO bids 1H showing 4 or more spades, any distribution 
> except 4432 or 4333, could include a longer suit other than spades, game
> forcing.  Partner comes in with 1S, and opener doubles that for 
> penalties. You have no agreements about what 1S should show in this 
> auction; strong club systems are rare (USA), and nearly everyone who 
> plays them uses natural responses, not transfers. 

Consider your answer.  There were a variety of answers on r.g.b, mostly 
2S or heart bids and some SOS redoubles.  There were one or two passes, 
and a few players would have bid on the previous round.
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The rest of the story:
> In fact, it was an opponent who held this hand, and they had no problem 
> at all.  The amusing thing is, the 1S bidder didn't ask about the 
> alerted 1H bid, obviously making 1S natural.  What a wonderful two-way 
> method!  As this thread has shown, some people with less... umm... 
> sophisticated agreements :-) will have a harder time. The full layout 
> was something like:
>     AT9
>     KQx
>     QJxxx
>     AT
> 
> KQxxx   4
> x       JT62
> Kxxx    AT54
> AJx     K732
> 
>    Jxxx
>    A9xxx
>    --
>    Q9xx

> I was South.  My game force was a little aggressive, but we hadn't had
> a relay auction in the past three sessions, and I thought it would be a
> good deal to practice on.  Of course East had no problem passing 1Sx, 
> which we took for 300 and won 3 IMPs (probably NS +140 in hearts at the other table). 
> We can get 500 on best defense, but it isn't easy to find.