[blml] Misbids, infractions, and Wolffs, oh my...

[Gampas at aol.com]

> "Some years ago, the national appeal committee created the  legal
> practice that if someone makes a natural 3C jump overcall and his  p
> alerts and explains it as "Ghestem" (or vise versa) it is  always
> treated as misinformation rather than misbid, in other words,  even if
> there is evidence that it is in fact a misbid, it is an  infraction.
> This practice has, in the meantime, been extended to other  frequently
> abused conventions such as Landy and DONT, and the position  of the AC
> seems to be that misbids related to conventions are  always
> infractions, at least in the first round. In IMP (Dutch  bridge
> magazine for advanced players), Onno Eskes has several times  argued
> strongly against this practice. In the Aug/Sept issue of the  magazine,
> Roald Ramer defends the position of the AC, while Hans van  Staveren
> (until recently member of the Dutch law committee), Ton  Kooijman
> (chairman of the WBF law committee) as well as the Belgian  bridge law
> expert Herman de Wael attack the AC's position vigorously.  Hans van
> Staveren wants to mobilize Dutch TDs to action against the AC  and
> mentioned (in a talk with Grattan Endicot at the open Europeans  in
> Antalya) the possibility of TD strike (!).

There seems a difference here between a misbid of a convention such as  
Ghestem in a contested auction and a misbid of, say, a response to RKCB. A  player 
may elect, for example, to make a splinter in a low doubleton. Is this  
assumed to be misinformation rather than a misbid? Clearly this would be  nonsense.
 
I believe that the laws should be followed by any AC, regardless  of its 
opinion on their correctness. If your partner regularly forgets Ghestem,  you are 
not allowed to tell the opponents of this in England, according to the  Orange 
Book 3 B 10. Opponents may be damaged therefore if you do  forget, but the 
laws only provide for redress where the opponents are  misinformed. Any doubt 
is, of course, resolved in favour of the opponents  of the person "misbidding". 
In theory a player is allowed to psyche Ghestem with  a weak jump overcall in 
clubs. Is this a misbid? I think we are treading on  dangerous ground if we 
classify as misinformation all bids where the player does  not have the hand 
described. Despite the problems associated with forgetting,  the current rule is, 
to my mind, the correct one.
 
I recall opening an elaborate three-way multi 2D once. It was alerted  and 
the elderly person on my left asked my partner the meaning. He indicated  that 
it was either three-suited with any shortage, 17-24; three suited with at  
least four hearts 11-15, or a five-card weak two in spades, usually with a  
four-card minor. The elderly person replied, "I am none the wiser." "No, but you  
are better informed", my partner retorted.