[blml] A Psyche Classification

[Gampas at aol.com]

Dealer North – Love All 
North 
Scoring:  
Hybrid 

K 9 7  3 
6 4 
K 10  5 
K Q 9 7 
. 
J 6 4  2             A  5
K J 10 7 5 3     Q 9 8 2  
9                     Q  8 6 3 2 
6  3                 10  4 

Q 10  8 
A 
A J 7  4 
A J 8 5 2 

West North East South 
Pass Pass Pass 1C
2H Dble* 2S 3D
Pass 4C 4H 5C
Pass Pass Pass 

2H was weak; *alerted, ‘likely’ to have four spades 
Result: 5C - 1 by  South = -50

Tournament Director’s comments: I feel this is close to being Amber –  
although pass may be the advisable action, many players would have raised  spades, 
and West must have been aware that this is a potential psyche situation.  I 
ruled the psyche GREEN.
 
The above was a psyche in the Pachabo in England, originally ruled green by  
the TD and reclassified by the L&E as red. It would seem from  later minutes 
that East-West produced the opinion of three Grandmasters who  would all have 
passed on the West hand. East-West submitted arguments that 2S  implied a heart 
fit (it is clearly fit non jump to any average plus player), and  pass 
therefore showed a minimum. I would tend to agree with them - West knows  that it is 
not their hand, and raising spades will only help North-South  diagnose a 
double fit, when East-West may have to save at the five (or even six)  level.
 
I can understand that antipathy towards "nasty, dirty, horrible" psyches  
generates this type of verdict. I would however, have reclassified it as amber,  
rather than green. It is a common psyche situation, and the benefit of the 
doubt  has to be given to the opponents of the pair who psyched. After the red  
classification there should have been a score adjustment when South  had gone 
off in a cold game, although I did not see this adjustment in the  L&E minutes. 
How would others have classified it?