[blml] SF NABC #8

[Jerry Fusselman]

Basically, I'm with Nigel.  The expected trump length when the
opponents are playing 5-card majors without a separate 4-card raise is
probably about 0.7 cards longer than those playing 4-card majors.  The
committee focused too closely on the 4-3 scenario, which is just one
possibility.  EW did not call the director after the play was
completed, they called very early.

The fact that others were balancing should have rang a bell.  The
others were probably balancing against NS pairs who were properly
disclosing that were playing 5-card majors.  I think the director
reached the correct decision, but I might have liked a little mention
from him that balancing was at all likely if there was no MI.  I
believe it was.

As for the committee, really!---how can a player fully protect himself
against a plausible, but mismarked convention card?  The committee is
asking too much, and they are flattering themselves that they would
have surely gotten all this new information to contradict the
convention card and made the winning decision.

Jerry Fusselman