[blml] Dear DSC: Let's drive s stake through the DWS

[David Burn]

[HdW]

After all, the DWS minimizes UI, that must be good.

[DALB]

What is good about it? It does not matter how much UI you create, as long as
your partner plays ethically. What the dWS does is compound confusion for
the opponents, and that must be bad.

South opens 1D, West passes, North bids 1S and East bids 1NT. Systemically
this shows hearts and clubs, but West does not alert (so East knows West
thinks 1NT is natural). South passes and West bids 2C. Per the dWS, East
alerts this as Stayman, thus adding to the mistaken impression that 1NT was
natural. North, who would have acted if 1NT had been hearts and clubs, now
passes, and so does East. West is now aware (legally, because East has
passed 2C) that East does not have a strong no trump. South is left to guess
whether East has psyched, or has hearts and clubs all the time, or...  In
the meantime, the auction has already been sabotaged beyond recall, and the
only gainers are the offending side. That is not good for bridge. Not good
at all.

Per the MS, East does not alert 2C. North, who finds this state of affairs
somewhat unusual, asks West what 1NT was and hears "Natural". He asks East
what 2C was and hears "preference". Now, the auction can continue with
North-South knowing what is happening - moreover, North-South have not been
deprived of the chance to extract a penalty, because West must continue to
bid as though 1NT were natural and East must continue to bid as if it showed
hearts and clubs. On the actual hand, North would have doubled 2C, East
would have passed and West would not have been allowed to give preference to
hearts because East's bidding (overcalling 1NT and then passing 2C doubled)
would have denied hearts and showed long clubs.

That was the decision to which the AC eventually came, but it was not
obvious, and it took a great deal of time and trouble. The Director had
simply ruled average plus to North-South, admitting afterwards that giving
an appropriate adjustment was too difficult for him. And this was a
qualified EBU director. What would have happened at the local club? Whatever
it was would not have been good for bridge. Not good at all.

As I have said above, the creation of UI simply does not matter, as long as
it is correctly ignored. The creation of MI does matter - there is no such
thing as "harmless MI", whereas all UI is harmless (or if it does harm, the
harm is easily remedied). That is why the dWS is a load of rotten Brussels
sprouts: it is based on the premise that UI is harmful and MI harmless,
whereas the exact opposite is the case.

David Burn
London, England