[jeffford76]

3rd seat, white against red, a player holds xx xxx xx xxxxxx, and chooses to open 1NT (15-17). No problem, right?

But this player is sitting at a table that originally had the wrong pair sit down and so the auction has been restarted and this call was (obviously?) not found the first time the board was bid. Now what?

[gordontd]

L15C: The Director may award a procedural penalty (and an adjusted score) if of the opinion that there has been a purposeful attempt by either side to preclude normal play of the board.

[jeffford76]

gordontd, on 2010-December-14, 15:35, said:

L15C: The Director may award a procedural penalty (and an adjusted score) if of the opinion that there has been a purposeful attempt by either side to preclude normal play of the board.

Sure, that's the law. My question is how to decide when it applies. Does a player lose the right to make a psychic call despite having committed no offense?

[gordontd]

A psychic call which, if allowed, would carry with it a virtually guaranteed score of 60%. I suppose the player could try to convince us that it's not a purposeful attempt to preclude normal play of the board, but I think I'd take some convincing.

[gordontd]

I remember having a L15C ruling where one of the players asked to talk to me away from the table. She asked if she really was compelled to repeat the calls she had made the first time around. When I confirmed that she was, she said "but I wouldn't have psyched if I'd known he was my opponent!"

[RMB1]

gordontd, on 2010-December-14, 16:35, said:

..., she said "but I wouldn't have psyched if I'd known he was my opponent!"

I guess the moral of the story is: if you are going to psyche, pick the right opponents to do it against, and make sure they are the right opponents.

[jeffford76]

gordontd, on 2010-December-14, 16:29, said:

A psychic call which, if allowed, would carry with it a virtually guaranteed score of 60%. I suppose the player could try to convince us that it's not a purposeful attempt to preclude normal play of the board, but I think I'd take some convincing.

Suppose you're in the other position, with the board being re-bid and you re-hear a 1NT opening in third seat favorable on your right. The original pair was quite down the line, and is replaced by a "creative" pair. Is it AI that they really have their bids when the auction matches, or would the difference in style be sufficient grounds to not call the auction the same?

[Elianna]

My partner and I had a similar problem.

We were playing EW and had to wait for the pair in front of us each and every round. Except for the skip round, which they forgot to skip of course.

So they started the bidding on the first board, and the auction proceeded (N dealer):

1NT-2C!-x(without asking what the 2C bid means). I ask what the X means and am told that it is stayman. This is rather strange to me, as OUR 2C bid is the majors. I call the director and she says that the auction has gone exactly the same way. I talk to her away from the table, and point out that if the pair we're following plays different conventions, that even if the auction went the same way, it is not the same auction. I also was worried that this is what happened because the opponents didn't bother to ask us what the 2C meant, when I know this NS pair (having played against them previously) usually ask about every alerted bid. The director assures me that the bids are the same, and doesn't really seem to understand my point.

Well, I had 1-3 in the majors, so I chose hearts, which was a different bid than the other pair made, and so the hand was canceled.

The opponents were quite upset, and accused me of purposely deviating from agreements in order to get the board canceled. I showed both them and the director our convention card, where it was clearly marked that we play 2C=majors.

Turns out my partner forgot our agreements and she should have bid 2D, which also would have canceled the board.

And for some reason, I got lectured by the director about that, too.