LH2650

[hv=d=s&v=0&b=11&a=2sp3s5cpp6sdpp(Originally%206C%2C%20changed%20to%20pass)p]133|100[/hv] The Director is called after the insufficient bid, which is not accepted, and is changed to Pass. Offender’s partner quickly wins the Ace of spades, and the Director now states that Declarer can require or prohibit the lead of any one suit. Declarer requires a club lead, allowing the contract to make, as would prohibiting a heart lead. Unfortunately, the selected option was allowed under the previous Laws, but not the current ones, so there is an appeal, and you are the Head Director….

The chance of any pair in the event having an agreement on this is remote. Therefore, the Pro must rely on what is standard.

The TD was called after the hand was over. The director felt that an adjustment was appropriate, but could not get a consensus, so he allowed the score to stand. I was one of those consulted, but was not at the table, and do not know who was playing there.

How does the world play this sequence? I would play it as forcing over either a weak or an intermediate jump, but that might be the subject of another poll. If it is not forcing for this partnership, then 2 spades was an incorrect bid, since getting to game seems appropriate.

He thought that the 2 heart bid was intermediate, having checked the convention card.

No

A weak jump overcall does not require an Alert, so the table did not know that there was no agreement. Only East knew there was a problem.

That he would have bid 3 diamonds (which makes 4 on reasonable play), if he had been properly informed. There is also the issue of whether a new suit by advancer is commonly played as forcing.

An Alert is required if the jump overcall is intermediate. To clarify, a Pro is a Life Master, and an Amateur is not.

Did you consider whether 2 spades was forcing?

Pros sit North and East. The East Pro did not check their convention card, which is marked "Intermediate", and thought his bid was weak. An Alert is required, but was not given. South looked at the card, and it came to the attention of the table that the "agreement" was Intermediate. South then passed, but later stated that he would have bid 3 diamonds if the 2 heart bid had been weak. The table result was making 2 Spades. NS appeal. [hv=pc=n&s=s43hj4d7532caqt73&w=sakqj65h87dqjck42&n=s872ha96dakt984c5&e=st9hkqt532d6cj986&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1d2hp2sppp]399|300[/hv]

Does Law 12C2d empower the ACBL (in my case) to allow clubs to award NPs here?

Opening leader places a card face down on the table, changes his mind, and puts a second card face up on the table. At that point, you are called...

Dealing with the 13 penalty cards is easy - the director should tell the player to pick them up. The director has unlimited authority to do this, and the situation was caused by an irregularity by declarer. Offer the defenders the option to accept or reject the lead. Who has unauthorized information is less clear to me, but I think I would say it is declarer.

I decided that it would be inappropriate to ask the person who held the North hand, but tried 6 others, stating that there was no agreement as to the meaning of 3♥. All passed.