kevperk

So, the opponents preempted their bid, but did not "steal" it. :)

Released just means that they have removed their hand. The bid was made.

My guess is table 8 brought the boards to their table, rather than put them at the bottom of the "assembly" stack. Have caught this happening many times. Even after several rounds of them doing it right.

I would always say, "From length, we lead fourth best"

I have always thought the law quoted was referring to asking the opponents a question for the benefit of partner. Never even thought it was relevant to the issue being discussed.

From the lack of any more information, I think, although I could be wrong, that the pair in question play standard weak two bids, and that this player chose to make this bid because he was in third seat. I think answers from this perspective would be most helpful for the OP. My only comment at this point is that this pair may not have discussed anything related to this, but there may be some partnership tendencies that partner of this hand may know, and should disclose.

I don't understand your reference to UI and misleading the opponents. My point is that if declarer says these things, it IS clear what card he was calling for in dummy.

Who said it had to be a law that says so? I was just saying you can't have a lengthy discussion. I meant more along the lines of how you explain, in my hypothetical, if you had all the time in the world, you might take a lot longer to be sure the fillin understands. In a real world situation, you would try to be as brief as possible, as long as you were sure the opponents understood. And I would stress SURE.

I would suggest to avoscill to imagine that he is the opponent playing against two who are playing his methods. Now imagine that someone who doesn't know the methods is going to take over for him at the moment in question. What information would he know about the bid (and auction) that he would tell the fillin player? That is the information that the opponents should be told. Of course, full disclosure has to be tempered by brevity due to time constraints.

What if declarer says, after he corrects his play, says "Sorry I thought spades(or diamonds, etc.) were trump" ? What if he says it right after he is informed that the contract is notrump? If these are treated differently, then declarer should keep their mouth shut, verbalizing their intent is costly here.

As was already mentioned, you DO NOT select a standand 11 table Mitchell, you select External, scroll to the bottom, and select "Create your own one winner movement"

Nobody has brought this up yet. What if the opponents had looked at the card, saw Widget listed, knew what it is, and didn't ask any questions? What would the ruling be then? What information were the opponents entitled to?

Criss Cross(or Double Weave) Mitchell Round 1__NS__EW_boards__Round 2__NS__EW_boards__Round 3__NS__EW_boards__Round 4__NS__EW_boards Table 1__1___1____1-2______Table 1__1___2____7-8______Table 1__1___4____5-6______Table 1__1___3____3-4 Table 2__2___2____3-4______Table 2__2___1____5-6______Table 2__2___3____7-8______Table 2__2___4____1-2 Table 3__3___3____5-6______Table 3__3___4____3-4______Table 3__3___2____1-2______Table 3__3___1____7-8 Table 4__4___4____7-8______Table 4__4___3____1-2______Table 4__4___1____3-4______Table 4__4___2____5-6 boards 1-2 and 5-6 keep going lower; boards 3-4 and 7-8 keep going higher; e/w pairs 1 and 3 go higher round 2; e/w pairs 2 and 4 go lower round 2; for round 3, all e/w skip higher/lower (amounts to the same thing), e/w pairs 2 and 4 go higher round 4; e/w pairs 1 and 3 go lower round 4 Not sure you will find this is better than the Relay/Byestand Mitchell, it works well for any multiple of 4 if you understand the underlying movement well.

I think it is similar to gadget, tool, convention.

Where I play, "custom and practice" is that EW CAN have their paws on the boards.