Politeness at the table

[ArcLight]

Sometimes a claim is made and its not obvious (to me). There may be 5 cards left. I might reject the claim, or may stare at it for a while trying to figure it out.

 

Other times a claim is obvious, trumps are pulled and declarer has only trumps and high cards, and there are few cards left.

 

Against (self rated) Advanced & Expert opponents, I claimed with 2 cards left in each hand. A trump and a small club opposite the boss club and another card.

I claimed, and the opps just sat there, neither rejecting or accepting.

(If they thought I would play the low card from both hands they should just reject)

Spades are trump, and all gone

♠ 6 ♣ 5

opposite ♣ A 4

 

 

 

My question is:

 

When someone makes a clearly simple and obvious claim, is it not rude behaviour to just sit there and do nothing?

 

How long do you give them? What if they sit there for 10 seconds?

I said "The claim is good, accept it and lets move on to the next hand"

(Again I held the last trump and the high club, it was very obvious, no thinking involved.)

 

They continued to sit there. My pard thought I should have said nothing.

[Guest Jlall]

I think the key here is that some claims that are obvious to some are not obvious to others. In real life I often won't claim when I can and instead pull trumps and unblock some stuff to make a hand high if my opponents are not that experienced. This helps them see it, even though 5 tricks earlier it should have been "obvious."

 

Online, I don't feel like it's ever rude to decline a claim. Not doing anything seems suboptimal, but perhaps there are some language barriers and they don't know how to say "how will you play" or whatever. Or maybe they're genuinely thinking about it and can't see it. With 2 cards left it seems silly to claim anyways, you could have played it out in a couple of seconds.

 

Online, if the opponents are not doing anything when I claim, I'll just click cancel and play it out. This is contrary to the laws (once a claim is made, play ceases) but since there's no director and its practical I don't really see a problem with it. That seems like the easiest solution to me.

 

I do think it's rude to say something like "accept the claim and lets move on," that is essentially bullying the opps into accepting your claim.

[glen]

First, I agree with everything Justin says (which I do usually, but just don't say it).

 

Next to answer:

My question is: When someone makes a clearly simple and obvious claim, is it not rude behaviour to just sit there and do nothing?

This is not rude. It is not the best, but it is far from the worst so does not cross the border into rude country.

[matmat]

there's always the other side -- people that reject a claim in a split second without even looking at the cards...

[pclayton]

I think the key here is that some claims that are obvious to some are not obvious to others. In real life I often won't claim when I can and instead pull trumps and unblock some stuff to make a hand high if my opponents are not that experienced. This helps them see it, even though 5 tricks earlier it should have been "obvious."

 

Online, I don't feel like it's ever rude to decline a claim. Not doing anything seems suboptimal, but perhaps there are some language barriers and they don't know how to say "how will you play" or whatever. Or maybe they're genuinely thinking about it and can't see it. With 2 cards left it seems silly to claim anyways, you could have played it out in a couple of seconds.

 

Online, if the opponents are not doing anything when I claim, I'll just click cancel and play it out. This is contrary to the laws (once a claim is made, play ceases) but since there's no director and its practical I don't really see a problem with it. That seems like the easiest solution to me.

 

I do think it's rude to say something like "accept the claim and lets move on," that is essentially bullying the opps into accepting your claim.

If Im playing against a good player and the claim isn't readily apparent, I'll say "just a sec".

 

Especially online, many claims get mismoused, and you should really check carefully.

[Lyngen_2]

My partner and I are living in the same house - but never playing in the same room. A number of times an oppenent has claimed - and claime was rejected. I have shouted to partner: You FOOL - why did you reject????!!!!

Answer from partner: But I accepted...

 

I guess, there is a small bug concerning claims.

 

But apart from that BBO is an extremely wonderfull site - just love it!!!

 

Greetings from Denmark

[ArcLight]

Just to clarify, this was the position

 

Spades are trump, and all gone

 

♠ 6 ♣ 5

 

opposite ♣ A 4

 

I claimed they sat there.

 

 

Had it been 5 cards in each hand, then I could see their reluctance.

[glen]

Just to clarify, you claimed but did not make a statement of claim (such as "trump is good, top ♣ is good")? Also you thought that this claim would be faster than trying to play the last two tricks quickly while claiming if one of the opponents stopped to think?

[paulg]

My partner and I are living in the same house - but never playing in the same room. A number of times an oppenent has claimed - and claime was rejected. I have shouted to partner: You FOOL - why did  you reject????!!!!

Answer from partner: But I accepted...

 

I guess, there is a small bug concerning claims.

I seem to recall that Fred said that claiming was complex due to its asynchronous nature. I've also seen occasional problems with them and it would not surprise me if they were susceptible to network glitches more than normal play.

 

So I suggest everyone is tolerant in this area. Actually I recommend being tolerant all of the time!

 

Paul

[the saint]

So much for my theory of finding out their IP address, tracking them down and getting all Pulp Fiction on their a$$... :unsure:

[Echognome]

My partner and I are living in the same house - but never playing in the same room. A number of times an oppenent has claimed - and claime was rejected. I have shouted to partner: You FOOL - why did  you reject????!!!!

Answer from partner: But I accepted...

 

I guess, there is a small bug concerning claims.

I seem to recall that Fred said that claiming was complex due to its asynchronous nature. I've also seen occasional problems with them and it would not surprise me if they were susceptible to network glitches more than normal play.

 

So I suggest everyone is tolerant in this area. Actually I recommend being tolerant all of the time!

 

Paul

Not to mention that declarer might have rejected the claim. Sometimes I claim all but one trick and right when i'm claiming the current trick is quitted and it says I'm claiming all the tricks. So I quickly reject myself to claim all but one again.

[Free]

It may be as obvious as you like, when you want to say something after you claimed, you better just state your line of play imo. Some people think you're really stupid and will play 2 low ♣s (or hope you do). For some people it's a lot easier if you state your line of play in the first place, but when it's obvious I guess we all fail to do so. :unsure:

 

Ordering your opponents around however is not the right attitude. It's a small effort to type a simple "can you please accept or reject the claim"... You don't come over as being the boss. :P

 

I also agree with Justin's comments, that if it takes a while you better just cancel and play the hand. It's weird for opponents not to accept or decline, but nevertheless it happens from time to time. Again it's a small effort, to play 2 more rounds...

 

I usually claim without comment, but start to type it as soon as it isn't accepted immediately. If they still don't accept or decline, I say "can you please accept?". If that still doesn't work, I cancel and play the hand. Usually one of the opponents will claim himself, so you know which one of the opponents was being an ass. B) I add some personal note to their profile(s).

[Guest movingon]

"Usually one of the opponents will claim himself, so you know which one of the opponents was being an ass. I add some personal note to their profile(s)."

 

Actually, when my partner rejects a clear claim, I will Make a claim as soon as I can. So don't put me on your list! :)

[Free]

Well yeah, obviously, if one claims, the other was being the ass... :)

 

So don't screw your partner! :P

[hotShot]

Well yeah, obviously, if one claims, the other was being the ass... :rolleyes:

 

So don't screw your partner! :P

Well sometimes i don't see it, reject the claim and after the next cards are played, i get it and claim myself.

 

 

 

Additional Note:

My impression is that if you miss the "YES" button even by a pixel. this is taken as "No".

[glen]

I was just playing out a hand (instead of claiming, since playing out often faster) when a defender claimed 0 of the remaining tricks. The advantage to this was only person needed to accept.

[kenberg]

Sometimes a claim is made and its not obvious (to me). There may be 5 cards left. I might reject the claim, or may stare at it for a while trying to figure it out.

 

Other times a claim is obvious, trumps are pulled and declarer has only trumps and high cards, and there are few cards left.

 

Against (self rated) Advanced & Expert opponents, I claimed with 2 cards left in each hand. A trump and a small club opposite the boss club and another card.

I claimed, and the opps just sat there, neither rejecting or accepting.

(If they thought I would play the low card from both hands they should just reject)

Spades are trump, and all gone

♠ 6 ♣ 5

opposite ♣ A 4

 

 

 

My question is:

 

When someone makes a clearly simple and obvious claim, is it not rude behaviour to just sit there and do nothing?

 

How long do you give them? What if they sit there for 10 seconds?

I said "The claim is good, accept it and lets move on to the next hand"

(Again I held the last trump and the high club, it was very obvious, no thinking involved.)

 

They continued to sit there. My pard thought I should have said nothing.

It appears a little bizarre for the opps to dawdle over this. Possibly they were both reviewing the hand in their minds, trying to see where they went wrong in the defense, and forgot to press accept. This happens, although I suppose it shouldn't. Claiming is delicate. I usually draw first and wait until there are n clear tricks available with n tricks left to play. If there are only n-1 clear tricks I lead a concessionary trick, if that is possible, and then claim. If n-1 and I cannot lead a concessionary trick I write out some sort of explanation. I don't often have problems but if I do I cancel and play. I don't much worry about why. Maybe they are distracted, maybe they are weird. Who knows. The other night, f2f, I dawdled over a clear claim. I was just having a mental lapse. This also happens.

[brianshark]

"Usually one of the opponents will claim himself, so you know which one of the opponents was being an ass. I add some personal note to their profile(s)."

 

That's not true at all. Sometimes they reject because they thought you had made a mistake and realise themselves a few tricks later. Sometimes they accidentally hit the 'reject' button. They may not have even noticed and thus think their partner has rejected the claim or declarer has cancelled the claim. In both of these cases (and I'm sure plenty more), the person who conceded may well have been the person who rejected the claim in the first place. So it's foolish to automatically black-list the partner of this person. VERY foolish.

[Free]

Usually if you have such a situation, the player in question will say "sry" or something similar. If they keep quiet, well, I never liked the quiet types anyway...

[brianshark]

... or the quiet types' partners either... hehe. ;)

[hotShot]

Usually if you have such a situation, the player in question will say "sry" or something similar. If they keep quiet, well, I never liked the quiet types anyway...

Following the bridge laws a claim has to be made with stating the line of play.

 

So if you don't state the line of play you expect opps to say "sorry" for not seeing your winning line?

 

Well perhaps he saw the winning line and thought you where one of the usual BBO-"Experts" you meet every day ......

[zasanya]

I will repeat an opinion which I had expressed earlier in a different thread.

Why doesn't the 'Bridge Rules making authority" just ban making claims or concession?

Will save much ill will and even more time. :)

[the hog]

I will repeat an opinion which I had expressed earlier in a different thread.

Why doesn't the 'Bridge Rules making authority" just ban making claims or concession?

Will save much ill will and even more time. <_<

In ftf bridge this would protract the play interminably. Against good opponents we have been known to claim at trick 1 even if an endplay is involved.

 

I also remember a match where the first 4 boards where claimed at trick one by the opps and by us and accepted even without the cards being shown, (3 games and one partscore).

[Gerben42]

If a player has a bad connection the moment someone claims it sometimes will not work (even if the player is dummy). Maybe something like that happened?