Your Bridge Ethics Quiz

[Guest Jlall]

Anyone who answered 'accept the claim' to 10 should be ashamed of themselves. I assume the situation is that 5 tricks are automatic and the opponent would always get them by playing it out?

[jtfanclub]

Anyone who answered 'accept the claim' to 10 should be ashamed of themselves. I assume the situation is that 5 tricks are automatic and the opponent would always get them by playing it out?

If it's obvious and automatic then I'd cancel and claim 0. Most of the time, if an opponent claims 4 out of 5 and I don't see how we're going to take even one trick, I'm not going to spend any time trying to find the trick they think they're going to lose.

[Cascade]

There are a few gray areas in bridge that I wrestle with from time to time. Just wondered what people thought about these. I don't believe there are right answers to these, just people's opinions on how they want the game played. What do you think?

 

1. You are defending a contract at say trick 4 and it is your turn to lead. Your partner accidentally leads out of turn. You have a few seconds before declarer eventually plays to the trick. Do you?

 

a. Immediately inform declarer that there has been an irregularity and your partner has lead out of turn.

b. Let declarer play to the trick, thus accepting the lead out of turn and then point out the irregularity.

c. Let declarer play to the trick and not say anything as the declarer has accepted the lead out of turn.

c/

 

I have no obligation to draw attention to my own side's irregularity. b/ would be gamesmanship in pointing out the error of the opponents.

 

2. You arrive at a table running a little late from the previous table, sit down and pick up your cards.  Your partner, not paying attention opens the bidding out of turn.  Similar to above, do you?

 

a. Immediately inform opponents that there has been an irregularity and your partner has bid out of turn.

b. Let RHO bid, thus accepting the bid out of turn and then point out the irregularity.

c. Let RHO bid and not say anything as the opponents have now accepted the lead out of turn.

 

c/ as above

 

3. You are defending a contract and your partner, that joker, has unintentionally revoked.  As it turns out, your side has not won any more tricks, so there is no equity issue on the board.  Do you?

 

a. Point out the revoke to opponents.

b. Carry on to the next board without saying anything.

 

b/ as above

 

4. You are defending a contract and your partner, that joker, has unintentionally revoked.  As it turns out, your side has won a subsequent trick, but other than that, there was no equity issue on the board and it didn't seem to cause declarer to misplay the hand.  Do you?

 

a. Point out the revoke to opponents.

b. Carry on to the next board without saying anything.

 

b/ as above

 

5. You are dummy and your partner is declaring a tricky contract.  The lead is in her hand, but she looks like she is about to lead from dummy.  Do you?

 

a. Try to prevent partner from leading from dummy.

b. Let partner call for the card and play it and see if LHO follows thus accepting the lead.

 

a/ Dummy may prevent an irregularity.

 

6. Do you ask partner "having none?" when he fails to follow to the current trick?  Why or why not?

 

Sometimes because I am allowed to.

 

7. You are declaring a contract and at about trick 7, RHO is about to play to the trick in turn and fumbles his cards and drops one accidentally.  Do you?

 

a. Call the TD.

b. Let him pick it up and say to play on.

 

Call the director.

 

8. You are under time pressure to finish the last board of the round before time is called.  The bidding goes without issue and your partner is about to declare.  Unfortunately, RHO leads out of turn.  You know all of the options you are allowed by law.  Do you?

 

a. Call the TD.

b. Just choose the appropriate option and let play finish.

 

Call the director.

 

9. You are playing on BBO with your regular partner.  You open an exotic preempt (such as a multi 2♦ or a Frelling 2♥).  Your opponents are a new partnership and LHO pauses for thought.  Do you?

 

a. Suggest that the opponents discuss their agreements.

b. Wait and see what happens?

 

Depends if this is a casual game in the main room i will let the opponents discuss a defense.

 

10. You are playing on BBO and declarer claims 4 out of the last 5 tricks.  Declarer doesn't realize that he has all 5 tricks if he plays them in the normal order.  Do you accept the claim?

 

Depends how normal normal is and how abnormal it would be for declarer to play in such an order to give up a trick.

 

The law speaks of "any normal" not "the normal".

[blackshoe]

a/ Dummy may prevent an irregularity.

Small nit: Dummy may attempt to prevent an irregularity. Once the irregularity has happened, dummy must keep mum.

[TimG]

I admit that my answer to a number of these questions would depend upon the opponents.

[Echognome]

So here are your bridge ethics and a few comments. Thank you for all those that responded.

 

1. You are defending a contract at say trick 4 and it is your turn to lead. Your partner accidentally leads out of turn. You have a few seconds before declarer eventually plays to the trick. Do you?

 

a. Immediately inform declarer that there has been an irregularity and your partner has lead out of turn. 33%

b. Let declarer play to the trick, thus accepting the lead out of turn and then point out the irregularity. 0%

c. Let declarer play to the trick and not say anything as the declarer has accepted the lead out of turn. 67%

 

2. You arrive at a table running a little late from the previous table, sit down and pick up your cards. Your partner, not paying attention opens the bidding out of turn. Similar to above, do you?

 

a. Immediately inform opponents that there has been an irregularity and your partner has bid out of turn. 39%

b. Let RHO bid, thus accepting the bid out of turn and then point out the irregularity. 0%

c. Let RHO bid and not say anything as the opponents have now accepted the lead out of turn. 61%

 

So the vast majority of the people felt that leading out of turn or bidding out of turn is pretty much the same in terms of ethics. Only one person had different answers for 1 and 2.

 

3. You are defending a contract and your partner, that joker, has unintentionally revoked. As it turns out, your side has not won any more tricks, so there is no equity issue on the board. Do you?

 

a. Point out the revoke to opponents. 11%

b. Carry on to the next board without saying anything. 89%

 

4. You are defending a contract and your partner, that joker, has unintentionally revoked. As it turns out, your side has won a subsequent trick, but other than that, there was no equity issue on the board and it didn't seem to cause declarer to misplay the hand. Do you?

 

a. Point out the revoke to opponents. 37%

b. Carry on to the next board without saying anything. 63%

 

Here 79% had the same answer for questions 3 and 4. Several that answered that they wouldn't point out the irregularity if it were a bid or lead out of turn said they would point out a revoke.

 

5. You are dummy and your partner is declaring a tricky contract. The lead is in her hand, but she looks like she is about to lead from dummy. Do you?

 

a. Try to prevent partner from leading from dummy. 89%

b. Let partner call for the card and play it and see if LHO follows thus accepting the lead. 11%

 

You are within your rights to try to prevent the irregularity from happening (unless for some reason you had peeked at partner's hand) and the vast majority of people try to do so.

 

6. Do you ask partner "having none?" when he fails to follow to the current trick? Why or why not?

 

No one claims to always do this, although I've certainly seen asked plenty. 74% say they never do it (worried about UI or find it a distraction) and 26% say they will do it under certain circumstances (they are surprised).

 

7. You are declaring a contract and at about trick 7, RHO is about to play to the trick in turn and fumbles his cards and drops one accidentally. Do you?

 

a. Call the TD. 24%

b. Let him pick it up and say to play on. 38%

c. Answer differs in pairs vs teams 10%

d. Depends on the event 19%

e. Depends on the opponents 10%

 

Had more write-in answers to this question than any other. Seems it's a question where there is a large variance of opinion.

 

8. You are under time pressure to finish the last board of the round before time is called. The bidding goes without issue and your partner is about to declare. Unfortunately, RHO leads out of turn. You know all of the options you are allowed by law. Do you?

 

a. Call the TD. 74%

b. Just choose the appropriate option and let play finish. 16%

c. Depends 11%

 

This is something I would certainly do under some special circumstances, like if I knew what option I was going to take. It is certainly the rare exception that I wouldn't call the TD.

 

9. You are playing on BBO with your regular partner. You open an exotic preempt (such as a multi 2♦ or a Frelling 2♥). Your opponents are a new partnership and LHO pauses for thought. Do you?

 

a. Suggest that the opponents discuss their agreements. 76%

b. Wait and see what happens? 24%

 

This is something we do all the time when we are playing. I just didn't know if it was standard. 76% of the people happen to agree.

 

10. You are playing on BBO and declarer claims 4 out of the last 5 tricks. Declarer doesn't realize that he has all 5 tricks if he plays them in the normal order. Do you accept the claim?

 

Yes. 26%

No. 74%

 

I could have worded it better, but I believe most people understood what I was trying to ask. I wouldn't accept the claim personally, but I have seen so many people accept such claims. (Maybe about 24% of them?) :)

[barmar]

I think many people when playing online don't read the claims carefully. If they think declarer probably has the rest of the tricks, and then see a claim pop up, they probably assume that it claims the rest and accept it quickly. So if declarer actually claimed only 4 of 5, they're likely to accept it by mistake, not because they're trying to get a trocl they don't deserve.

 

It doesn't help that online players hardly ever include a line of play in their claims. Offline, we usually say things like "give up a diamond and cross-ruff the rest", so if neither opponent has a winning diamond (declarer didn't realize his spot card had become high) it's obvious for them to refuse that trick.