jtfanclub Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 If you play with your pick up pd in BBO e.g., after the simple auction such as 1NT-(X)-2D? Is 2D a transfer? I don't think there is a unique standard. Then shd the responder self alert his bid and explain his hand to the opp his hand while his pd is perfectly in dark? I don't think this treatment is fair either. Had that happen in one of my tournaments today. After thinking about it for at least a second, I agreed with the opponents that the 2D bid needed to be alerted, and allowed them to throw in a 'phantom' lead-directing double. Which actually hurt the doublers, but never mind that. When you make an alertable bid, and your partner fields it as an alertable bid, how can you possibly show that your partner was guessing? It's like bidding a psyche and your partner fielding it without any evidence that you weren't psyching. Is it possible that you don't have some undisclosed agreement or cheating method? Sure. Are you going to be able to convince me? Hell no. Think of it in the reverse. Some guy won't alert any of his bids or give info. And they're strange bids, like opening 1♣ with a singleton club and 18 hcp, which sounds suspiciously like a strong club. And his partner mysteriously manages to field these bids. And when the opps call the TD the guy claims that hey, he's just bidding and hoping his partner guesses right, he's never seen the guy before, honest! If you're going to allow people to not explain bids with the excuse that their partner might not know, you may as well get rid of alerts. After all, how exactly are you going to prove that his partner knew it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 The rules for ACBL tournaments at BBO put it very clearly: whenever in doubt, alert. This should apply to all online bridge. Of course, a transfer should be alerted if RHO doubled or if p overcalled 1NT. Actually, transfers should probably always be alerted. But many tournaments at BBO specify that all artificial calls must be alerted. I'm not sure if a t/o double is considered artificial but Stayman certainly is. As is Blackwood. It's true that you don't have to alert and explain on the basis of your general bridge knowledge. For example, you don't have to explain that a 3rd seat preempt carries less information than a 2nd seat preempt. But if you agreed with p to play, say, 2/1, you must alert all calls that have a different mening in 2/1 than in "standard" (whatever that means). I'm not sure how much an agreement has to diverge from "standard" in order to be alertable (I would, for example, not alert a 1♦-opening that guaranteed a 4-card although in SAYC it can be a 3-card). But still: whenever in doubt, alert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke warm Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 hotshot, i'm pretty sure you're wrong in your interpretation of the rules... assume online bridge for a moment... if your partner opens 1S and you bid 3S and an op asks you privately what that bid means, what do you say? this is assuming a pick up partner with whom there was no prior agreement ... As there are different ways to treat the 3S bid, you are using it with your own risk without prior agreement with your pick up pd. So why must you tell your opp what is the meaning of this bid? Your pd is also guessing. So your correct answer should be and definitely should be "no agreement". do what you think right... as for me, if that situation came up i'd bid 3S, alert it, and explain "preemptive"... you can argue all you want that the opps don't deserve to know, but i believe they do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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