Failure to show stop card

[blackshoe]

At least one of the directors here regularly calls HQ to get their "take" on a ruling. Others don't think they need to do that. The one who does call used to call Butch Campbell directly, and she considered him pretty much infallible. Butch, however, doesn't work there any more. I don't know who she speaks to now.

[chrism]

My recollection was that the regulation in the ACBL was "use the warning consistently, either always or never". However, when I searched the references in the ACBLscore TECH files, they say that the warning "should be used all the time" and do not condone the "never" option.

 

ACBL Tournament regulations and policies:

THE STOP CARD

Players should protect their rights and the opponent's by announcing,

prior to making any subsequent bid that skips one or more levels of

bidding.

 

Place the stop card so that LHO sees it (the skip bidder is

responsible for gaining LHO's attention). The skip bid is made. The

stop card is replaced in the bidding box.

 

NOTE: If a player forgets to replace the stop card there is no

penalty. It is each player's responsibility to maintain appropriate

tempo including after a skip bid.

 

If the stop card is placed on the table and a skip bid is not made,

the director may judge that the bid card was played inadvertently or

not. If the judgment is that the card was played after a "slip of the

mind" therefore with intent, then the situation is a Law 16

(Unauthorized Information) situation, not an insufficient bid -

assuming that the player does not want to make (or did make) a

purposeful correction under Law 25 B.2. An example of this situation

is; 1H - 2D - (after the stop card is displayed) 2S.

 

SKIP BID REGULATIONS

Skip bid regulations and protocol (with or without STOP card use) are

explained in the POLTRN file, pages 7 & 8.

 

 

This is the referenced POLTRN policy:

SKIP BID - WARNINGS

1. How and When Made

Players should protect their rights and the opponent's by announcing,

prior to making any subsequent bid that skips one or more levels of

bidding. Proper procedure is:

a. Place the stop card so that LHO sees it (the skip bidder is

responsible for gaining LHO's attention). b.The skip bid is made.

c.The stop card is replaced in the bidding box.

 

2. Skip Bidder

The skip bid warning may not be used to alert partner that a

strength-showing bid is being made or not being made. The warning

should be used all the time. The tournament director may assess a

procedural penalty (Law 90) for failure to comply.

 

3. Opponents of Skip Bidder

a. All Players

When RHO has announced a skip bid, the player following the skip

bidder must wait for a suitable interval (about 10 seconds). In

waiting the player's manner must be one that suggests he is an active

participant in the auction (the hand should be studied during the

pause). Any obvious display of disinterest is most improper.

b. Experienced Players

Experienced players are expected to maintain proper tempo whether a

skip bid is announced or not.

 

4. Questioning

After a skip bid, players may ask questions but must still pause an

appropriate amount of time for study.

 

5. Failure to Pause

When a player acts with undue haste or hesitation, the tournament

director may award an adjusted score (Law 16) and/or procedural

penalty (Law 90).

 

6. Where Used

The warning is effective for all ACBL sanctioned events. For

sanctioned games at clubs, the club may elect to discourage it's use

and require no mandated pause. (Board of Directors - November, 1995)

[Vampyr]

My recollection was that the regulation in the ACBL was "use the warning consistently, either always or never". However, when I searched the references in the ACBLscore TECH files, they say that the warning "should be used all the time" and do not condone the "never" option.

 

Where is this regulation published?

[blackshoe]

The tech files are included in ACBLScore, the ACBL's standard scoring program. There is a version on the web, but I'm almost certain it's not current. There's also a version on the ACBL web site, but I'm not sure that one's current either.

 

The great difficulty in understanding the ACBL's regulations is that, unfortunately, they are very poorly organized, if they can be said to be organized at all. Not only that, and perhaps because of that, you are not likely to get the same answer from different people on any given question.

[barmar]

I could have sworn the ACBL regulation said that LHO is required to pause 10 seconds, even if the skip bidder doesn't use the stop card; that's the source of the "it's optional" understanding. But the version posted above only puts that requirement on "experienced players". Maybe ACBL recently revised this?

[blackshoe]

I could have sworn the ACBL regulation said that LHO is required to pause 10 seconds, even if the skip bidder doesn't use the stop card; that's the source of the "it's optional" understanding. But the version posted above only puts that requirement on "experienced players". Maybe ACBL recently revised this?

 

Who knows? I have the same memory, btw. I find that the ACBL's publication of regulations frequently does not include a date (although the latest convention card revision does).