A really basic question

[AyunuS]

I was wondering what is supposed to happen in the case where a false alert is given. I was playing a hand online recently where an opponent claimed to bid michael's except he really had a 3/3/3/4 hand, and I don't remember what suit was the 4 but I don't even think it was one of the majors, and it really messed up what my team decided to bid. A simple answer is fine, such as I can't do anything about it, I'm supposed to ask for a redeal, use report abuse in options, or something like that, but which?

[Mbodell]

It depends on if it really was a false alert or not. Note an opponent is allowed to make a bid that doesn't describe his hand, but is still required to alert what the agreement is. In essence, the alert describes what his partner should expect him to hold, not what he actually holds. So in general, the correct answer is to do nothing if it is just one hand online. If there is a TD around, you can call the TD, but the situation you describe is not abuse, is not worthy of a redeal, and isn't really an issue.

[AyunuS]

Ok, but his partner did not seem to think it was Michael's though. He bid the other minor which had 5 of opposite the 3 of the supposed michael's player, and was actually their only fit. True, it was just one random hand not in a tournament or anything so it didn't really matter, but I still didn't like it that they got 12.27 IMPs for it when we were misled.

[blackshoe]

"Sometimes you're the pigeon, and sometimes you're the statue". :P