What is he thinking about?

[aguahombre]

This is not in "Law and Rulings", because I am not looking for a ruling --just some logic.

 

All White, MP...Partner is up-and-coming with only a couple years under his belt; thoroughly familiar with our methods in this situation; prone to an occasional trance before coming up with a correct call.

 

(3C) P!!!! P ?

 

Partner's pass took about 40 seconds. Of course the B.I.T. is AI to the opposition, and UI to me. The questions are: What is likely to have been his problem? What is unlikely to have been his problem? You don't get to see my hand, yet.

[helene_t]

Values just shy of a bid or a double. Or enough for a bid but the suit not good enough and shape not ideal for double.

 

A less experienced player might be wondering if he could preempt. Or double for penalties. Or bid an unusual 3nt.

[billw55]

Seeing my own hand might go a long way to figuring out partner's problem. But since I'm not supposed to be doing that anyway, maybe it doesn't matter.

 

Partner might be tanking for many reasons, including:

 

1. he has a strong hand with clubs

2. he has a borderline suit overcall

3. he has a borderline NT overcall

4. he has a borderline conventional overcall

5. he has a borderline takeout double

6. he is trying to choose between strains

7. he is trying to work out possible matchpoint scores

8. he is considering a wild psyche

 

.. and probably others that I have missed. It seems that most of these possibilities suggest bidding (or doubling) over passing out 3♣. So I think you are ethically and legally restrained from bidding unless bidding is clear.

 

Then there are possibilities unrelated to his hand, perhaps he is thinking about where to have dinner.

[wank]

a tank of that magnitude would indicate a very distributional but very weak hand imo.

[SteveMoe]

I'd think any distribution would minimize the need to hesitate. I bet he held some (42)(43) with 14-15 HCP and no ♣ stop.

Second place would be modest ♣ length, say 3325 and similar 14-15 strength.

[ggwhiz]

a tank of that magnitude would indicate a very distributional but very weak hand imo.

 

A tank of that magnitude is known locally as a coma and he may have had a stroke.

[mikeh]

I don't think it matters much. He was thinking of doing something that would show values of some nature and decided that he couldn't quite afford to do it. That UI will almost certainly increase the odds in favour of you being aggressive in reopening.

 

In fact, I would go so far as to argue that it is a mistake to even think about what is going on. The more you focus on it, the more it is likely that the UI is going to influence you. I don't mean that it will lead to you bidding when you should pass, or doubling when you should be bidding something else. It may equally persuade you that you should pass because otherwise you have arguably been influenced into bidding. Just look at your hand, and make the decision that seems best based on the pass, not the tempo, and let the chips fall where they may.

 

In such situations, if I am playing against friends, they know I am trying to be ethical. If I am playing against relative beginners, I may invite them to call the director at the end of the auction, so that they don't feel intimidated into not calling.

 

If I were being forced to guess...well, it depends on what I know of partner's style and whether we've had discussions about overcalling over pre-empts. Maybe last week I told him that I thought that one required a good opening hand and a decent suit to overcall. Or I told him about the idea of a stopperless 3N and so on. If we've never had a discussion then it's just a pure guess.

[whereagles]

The only clear message the slow pass conveys is pard has some playing strength. Whether it is HCPs or shape is unknown at this stage.

[aguahombre]

Well, With the hand I held, I DID have to take the UI into account...and a committee agreed with me after they stopped laughing. About 30 seconds into the trance, I already decided he would have no problem passing with weak distributional hands and that he was contemplating a horrible 3NT overcall with some 4x3 textureless 14 count.

 

So, it was likely he would choose to sit a reopening double. I held AKX AQJXXX AQXX v...a probable Grand which would be defending 3CX. A reopening 4C was possible in those days (That's how long ago it was).

 

So, I doubled, and sure enough it was left in. It was agreed that I had chosen a L.A. which was least likely to be suggested by the UI and that I was correct to take the UI into account when choosing that action...except for the opponents who had no sense of humor.

 

Partner had been mesmerized by XX XX XX KJTXXXX.

[barmar]

I held AKX AQJXXX AQXX v...a probable Grand which would be defending 3CX. A reopening 4C was possible in those days (That's how long ago it was).

 

So, I doubled, and sure enough it was left in. It was agreed that I had chosen a L.A. which was least likely to be suggested by the UI

 

Are there any other LAs? Any other bid you might make would be either a gross underbid or distortion of your shape. What would 4♣ have meant in those days?

[aguahombre]

Are there any other LAs? Any other bid you might make would be either a gross underbid or distortion of your shape. What would 4♣ have meant in those days?

Huge takeout...two-suited cues were not the norm, yet. Today, there would be no alternative to a double...and no story.