Alert definition may be UI

[jerdonald]

BBO forum,

Playing pairs at a local club today we passed and the Ops

bidding went:

 

1C 1H 1S 2D

 

at which point the opener said alert. I asked and he said

I think she thinks that's new minor forcing. He then bid

3D which looked like a shut off warning. Passed out.

 

His alert was really telling his partner that he wasn't

taking her 2D bid as new suit forcing. Actually it

looked more like 4th suit forcing which was on their

card.

 

Does this look like UI?

 

Jerry D.

[robert2734]

Don't ask. Until the auction is over.

[barmar]

I suspect he was just confused about the name of the convention. I've heard many players call something New Minor Forcing when it's a minor and it's artificial+forcing.

 

I don't see how it's UI, though. Regardless of the name, it means it's artificial and forcing, so it accords with what responder expected.

[blackshoe]

Does it? Is it forcing to game, or just for one round? Either way, why did he pass 3♦?

 

I don't think the convention name is a problem, except in that one is not supposed to explain partner's calls by naming a convention. What was responder's hand? More importantly, what did he think 2♦ meant? If he thought 2♦ was natural and not conventional, then the alert was unexpected and does give him UI. Yes, I know it's on the card. Doesn't mean he didn't forget.

 

The point is that we don't have enough information to answer the question.

[barmar]

If the 2♦ bidder thought it was natural, there would be UI whether his partner explained it as NMF or 4SF. There would also be UI if his partner never explained the bid -- the alert by itself would be UI, although he'd have less information about what his partner thought he meant.

 

In general, new suits by an unpassed responder are forcing for 1 round, but the default interpretation is that it's ostensibly natural. So the potential UI is that it's artificial, and whether it's game forcing or not. I'm not sure what these would suggest when partner bids 3♦.