Time's Up!

[McBruce]

[hv=pc=n&s=s2haq8daj5cqjt643&w=sak84h6532dt63c52&n=sqthkt94dk972cak8&e=sj97653hj7dq84c97]399|300[/hv]

 

Two pairs ran out of time in the penultimate round playing this deal in 6♣ from the North hand. By the time I worked out what to do, there were only a few pairs still playing and I never got to fire off my final round promo messages.

 

Declarer #1 got a club lead, pulled a second round, and led a heart to the ace -- time ran out.

 

Declarer #2 got a spade lead, and a switch to a club. Declarer pulled two rounds of trumps and led a heart to the queen -- time ran out.

 

The system assigned average to both tables. I could not see any reasonable play by which twelve tricks were not coming in. Both declarers are clearly testing hearts to see if they are 3-3 or there is a doubleton jack somewhere. This is going to be successful and I eventually realized that the ruling was correct even though I was likely to get flak from the E-W pairs involved. One of them had finished first overall and stayed there after the adjustment.

 

They continued arguing that declarer might lead a heart to the nine on the second round or screw up somehow, even after being told they had won. This pair was the one that didn't cash the spade, they might reasonably have been adjusted to making seven (and would still have won). They wanted the average. Or maybe they wanted the opponents not to get the good score they were on course for.

 

If BBO had the option of adjusting a pair's total score for the tournament, I would be happy to adjust to 6♣= and then chip off 25% of a top from the slow North-South pairs. I think we need to be roaming the tables who are likely to finish late and hit declarers or defenders who slow right down knowing that the analysis might favour them while left to their own devices they might screw up. Without the ability to hit slow players who stop playing when the time gets low (what the hell, let the computer figure it out), this ploy works when playing it out might fail.

 

Let's suppose that both declarers pull only one round of trumps and now time runs out. Now what? It's not as clear what declarer will do but almost anything normal will succeed.

[pescetom]

Declarer #1 got a club lead, pulled a second round, and led a heart to the ace -- time ran out.

 

Declarer #2 got a spade lead, and a switch to a club. Declarer pulled two rounds of trumps and led a heart to the queen -- time ran out.

 

The system assigned average to both tables. I could not see any reasonable play by which twelve tricks were not coming in. Both declarers are clearly testing hearts to see if they are 3-3 or there is a doubleton jack somewhere. This is going to be successful and I eventually realized that the ruling was correct even though I was likely to get flak from the E-W pairs involved. One of them had finished first overall and stayed there after the adjustment.

I would assign contract making to #2 and +1 to Declarer #1. Even our beginners would struggle to go down here.

 

 

 

If BBO had the option of adjusting a pair's total score for the tournament, I would be happy to adjust to 6♣= and then chip off 25% of a top from the slow North-South pairs. I think we need to be roaming the tables who are likely to finish late and hit declarers or defenders who slow right down knowing that the analysis might favour them while left to their own devices they might screw up. Without the ability to hit slow players who stop playing when the time gets low (what the hell, let the computer figure it out), this ploy works when playing it out might fail.

It is a disgrace that BBO does not allow TD to adjust a pair's total score. It is also a pity that it does not help him to regulate time by measuring and documenting delays and that the better movements cannot be unclocked, thus allowing people to finish a board as is their right even if one side is slow.