[MFA]

Yes, yes, yes.

gnasher, on Apr 14 2008, 05:56 PM, said:

Echognome, on Apr 14 2008, 08:42 PM, said:

Like I said, if you asked every time there was an alert, there would be no worry about the information.  But that doesn't happen does it?

Yes, of course it happens. I routinely ask about any alerted bid, at least on on the first two or three rounds of the auction. I do this partly to protect my partner from receiving unauthorised information, partly to avoid giving the opponents information, and partly because I like to know what's going on.

Regardless of my hand, it wouldn't occur to me to call over this redouble without first finding out what it means.

Exactly!

[barmar]

First, there's nothing unethical about passing UI. While you should try to avoid it, sometimes it's unavoidable. The ethical problem is in USING UI.

Second, it's true that you can pass UI by not asking a question. Just as asking a question and then passing suggests that you have a hand type that would have bid if the answer were different, passing without asking suggests you have a hand type that would pass regardless of the answer. What I think the people who say that little UI is passed by not asking are actually reacting to is the fact that the UI from questioning is often more specific than the UI from not questioning. E.g. if you ask about a ♣ bid, it suggests interest in ♣, i.e. one specific suit; not asking suggests that you either don't have interest in any suit, or that you have interest in one of the other 3 suits. Partner is unlikely to be able to make use of such vague UI, so in practice it can usually be ignored.

This is somewhat similar to the distinction between a hesitation followed by a pass and a hesitation followed by a bid. In the first case, the hesitation suggests a maximum -- what else could he have been thinking of other than bidding some more? The second case is much less specific -- he could have been thinking about a stronger bid, or he could have been thinking about passing; he's probably not in the mid-range for his bid, but you can't tell which end he's at, so your actions are not constrained by the UI.

[FrancesHinden]

Although this area is the subject of much discussion, I think it's a bit of a non-starter in this auction: I find it hard to imagine any hand that does not need to know the meaning of the redouble, either because some possible meanings of the call will affect whether he bids or not, or because he'll need to know in order to understand partner's next action.

By the way, if you are playing me and I pass over the redouble (with or without asking) it means that I _either_ have a balanced 0-4 count _or_ I have a good hand... so it will be very very risky for you to pass it out.

[dake50]

Can I also do a stop card only when weak? Can I ask only when strong?

Must I ask every alert so opponents never get mistaken about what they are doing because the explanation jars memory?

I want to know their sequences before play to never ask. This should be detailed write-ups supplementary to the convention card. I can look for Jacoby rebids, NY escapes, eg.