blackshoe, on Jul 31 2008, 10:11 PM, said:
Introduction to the 2007 Laws said:
Established usage has been retained in regard to “may” do (failure to do it is not wrong)
The same provisions appear in the 1997 laws.
Ah, I missed that in the introduction! Thank God, we won't have an argument about what "may" means.
Lemme just give an example of why you don't call the director in this situation.
(1
♦) 1NT (P) 2
♥!
(-P-) 2
♠ (P) 3NT
(-X-) P (P) (P)
What do you lead, as the passer?
Same auction, but after the 1
♦....
"Director! My opponent bid out of turn!"
"OK, you may accept the bid. If you do, then you continue as if he had been dealer. If you don't, then the auction will go back to the original dealer, this person who bid out of turn's partner will be barred from the bidding, and there may be lead penalties".
"What lead penalties?"
"Well, if you end up declarer, and the opponent never bids diamonds, then you'll be able to forbid a diamond lead, most likely."
"OK, I'll accept the bid and bid 1NT"
Remember,
everything here is AI, including that they may have been able to bar a
♦ lead but didn't. Tells you something about his hand, doesn't it?
When it says you can "elect" to simply bid in turn and by implication accept the bid out of turn, it means just what it says. Even Cascade now says that you only have to "invoke" for penalties. But accepting a bid out of turn is not a penalty. It's simply...bidding in turn.
There's actually several Coups that can be performed by bidding or leading out of turn, and then watching to see if the opponents accept or decline the irregularity. The best defense against these is, when you want to accept, simply follow smoothly and not give them the information they were looking for.