[Apollo81]

awm, on Sep 3 2009, 09:01 PM, said:

Let me explain why I don't like option B.

The difference between your hypothetical example and the real examples you posted earlier is that all of the real examples are small (sometimes trivially small) individual variations, and the hypothetical example is a huge variation.

For example, in the real weak-two example you gave, if the aggressive guy is opening bad 5 card suits then their prealert should reveal the stylistic difference. If he's not then I don't have a problem with no disclosure (unless asked) 'cause i don't think the individual stylistic difference is that significant.

[Apollo81]

How about this:

Suppose one partner is prone to taking all kinds of offbeat actions when he feels the state of the match/game warrant it, but the other player doesn't ever do that and is pretty straight arrow regardless of the circumstances. Is this legal/disclosable and if so when/how? Furthermore, suppose it's a pair game -- do they have an obligation to disclose what the offbeat guy thinks the state of their game is to their opponents?

[awm]

I think the key is whether partner will take my "style" into account and modify his own responses or follow-ups accordingly.

If my weak two style and partner's are sufficiently different that there are hands where (for example) I would pass partner's weak two bid but with the same cards she would bid game opposite my weak two bid -- then something needs to be disclosed.

Psychs and "offbeat actions" normally don't meet this threshold (unless you expect partner to field them, which is a quite serious issue).

Another way to put it: if partner doesn't even know that my style deviates from our agreements, then there can't really be an issue. If partner does know, but based on her bids and plays you would not be able to tell, then there shouldn't really be an issue either. But if partner's actions seem nonsensical based on our disclosed methods but somehow always work out because my real "style" is only a subset of what we disclose (for example, partner blasts game on random nine-counts opposite my "13-17" notrump all the time, and coincidentally I never have 13-14 high) then there is a problem.

Of course, how to deal with this issue is also problematic. Likely the best way is to file recorder forms when one partner takes an action that seems not to make sense opposite the declared range. If enough of these are reported (and seem to be working) then perhaps there can be an investigation.

[mycroft]

I usually ask (if I don't know) partnership's preempt style on bid. Usually, again, I get a blank stare. Frustrating no end, especially as my style varies (depending on partnership) from insane to disciplined to EHAA ("any hand with 6-12 HCP and a 5+card suit gets opened. 99% of them get opened 2 of the longest suit - our choice with 5-5 or 6-6"). It's kind of important, really, to what I intend to do, and especially to how I defend (should we end up defending).

What really annoys me is that when I have to play "no-warning pickup" (which I do, a lot, as I'm a TD who tries to run full-table games) I ask 4 questions:
- 2/1?
- what's our defence to 1NT?
- what's our preempt style?
- version of blackwood? (if I ask, it doesn't come up. If I don't, it does, guaranteed)
The fact that most people can't tell me what it is - never mind playing games with it as suggested here - is incredibly frustrating.