gnasher, on Sep 10 2009, 11:00 PM, said:
That makes a pass of 4♠ more than merely a logical alternative: it's blindingly obvious to pass. North had UI that suggests not passing 4♠, so he can't bid 5♣.
What seems "blindingly obvious" to some people is not so obvious to others.
For example, it seems "blindingly obvious" to me that the correct personal pronoun to use when referring to a participant in the National Women's Teams is "she", but you and several other posters seem to prefer to use the word "he".
So although I happen to agree with your view that passing 4
♠ is the correct call on the North hand, the correct course of action for the TD is to poll peers of North after the auction 1
♠-3
♣[strong jump shift]-4
♠ to assess whether pass is in fact a logical alternative for this particular North.
VixTD said:
I was interested to hear opinions on whether to adjust on the basis of South's pass of 5♣. If NS really had no agreement and South was just giving what she thought was a likely explanation to try to be helpful (a common but erroneous practice) it's hardly fair to accuse her of fielding a misbid, whatever else she may have done wrong.
Correct. It is only possible to field a misbid if a player caters for her partner having deviated from their agreement. If there is no agreement in the first place, there is nothing to deviate from. This reminds me of a Brighton ruling posted on this fourm a few weeks ago (the thread seems to have mysteriously disappeared) where the auction went something like (1
♠)-1NT-(P)-2
♥-(P)-2
♠)-(P)-3
♥-All Pass. 2
♥ was described as a transfer, responder had a weak take-out in hearts. Apparently the TD ruled fielded misbid, but I think that this ruling would only have been correct if the TD had established the pair to have specifically agreed the transfer into the opponent's major as showing the suit. The overwhelming likelihood is that the pair had never discussed the situation, in which case there was no agreement and hence no misbid to field.
In such cases the TD just needs to consider the UI and the MI (the correct explanation was probably "no specific agreement").
Quote
Does a slight hesitation (assuming there was one) from North before 5♣ indicate to South that the explanation may have been incorrect?
Probably not. In auctions like this a slight hesitation normally just suggests that the player was spending a few seconds deciding what her partner's last bid was supposed to mean!