[JoAnneM]

I would like examples of appropiate and inappropriate questions of "relevant alternative calls available that were not made, and about relevant inferences
from the choice of action where these are matters of partnership understanding".

I have a "soon-to-be-ex" partner who thinks she is showing how smart she is by asking questions after most alerts. Not only is this one of the things that is ending our partnership but I would love to set her straight.

[Mbodell]

A fairly common question about an alternative call not made might be on defense against the following unopposed auction:

1♣-1♥-1nt-3nt

You might ask if the opener has denied 4 spades and also might ask if the responder had some form of checkback and if they've denied 5 hearts and 4 spades.

[FrancesHinden]

I'm not sure I get the connection between the two paragraphs. Never mind, let's start with the first:

Quote

I would like examples of appropiate and inappropriate questions of "relevant alternative calls available that were not made, and about relevant inferences from the choice of action where these are matters of partnership understanding".

Typical appropriate questions:
(After opponents bid 1S - 2D - 2NT - 3NT, where the 2NT bid is alerted and described as balanced 15-19)
"When, if ever, do you open 1NT with a 5-card major?"

After a 2H overcall of 1NT
"What is your defence to 1NT / What else could partner have bid other than 2H / How many hearts that 2H promise / Do you regularly overcall with a 5332 shape?"

1H 1S x P; 2H 3C....
"Do you have any way of showing a black two-suiter directly over a 1H opening? What's the difference between that and bidding this way?"

1NT p 2H ("transfer") P 2S all pass
"Did responder have some way of showing a weak hand with both majors?"

I could go on for hours... really there are vast numbers of things you might want to know about opponents' methods, whether or not calls have been alerted. On the subject of "matters of partnership understanding" there are lots of very general questions you might want to ask before the opening lead, such as "how light do you open", "do you frequently raise with 3-card support for partner's 1M response", "does your 1NT rebid deny a 4-card major?"

Inappropriate questions are harder. The three most common types of "inappropriate" questions are definitely illegal:

1. Asking a question to which you know the answer in order to make sure your partner finds out e.g. you know they play Precision but you think your partner has forgotten, so you ask "was your 1S opening limited to 15 points?" just to remind partner.

2. Asking a question to direct partner's bidding or play (to give partner UI) e.g. "what did 3C show? Did it show clubs? Really? ". The slightly more subtle form is only to ask about the one bid of the suit you want led.

3. Harrassing the opponents. That is, going on and on about something when they've told you all they possibly can.

Quote

I have a "soon-to-be-ex" partner who thinks she is showing how smart she is by asking questions after most alerts. Not only is this one of the things that is ending our partnership but I would love to set her straight.

There's nothing illegal about doing so. It's not always advisable, because it slows the game down and (if you don't do it all the time) can tell partner when you are or aren't interested in the auction.

It can be better to wait until the end of the auction and then simply ask for a full explanation.

Playing with screens it's very common to get questions after each round of the auction because that uses up the 'dead' time when the tray is on the other side of the screen.

[hrothgar]

JoAnneM, on Sep 16 2009, 02:27 AM, said:

My partner will do things like  1nt - 3nt  "Would your partner have used Stayman if she had a 4 card major suit"?, then "would your partner have transferred with a 5 card major"?.  Meanwhile I am the director and watching the clock. 

Some would argue that a pattern of consistently asking questions regardless of whether you are interest is much more ethical than asking leading questions to telegraph a particular lead...

[aguahombre]

hrothgar, on Sep 15 2009, 06:53 PM, said:

JoAnneM, on Sep 16 2009, 02:27 AM, said:

My partner will do things like  1nt - 3nt   "Would your partner have used Stayman if she had a 4 card major suit"?, then "would your partner have transferred with a 5 card major"?.  Meanwhile I am the director and watching the clock.  

Some would argue that a pattern of consistently asking questions regardless of whether you are interest is much more ethical than asking leading questions to telegraph a particular lead...

no question that is true. But Gawd, aren't there limits?

[JoAnneM]

Thanks for the examples I asked for, it answered my question.

[bluejak]

It is my strong impression that if a call is alerted in North America the next person will ask the meaning most of the time. In England he is far less likely to, but part of the reason for that is we used to have a lot more alerts.

[blackshoe]

We recently had a thread in IBLF about which one poster complained that we were remiss in allowing certain posts to remain visible for some time. Given that some posts in this thread were not the kind of thing we want to see here, I have deleted several posts which were in my view not appropriate. I do not do that lightly, but I'm not going to allow things to get out of hand in here, and if deleting posts is what it takes, that's what I'll do.

I have not locked this thread, but future posts along the lines of those I deleted will also be deleted, and I will lock the thread if I have to. Discussions of this action shall be taken elsewhere - a new thread, PMs, or email.