[epeeist]

Note: this post is NOT a complaint about directing, since I never called the director (I was doing poorly enough I didn't think it worthwhile)

In a recent ACBL individual, I started a round with a partner whose profile did not specify a system or approach (it did, however, indicate his or her skill level as "world class" ). I asked if sayc was okay, my partner said no. So I asked my partner to tell me what system to use, or open a convention card. No response. I had a bad hand, so passed throughout and opponents were declarers, so annoying but not a huge problem.

The same on the second board, no response from partner to my (polite) requests to name system or open card. I eventually "preempted" to 4♠ (my hand was much too strong for this, but luckily was good enough to make game but not slam ).

Since I was doing poorly in the tournament (this round was about halfway through) I didn't think it worth complaining to the director (my opponents might have been disadvantaged by my "preempting" with a too-strong hand, but I thought it was fair to consider it like a psych, and alerted it as a preemptive bid).

My question is, what do you do in an individual (especially, as in this case, an ACBL individual) if it is impossible to agree on a bidding system (whether as in my case, or if say partner insists on using a system with which you are unfamiliar)? In an ACBL tournament you can complain if your _opponents_ don't specify what system they're using, but I'm not sure about complaining about your partner. I would have easily been able to use 2/1 or (less easily) ACOL if necessary but my partner refused to reply to my questions, except for stating his or her refusal to use sayc.

I recognize, entering an individual, I sometimes end up with partners who misunderstand or misuse bids, I accept that. But this situation was quite different, my p could have been using anything from acol to polish club for all I knew.

Perhaps the rules for ACBL individuals should state that participants MUST be prepared to use either sayc and/or 2/1 if nothing else can be agreed upon? Seems common sense to me, and I wouldn't think it necessary to be a rule if I hadn't experienced this frustration myself...at least it's given me an amusing story for the low price of $1.00

[jdulmage]

Individual games in the past, whether it be tournament or local club has always been the assumption that when you play you are either playing Standard or 2/1, nothing else.

Don't even bother asking what system you want to use when you play with somebody in one of these types of tournaments, you should always be playing Standard unless they have a profile that you may be interested in playing, then ask them to play that.

[the hog]

"Individual games in the past, whether it be tournament or local club has always been the assumption that when you play you are either playing Standard or 2/1, nothing else."

Who says? Why not Acol as it is the norm here? Bbo is an international site, and as such your comment is parochial.

[paulhar]

Maybe you need to be more forceful. If your partner has no conventions on his profile, rather than saying, "SAYC?" perhaps you're better off saying SAYC. Or better yet, SAYC basic with 4th best leads and standard signals. (Maybe better to say UDCA if you're playing during prime Europe time.) It's harder for someone to just say 'No' to that without suggesting an alternative. My theory: if they don't list anything, they'd better be prepared for anything simple you might play. As I found out playing in 11AM (in the US) individuals, that includes the Polish Club. So I make sure to get my 'SAYC.' in first, because believe me, they don't want to be playing a Polish Club with me.

You might appreciate the other side of the coin - I was playing with someone with a zillion conventions listed on their profile, ending with etc. I said I would play his profile, and then raised his 1NT to 2. He bid 3D (accepting what he thought was a transfer.) Looked all over that profile, didn't find it anywhere, but 3D didn't look right even if he had diamonds (I had long clubs), so I bid 3NT. He told me after the hand, "That's part of ETC.!"

[epeeist]

The_Hog, on Jul 15 2004, 05:26 PM, said:

"Individual games in the past, whether it be tournament or local club has always been the assumption that when you play you are either playing Standard or 2/1, nothing else."

Who says? Why not Acol as it is the norm here? Bbo is an international site, and as such your comment is parochial.

I think both the poster to whom you replied (jdulmage), and I in my original post, were focusing on ACBL tournaments.

I recognize that for many players ACOL is preferred (which is why I have made an effort to learn its basics, and keep an ACOL reference sheet handy), but given that I was discussing a problem that happened to me in an ACBL individual, I think it reasonable to suggest that sayc or 2/1 should be standard in such (individual ACBL) tournaments UNLESS agreed otherwise -- for instance, if I was subbing and my partner requested I use ACOL because that was the only system he or she knew, I'd agree.

I do however disagree with jdulmage, that "standard" should be assumed. A partner might be "assuming" that 2/1 applies, or acol, or whatever. Confirming the system to be used helps avoid at least some of the massive misunderstandings you can get in individuals. I've also played with some players who play standard american, or think they do, but don't use transfers, or have some other "quirk" which it really helps to know about... Especially since one often has international players (the partner I referred to in my original post who refused to play sayc came from, or at least had a profile claiming as his or her nationality, a non-English speaking country) assuming "standard" or sayc without confirming it is a good way to suffer massive bidding misunderstandings...

As for paulhar, thanks for sharing your experience. Given how easy it is to open, alter, and save convention cards (I realize there are problems, but you can get a decent amount of information in there) I think some players such as the "etc." one to whom you refer should stop trying to fit every single lead and bidding convention in their profiles (sometimes using cryptic abbreviations you can't figure out even if you know the convention), and instead prepare convention cards (which also have space for additional descriptive notes).

As for your other points, I recognize the attraction of simply declaring what system I'm using, but I'm trying to be friendly -- and I don't want to be stuck with a partner who's annoyed at me...

[helene_t]

Maybe it's a good idea to provide a link to a standard CC when you start an individual tournament, recomending that all players read that CC so that they can default to that if unable to agree otherwise.

I wouldn't play "etc"-conventions in an individual. Just "Either Hardy's system with all gadgets, or http;/vanilla.stoneage.sayc.bridge. We don't have time to agree on something in between."