[hanp]

Here is a director call from yesterday.

The bidding goes:

S . - W- N . - E
2D - p - 2H - dbl*
2S - 3H - p - 3NT
all pass.

2D was multi, 2H was pass/correct, the double was slow.

After the lead of a small spade, dummy came down with Q109 QJxx xx Kxxx.

South (opening leader) closed the screen and asked the doubler what the double meant (explained as takeout of hearts or strong). Then the director was called, and south explained that the double was slow (50-60 seconds, this was confirmed nor denied by east) and the 3H bid very unusual opposite a takeout double of hearts.

The director went away, the hand was completed, (declarer had Ax xx AK10xx AQxx and made two overtricks) and the director was called again. The director went away again and asked some good players, all of them bid to 3NT after the double of 2H. The director ruled that the result stood.

South argued that without the 3H bid, the 3NT contract would likely be played from the west side, in which case the defense would take one more trick. At this point east became very irritated, said that south had no business accusing them of cheating, and that all they had done was make a poor bid, which had nothing to do with the hesitation. It was also well known that they are a very ethical pair and the repeated director calls were completely uncalled for.

The director was silent during this, and finally said that since there was no infraction, there wasn't any base for a change of result. South strongly disagreed with the statement that there was no infraction, but to no avail.

NS is one of the weaker pairs in the Dutch second highest division, EW are considerably better and could be said to be of the level of the Dutch women's team.

I would be very much interested in your thoughts.

[helene_t]

I may be missing something but I don't see how the bid suggested 3♥ over anything else. I would have doubled 2♠ (or maybe bid 2NT if that is natural) or maybe passed. But maybe pass is suggested by the BIT as doubler may have stretched, or maybe the slow double suggests that doubler has a strong hand that will bid again anyway so that one might as well chose pass as the most flexible call.

BTW as you describe it it doesn't sound like South was accusing NS of cheating.

[mrdct]

hanp, on Sep 20 2010, 06:32 PM, said:

South (opening leader) closed the screen and asked the doubler what the double meant (explained as takeout of hearts or strong). Then the director was called, and south explained that the double was slow (50-60 seconds, this was confirmed nor denied by east) and the 3H bid very unusual opposite a takeout double of hearts.

There are a couple of problems here:

1. South and East don't sit on the same side of the screen.

2. The screenmate of the hesitator isn't allowed to draw attention to a hesitation on his side of the screen, and if he does so there is generally a presumption that no hesitation occured.

[Zelandakh]

Any extra details about the systems involved Han? This whole auction strikes me as very odd! First of all North appears to have 2 spades and 4+ hearts, so surely 2S was the more logical bid? Now to E-W. Is the East hand really take-out double of 2H? It looks to me more like a 2-way double, that is a double that tells partner to pass for penalty with length in Opener's major, and even then it is a little odd. Given that the hand contains 4 decent hearts and that N-S have not shown hearts at all I am a little confused as to why they use 3H as their cue bid. Surely West must have 4 hearts some of the time in which case they need some way of finding the fit.

As to redress, the BIT does not seem to suggest 3H as West is clearly going to game once East shows values. That said, the BIT might have deterred West from making a subsequent slam try. Why can East not have the magic SK, DQ and CK here? So I would be asking E-W about their system more in respect to the pass of 3NT (what is the range?) than the 3H bid.

[Pict]

As NS I would appeal.

The reported TD statement 'since there has been no infraction etc' is startling to say the least. He is being asked to determine if there has been an infraction after creation of UI and a suspect bid. You can't start your analysis with a particular result and work back.

It's worth remembering (as many of us have have had to grasp) that a TD is not there to judge whether we aim to be ethical, but whether we conformed with Law 16.

I see few responses to this post. But I think we should respond whether or not strong players may be involved.

My inclination would be to conclude that EW had failed in relation to Law 16, and to adjust.

[jdonn]

The question is whether the slow double demonstrably suggests the doubler has length in hearts. I wouldn't have normally thought so, but it's hard to think of an explanation of why this person bid 3♥ unless he thought his partner had hearts for some reason. Why did he say he bid 3♥?

[richlp]

I don't play or defend against Multi but I don't find the 3H bid at all strange.

East's double shows either a strong hand or a takeout of hearts. Once opener shows a weak two in spades isn't it normal to assume that East has a strong hand an not a takeout of hearts? If North had opened 2S and partner doubled showing "A strong hand" rather than a traditional T/O double, wouldn't West bid his heart suit? Is there any real difference in the actual auction?

[helene_t]

richlp, on Sep 21 2010, 01:37 AM, said:

Once opener shows a weak two in spades isn't it normal to assume that East has a strong hand an not a takeout of hearts?

I don't think so. If doubler has a strong hand he will bid again so it's a case for passing that we think p is strong so we want to give him bidding space.

The 3♥ bid is weird, it should show 5+ hearts.

[Free]

I don't find the 3♥ bid normal. What is he trying to accomplish?

East has Doubled showing takeout of ♥ or very strong. So you assume takeout of ♥. Even if opener bids 2♠ (which can be a psych, wouldn't be the first time) East can still have the "takeout of ♥"-hand in which case a Dbl is pretty clear (letting them play a 6-0 fit). But even opposite a strong hand, bidding 3♥ on a 4 card suit seems odd.

[dburn]

3♥ might not be "normal" in the sense of being the theoretically correct call that a top player would make, but it is not very (or at all) "strange".

If partner has a strong hand and RHO has six spades, partner's hand will often approximate to a takeout double of spades (for those who are not used to defending against the Multi, the best way to defend against all "pass-or-correct" bids is to play "penalty or takeout" doubles). If East has a strong hand with (probably) short spades and West has some values with four hearts, why shouldn't West bid his hearts?

There hasn't been any infraction here other than South's arguing with the Director, but since he has presumably already been beheaded for this, this problem will not recur.

[carena_sez]

Well the multi is designed to cause confusion.

I would have thought as stated in OP the double of 2H is a take out of Hearts (hence implying Spades) and/or strong hand.

I don't think 4th pos'n has easy bid over 2H. Surely all would agree too strong to pass. 3C is possible, but denies all these controls and not very forward going?

Ax
xx
AK10xx
AQxx

After opener converts 2H to 2S then it looks to me that in 6th pos'n holding

             Q109
             QJxx
             xx
             Kxxx

you must know partner hasn't got a Spade stack! It's not possible for them to hold 4 card Spade suit, so double more likely to show a stronger balanced hand.

So choices for West are between a penalty double or trying for 3N. I don't think pass is an option.

You don't mention the vulnerability but maybe West thought making game for their side was more profitable than penalising.

If partner has shown Heart shortage (and probably something in Spades) then maybe 3H SHOWS stopper for NT?

I can't see the problem with 3H. Surely it's forward going rather than proposing a final contract?

[Codo]

I join the chorus that after 2 ♠ East was entitled to know that partner has the strong hand. If he holds just the take out, the spades needs to be around 6430 around the table and the hearts at best 2245. In any case, partner won't understand my bid wrong.

I can see no bid which had been suggested by the hesitation.

[bluejak]

I am interested in people asking why she bid 3♥. If I had been the TD I would have asked her this.