[mgwatson16]

I would request the software be updated to time pairs separately, for the purpose of penalizing excessively slow players.
Right now faster players are being penalized with 50% scores on unplayed or unfinished boards through no fault of there own.
In some cases, pairs are deliberately not finishing a board they cannot make hoping to gain a 50% score.
Extremely unfair and costly.
I will no longer play speedballs because if this unfairness.

[mycroft]

So, last tournament I played in, last board, I am East, and the auction goes:

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"If you do not post a convention card, it will post SAYC" says the tournament, but of course they don't require you to actually *play* SAYC. So, I ask the table, after the opening lead, "what do you play an opening 2♦ as?" (because if it's natural weak, pass then 2♦ is a different set of hands than if it were Flannery).

I wait for the answer to play to trick 1. Nothing. They comment that I've gone to sleep, dummy mentions I asked a question and want an answer. They say, no he didn't, so I ask it again. Nothing. I call the TD. So does the 2♦ bidder, because I'm slow. Because we're running out of time, and I don't actually need the answer for a couple of tricks, I play to a couple of tricks, and then say "I really need to know the answer to my question". The TD arrives, and tries to deal. I never *do* get an answer to my question except "2♦ was an overcall". Which, of course, is the whole point.

We time out after playing a few more tricks and the score is adjusted to the inevitable result. It turned out, on this hand, that it didn't matter, but it could have.

Long story, short question:
Who's responsible for the slow play?

I claim on an obvious line conceding a trick (but don't spell it out, it's a speedball) and you take a minute to work out that yes, I am conceding a trick, and that's all we get. Whose time?

I agree, there are people who game the current system. And we should be reporting them to abuse, so that they get noticed and weeded out. But!

There are ways to game every process; you "time the slow pairs" and it turns out that we get hard hands two in a row (and they're hard because we're playing something weird, so we didn't open 1NT to get the mindless 1NT-3NT auction, say; or I can play the careful single-played-as-double that all the other pairs either didn't see or didn't need). "time the slow pairs" and either I'll ask about every call if you're on the clock for answering or I'll be very complete about my answering (and type at 6 wpm, and correct) if I am. Of course, lack of clear CCs, so that your time has to be wasted asking about more stuff, or we get an advantage with our coded 9s and 10s if you don't ask.