Two of the
continuing problems directors have at the table are
unauthorized information and incomplete information.
Let's take a look at these problems and how to deal with them.
You
are sitting with ª-
6542 ©-763
¨-T86
§-J52,
and the opponents have an unopposed auction of 1ª-2NT-3§-3¨-4NT-5©-6ª.
After the 2NT is alerted, you ask
for and receive an explanation. At your next turn, you ask what
the alerted 3§
means and then, at your next turn, you ask, "What kind of
Blackwood are you
playing?"
Why
are you asking all of these questions? Yes, you have the right
to do so - but why would you ask? Do you have any intention of
bidding with your 1 count? Why not wait until the auction is
over before asking your questions?
Law
16 states in part that extraneous
information obtained from, among other things, a reply to a
question, is unauthorized to the partner of the responder - he
is not supposed to be able to hear or act upon his partner's
replies to the question. But let's face facts - he does hear the
explanation and now he knows how partner has interpreted his
bid. You have taken the guesswork out of it by asking the
question. Maybe he forgot what kind of Blackwood he is playing -
but, now that you have asked, he knows what partner is
playing. So, though the information is unauthorized, in reality
it is hard for a player not to use this information.
But
it is information he does not have if you don't ask the
question. And, by asking the question, you may be giving
unauthorized information to your partner. So, the best policy is
not to ask until the auction is over unless you really need to
know right then and there. If the information will affect a
bidding decision, by all means, ask. If not, DON'T ASK
Issue
number two is that of full disclosure. When an opponent asks for
an explanation, it is incumbent upon you to give a full
explanation. Don't
just name the convention – tell what it means completely. The
opponents should not have to ask the right question in order to
get a full explanation. It should not be like trying to pull
teeth - you should explain fully the first time.
An
example - after two passes, you open 1ª,
partner bids 2¨, which you alert. LHO asks for an
explanation and you reply "We play 2-way reverse
Drury". This is not an explanation! You might as well have
said that this is Newton's 3rd Law of Gravitation for all the
information that you have just provided.
Instead, you should say something like "This shows a
10-11 point spade raise with 4 trump and it says nothing about
diamonds". Now that is an explanation! This is how you
should answer all questions of this type - with complete
disclosure of your agreements, not just bits and pieces. Full
disclosure is the right thing to do, so when the opponents ask,
DO TELL!
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