Too many players at Peninsula are guilty of fidgeting with the bidding cards in the bidding boxes and inappropriate table talk. Usually they get away with it or are perhaps get a mild reprimand from the director. Not so in Canberra, where the penalties were severe!
We had two unexpected director rulings in the Restricted Swiss Pairs at the Summer festival in Canberra. These were the two hands. Please don’t question our sometimes questionable bidding!
Round 1, board 7. Match 11, board 26.
Dlr : S. Vul: Both. Dlr : E. Vul: Both.
♠ J109732 ♠ A752
♥ QJ85 ♥ Q6
♦ 3 ♦ 1073
♣ 62 ♣ AJ106
♠ ♠ Q8 ♠ 9843 ♠ QJ106
♥ K9732 ♥ 64 ♥ K7532 ♥ A104
♦ J764 ♦ AQ10982 ♦ 4 ♦ AQJ9
♣ KJ104 ♣ A73 ♣ 954 ♣ 72
♠ AK654 ♠ K
♥ A10 ♥ J98
♦ K5 ♦ K8652
♣ Q985 ♣ KQ83
Bidding
N E S W N E S W
1S pass 1D 2NT pass
3S! pass* pass X 4S* pass 5C pass
Pass 4D X pass… pass…
In the first round, board 7, we were N/S and in 4th seat, East spent a considerable time fumbling with the bidding box, pulling out double, pass and various bids before eventually passing. Her partner then doubled and the bidding continued. We called the director and told him about the shenanigans with the bidding box. The hand was played and 4DX made with an overtrick – a horrible score of 910 to them! However the director returned to our table and said that the directors had ruled that most E players in this field would not have doubled and so our bid of 3S making was allowed to stand.
In the last round of the competition (board 26) we were sitting E/W. The bid of 2NT by South was NOT alerted. As N bid 4S she remarked ‘I’m not sure if this is right’. S corrected to 5C. We once again called the director and the hand was played (down 2 for 200 to us). The director returned to our table later and said that there had been unauthorised exchange of information and the contract would be deemed to be 4S down 5 giving us a score of 500!
VE
