This particular auction is one that would be more of a problem than most. Surely (at least after some reflection now) you should agree that if your hand invites with 2 spades, you should get no further information from partner other than his action (presumably just 3 hearts or 4 hearts, but others are possible). What procrastinator is saying is that if partner bids 3 hearts after considerable thought, you have additional information: he ultimately decided his hand was a minimum, but it can’t be a total minimum, or he wouldn’t have had a difficult decision whether to bid 3 or 4. You shouldn’t be allowed to know that he has more than a total minimum.
You aren’t being penalized for his thinking, just getting the the same result you would have had if he had made his bid in normal tempo. (But not a purely subjection “what would you have done?”. The “test” would be more like “among players of your general ability level who thought 2S was a good idea on the previous round, and who heard 3H from their partner without unusual time for thought, would they pass or bid 4H”? If a clear majority of such players would bid 4H (unlikely here), you can bid 4H. Otherwise, you can’t.)
Just made a costly misclick during bidding on hand 16. Ugh.
A clearer example of an “unauthorized information” situation would be Partner opens 1C - next hand passes - you bid 3 C (weak) - next hand bids 4S. And now partner passes or doubles.
Almost certainly your right action is to pass. But if partner made his call without abnormal delay, you are free to do whatever you want.
Suppose on the other hand your partner stews considerably before passing or doubling. Now (realistically) you are forced to pass, because in addition to knowing what partner decided, you also have the information that he was sorely tempted to do something else, and you aren’t supposed to have that information. Partner is not penalized for taking the time to decide what to do, but you are precluded from doing anything unusual as a result.
13-13 tie with procrastinator. Reissued
ETA: win by 6 vs AA. Reissued.
EATA: win by 21 vs NN. Reissued.
procrastinator wins the declare-only with +18.50, by 7.50. Reissued
ETA: oirg wins the regular challenge with +27.50, by 16.25. Reissued.
EATA: despite winning 17 on one hand, lose to procrastinator 22-17. Reissued.
EATA: win by 27 vs AA, pushing board 1 when CHO at both tables gave up an overtrick in a slam that was making regardless with a defense that surely was hopeless. Reissued.
EATA: lost to NN by 13. Reissued
Very strange match with procrastinator. Not sure whether good or bad, but unusually many actions I would not expect at a table with 4 humans.
Lost to AA by 6. Surprising. In a hopeless 3S contract, I thought perhaps I had tempted my RHO to give me an extra trick, but saw that after the hand all lines should lead to down 1 (if trumps had been 4-2, it would have been an extra trick, but they weren’t). No, AA tempted his RHO to give him an extra trick (that was an extra trick) and the contract. Reissued.
Lost by 1 imp to NN, 8-9. Who ever heard of winning an imp match for playing 2H making 5? He did (not his only gain, but it was 1 imp). Perhaps I should have also made 5. Bidding even 4 would have been absurd. Extremely favorable lie. Reissued.
ETA: win by 31 vs AA. Reissued. (Should have been more, as an auction developed. Perhaps after some questionable actions by me and CHO, CHO used Blackwood and could then count 13 tricks unless trumps were 5-0, but he bid only 6 H).
EATA: I win the regular group challenge with +15.00, by 4.50. I also win the Declare-only with +14.25, by 10.00. Both reissued
Especially this hand.
WTF? A double of 3H would be takeout, when I had overcalled 1H with 1NT then passed 2H? (OK, I didn’t look at what a double of 2H would be. I would have expected penalty, but regardless of that it seems inconceivable that this one would be takeout.) Maybe a penalty double of 3H would be unwise, but I would have risked it. With a double as takeout, I passed of course.
Then my LHO continued with 3S. Quite likely down, but while I surely had 3 heart tricks against 3H X, I might have none against 3S. So I passed, and it was passed out. Same auction at procrastinator’s table.
spoilertext "the full deal"
Just as well I couldn’t double 3H for penalties? Though if I found a diamond lead and continued diamonds each time I would beat it. Or would LHO have run from the double? His 3S bid here is one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen from a bot.
I won 2 imps on the board. Of course no one could expect a hand like he held, and I lucked into setting it 3 while procrastinator set it only 2.
Another hand that I’m not sure what would happen at a table with 4 humans, but it was push when both procrastinator and I took avantage of favorable vulnerability to overcall a 1 D opening with 2S on
Sound? Hardly. But it worked. 4 hearts was cold; 4S X off 2. (In practice, after that jump overcall they likely would have made 5, partner leading the spade ace from AQJx of our suit, ruffed to set up a pitch.)
Result: I win by 13. Reissued.
Major :duh: Lost to NN 10-12 for not reading the meaning of a bid. Auction was
Me LHO CHO RHO
P 1NT 2C* 2H** * Cappeletti - single suit ** Transfer
P 2S P P
I decided to reopen with a double so partner could bid his suit. I thought we should compete to the three level.
Right to compete, since we can make 3D. But (and system notes agree) double was penalties. Since they had a 5-5 trump fit, it was not a success. That one hand was 12 to him. Reissued
Lose to AA by 8. Swear. Used RKC and was sure we were off an ace and the trump Q. Not certain we had everything else, and even if we did it was only about a 62% slam. Except CHO had a sixth heart, so all we needed was trumps 2-1 or Q onside. Reissued
[OTOH, I won 6 imps after a borderline 3C balance over the opponents’ 2S. As the cards lie, should have been a clear plus position, since I caught partner with a good hand for clubs. No: headed for approximately a push when partner decided to raise to 4C, which should be down 1. But yes: LHO misdefends so that 4C makes. His actual defense was pretty bad, but an alternative defense that could have been right (on a different lie) would also have given me 4C. The successful defense: reasonable but far from automatic.]
procrastinator wins the regular group challenge with +28.00, a massive margin of 21.25. An excellent performance by him, not so much by CHO. Board 2 was absolutely flat, with CHO finding a way to let 3NT make when he had virtually a sure set in his hand (and when the obvious defense would set it any time it could be set.) Reissued
oirg wins the Declare-only with +14.75, by 8.50. Reissued [Some poor penalty doubles by the opps in that set. 3S X where 4 of us made an overtrick, and the fifth exactly made. 4S X where all 5 of us made an overtrick
Win by 11 vs procrastinator. Reissued
ETA: lose to NN by 16. Butchered a 4H contract I should have made. (Not a favorite to make, but I had started on the successful line, then made a play that was somewhat unlikely to cost the contract if makeable, but it could never gain and did lose here.) Also butchered a 1NT contract that realistically should have be cold given the opening lead. (OK, given the bots willingness to lead stiff honors against 1NT - float, perhaps not cold, but my play would never be right against humans, rarely if ever right against bots.) Then down 2 in 3NT made with an overtrick by NN, on a line of play that looks stupid seeing all four hands, but could have been right, especially against bots (would have made it against humans, since the opening lead would have been different.) Reissued
EATA: Win 7-2 vs AA. All the imps on extra overtricks or undertricks. (Though it could have been a massive win for me, when I played safe for a 3NT contract where he lost a spade hook at trick 1, had his only diamond stop knocked out, and then had to pick up AQxxxxxx opposite Jxx for no losers. No problem since stiff K was onside. Declining the spade hook, I had 9 tricks even if I lost a club.) Reissued
Amazing. Win vs procrastinator by 10. Surprised to win, since many missed opportunities, even though on most I thought my actions were reasonable even tho they didn’t turn out for the best. Such as hearing partner open 1H, opponents reach 5D vul with me holding QJ9x of diamonds (and 3 hearts, potentially hurting our prospects there), and I didn’t double. Down 3, only 300 instead of 800. (Double wouldn’t have helped declarer play the trump suit; partner had AK8! ) And partner down 1100 on 1C - X - float. But procrastinator did exactly the same on both. Reissued.
Win 2-way vs NN by 6. procrastinator wins the regular group challenge with +8.33, by 4. Both reissued
Lose by 3 to AA. Reissued.
ETA: procrastinator wins the Declare-only with +19.49, by 9.40. Reissued
EATA: win by 2 vs procrastinator. Reissued
Win by 16 vs NN. With a push for 2S making 6 on an identical auction at both tables. 6 is not a favorite, but 4 is almost a sure thing. CHO was quite conservative with S-AJxxxx H-void D-xx C-AK1087. His partner passed, his RHO opened 1D he overcalled 1S, his partner bid 1NT (2- spades, 9-11 HCP) and he thought 2S was enough. Reissued
(We did have almost the best hand possible for him: S-Kx H-J9xx D-KQxx C-Qxx. Not sure how I would get to game with a human partner.)
AA wins the regular challenge with +21.25, by 9.75. Reissued
Win by 18 vs AA. Reissued.
ETA: oirg wins the Declare-only, with a whopping +28.33, a margin of 17.50. Reissued.
I win vs procrastinator by 15, which included +6 when I misclicked (actually BBO wasn’t displaying in timely fashion) so I passed partner’s opening bid with 10 HCP and a singleton (not in his suit). That meant that all my subsequent bids were underbids, but fortunately partner had a balanced minimum and our making partscore was worth 6 imps. Reissued
Win by 13 vs NN. In part because I somewhat luckily set a 4H contract he didn’t, because my declarer played for trumps 2-2 while his took the hook, and trumps were in fact 3-1. Exactly the same auction and opening lead, minor differences in the early play, but I don’t know why those differences affected the play of trumps. OTOH I was a little ticked off to lose 6 imps on this deal. Note the choice I had (unless something else should be considered). 3S showing only 6-7 total points when I had 9 HCP, or double which doesn’t show the 6th spade. Winning decision (as the cards lie) is to bid 3NT or double and bid 3NT, but both seem ridiculous. NN bid 3S, passed out, making. I doubled, partner bid 3S, I bid 4, down 2 on good defense. Reissued.
NN wins the regular challenge with +9.50, by 1.50. Reissued
Win by 18 AA. Should have been more, since I lost 7 on the last board, when CHO gave away a game, with an overtrick, by poor defense. Reissued.
ETA: win 10-8 vs procrastinator. Reissued
EATA: win 9-1 vs NN. Maximum swing 3. Reissued
