Pass showing unexpected values?
N opens 1S, E overcalls 2C (vul).
South hold 5 good clubs and an 11 count, so passes hoping N can reopen with a Dbl.
More bidding happens.
Subsequently E claims he has been misled because S has unexpected values in a Passed hand.
I was asked for my opinion on this after the event.
My initial reaction was E does not have a case, S's Pass seems to me a 'normal' action.
But on checking the Blue Book, I am wondering if N should have alerted?
I can't think of anybody who does in these circumstances.
But S hand does contain more points than normally associated with Pass.
So does BB 4H1(d) apply?
Comments
It's normal to pass even with a fairly strong hand if most of your values are in RHO's suit. (This is normally called a "trap pass".)
I don't see any reason why trap passes would be alertable (assuming that they're only a rare hand type, and weak hands are more common in that situation); it isn't an unexpected amount of strength, because players normally pass with that amount of strength and that shape in that situation.
I do think that the possibility should be brought up if someone asks for an explanation of the bid, though. (Most commonly, this happens when there is interference over a strong club opening; many systems use pass and double to show specific point ranges in this situation, but one of them will normally also include a trap pass as a possibility; the call is alerted because the pass/double are artificial, but the trap pass possibility is mentioned as part of explaining the call. The call is being alerted because it carries a specific unexpected message, though, not because there's also the possibility of a strong hand.)
I don't think it is unexpected that a player pass with a strong hand when their opponent has bid their suit, whether by overcalling or by opening it.
From the Blue Book:
4 B Basic alerting rules
4 B 1 Passes and bids
Unless it is announceable (see 4D, 4E, 4F and 4G), a pass or bid must be alerted if it:
(a) is not natural; or
(b) is natural but has a potentially unexpected meaning.
So 1st question is, is the pass natural or not? For me a pass is natural if it means, this is a contract I am happy to be in... so in this case either too weak to bid, or I'm happy to defend 2C, so therefore the pass is natural.
So, question 2 now related to point (b), is it unexpected? Who is the judge of this, the partner of the person passing, the ops or the director? If it is the director, what is their yard stick, their own expectations, the expectation of a poll of players or perhaps their knowledge of the players and their knowledge?
It is complication, but the laws are not very clear in this regard. This seems to me to be a very subjective law, what is unexpected? In a good standard club room, county or professional event, this seems to be normal, but how about in a beginners/improvers or mixed standard club session?
I tend to take into account the skill levels of the people involved (rightly or wrongly)... so occasionally in a mixed skill level club session I will play 5-card majors with better minors and strong NT (essentially SAYC). When my partner opens 1C or 1D against good players, I don't alert (though I do say as the ops join us that we are playing 5-card majors), as I know that they know that this may be a 'short' suit. Against weaker/less experienced players I will alert - so that they can ask what it means and they are not then surprised by a 3-card opening suit.
Similarly after a NT rebid, I don't alert against good players that know we are playing strong NT, but against weaker/less experienced players I will alert - so that they can know that partner has 12-14 points as I know that they will be expecting 15-16.
I do this in the spirit of full disclosure and I don't want to get tops due to the ops just not knowing what is going on.
So, as a player, I judge my alerts based on that knowledge.
What is the threshold for the word 'potentially'? As it was surprising to at least one person that we know about, then as an absolute, we know that there is a potentially unexpected meaning. However, that does not seem sufficient...?
Well, the meaning of pass isn't I think, strictly, that you have a weak hand. All it means is that you don't want to make another bid or call. As others have mentioned, sometimes quite strong hands will find they don't have any terribly sensible options. Assuming there's no spade support, the only alternative bid available is 2NT (or 3NT in my youth I suppose), a bid hardly recommended by the vulnerability when 2C is probably -2 or 3.
I suppose 'potentially unexpected' could cover almost any view a bridge player takes depending on the opposition, so context matters. This seems a fairly standard competitive action though, it's hard to see it as alertable.
No, it's not alertable, because it is not unexpected (actually it is arguable that if a pair play penalty doubles of overcalls that is so unexpected that a pass should be alerted, but I wouldn't rule on that basis)
Pass doesn't show a weak hand, it shows a hand that thinks pass is the best call.
I agree that if a player has genuinely never heard of playing double as anything other than penalties, then they are at a disadvantage. But much though I hate "general bridge knowledge" as an excuse for not alerting or explaining, I think this counts as negative doubles at the 2-level are played by, at my estimate, over 90% of duplicate players and at least half the remainder know about them.
By contrast, I play 1major x pass as potentially including 10+ HCP with a singleton spade. We do alert that, because most people would take action on such a hand.
By contrast, if we had a pair routinely alerting the pass on the auction 1S 2C P and explaining it as "may be a hand that wants to double you if you do any more bidding" that might be seen as trying to intimidate the next hand into not raising when they have a normal raise.
I think if I were the challenged player, or indeed a director called to the table, my first question to the challenger would be, "what would you regard as a natural bid on that hand?"