Director's discretion
Yesterday I was directing an event where the organiser had stipulated no undos, either bidding or play.
I got called to a table where a player had unintentionally bid 7D instead of Pass. The bidding was at the 2 level and the bid was totally unsuited to his hand. I decided to allow the undo on the (perhaps made-up) principle that not to do so would lead to it not being a true test of bridge skill.
Can I do that? If so under what regulation?
Should I have done it?
Comments
The stipulation of "no undos" is not technically compliant with the Laws of Bridge. Failing to allow an undo in this situation would be a breach of Law 25A1, which (unlike some Laws) does not give any discretion to the Regulating Authority or Tournament Organiser in how to apply it.
As such, if undos were in fact banned, the tournament was being held in an environment where the Laws of Bridge do not fully apply. As a consequence, it's probably worth talking to the organiser about what to do in situations like this; they have made changes to the Laws which affect the decisions you make as Director, so in order to be able to make those decisions correctly, you will need to know exactly what the changes are.
There isn't an answer about what to do here in the Laws or regulations, though, because the Laws assume that the situation can never occur, so they don't have anything to say about what to do if it does.
I take your point, yet the EBU bans undos during the bidding in open pairs events (Sky Blue book 4.3.2).
ais523 is correct. The reason we have taken this view in our short daily games is simply one of practicality in the limited time-frame, often with a large field, where there may well not be the opportunity to properly explain the ramifications of the word "unintended" as used in the laws. For other games we allow undos in keeping with Law 25A1.
4.3.2 was updated in December, published last week. The scope of the 'no UNDOs' regulations is limited.
Why can’t players be asked or required to use the ‘confirm bids’ and ‘confirm plays’ options, so as to avoid the need for undos.
They can, I suppose - but clicking multiple times is irritating and detracts significantly from the enjoyment (at least for me).
It wouldn't remove the situation entirely. It's best for people to work out for themselves what works best, having been told of the options.
I have come across two cases recently where UNDO was not invoked (ignorance in one case, not allowed in the other) - where a PASS had been announced as "11-14 balanced" when the intention was to open 1N, and where a raise of 1S to 2S had been announced as "4-cd support, game forcing" and the intention was to bid 2N.
Not allowing these to be corrected is BAD for the game.
Not allowing UNDOs to make the TD's life easier is not correct.