Should I have alerted?

tyson

I opened 1H, LHO overcalled 2C and partner bid 3S. We play splinters, but I was not sure if partner's bid was a splinter after the overcall. So I did not alert the bid.

This ended up causing problems in the subsequent bidding. I ended up as declarer, and before the opening lead partner notified our opponents that I should have alerted the 3S bid. The director was called and the resolution was quite complicated.

Given my uncertainty about the 3S bid, should I have altered it any way. If so, what should I say if the opponents ask me for the meaning of the bid?

JeremyChild

I believe you should alert the bid, and if asked state "no agreement but it may be a splinter".

Tag

If a bid could be artificial, you are required to alert it. As Jeremy posted, you are then free to say "no agreement" if asked.

ais523

Opponents generally hate it when you alert a bid and (when asked) explain it as "no agreement, possibly artificial", but directors hate it even more when you don't.

In this case, the explanation upon being asked would be something like "no agreement, but it would have shown a heart fit and spade shortness if not for the 2!c overcall". Then your opponents have as much information as you do (that your partner made a bid for which you don't know whether or not it's artificial, but if it's artificial, the meaning is known).

Frances

What ais523 just said

weejonnie

As usual, don't let anyone know what you are taking the call as. Just tell them - no agreements but [in similar situations] it would be [splinter] [fit jump] or whatever.

The law states 75D2

It is a condition of any partnership agreement that both players possess the same mutual
understanding, and ** it is an infraction ** to describe an agreement where the same mutual
understanding does not exist.

The EBU regard this as being tantamount to having to alert when you have no agreement as well as if you are unsure what the call means.

kato

Of course, being referred to or referring to a correctly filled out Convention Card at the appropriate time would of helped - would even help the Director too.

Abbeybear

@kato said:
Of course, being referred to or referring to a correctly filled out Convention Card at the appropriate time would of helped - would even help the Director too.

Yes, but it is common enough:
(a) for a pair to agree to play splinters without defining all the situations in which they apply; and
(b) even for a pair who know exactly when splinters apply to have a system card (even a generally well-completed one) which fails positively to identify all those situations.