On-line Games
I was sent the following query that because I haven't played any on-line games yet (I'm about to start in the next few days) I didn't know how to answer so help would be appreciated.
"As you know, you self-alert a conventional bid as you make it. The player in question had opened 2S which also promised a minor and his partner bid 2N asking him which minor ? He then alerted his next bid as showing his minor but mistakenly bid 3C when the minor was diamonds. He ended up in 4S. Should he at this stage reveal that his 3C bid and explanation were misleading?"
Comments
Firstly, I would think that 3C should not be alerted, its a natural call.
Secondly, the player has given a correct explanation of the system, so no need to offer further information.
In essence this mis-click is analogous to a pysche/mis-bid.
But I foresee a many a debate about how 'mis-clicks' relate to 'mechanical errors'!
PS I like having no insufficient bids, calls out of rotation, lead out of turn, revoke, etc.
And you can never be sure if someone hesitated or was on a slow connection!
You can reduce the chance of misclicking on BBO. After logging on, go to "account" and then "settings", where there are various options, including having to click "ok" when making a call, and to double-click when playing a card.
That is so in BBO. In BCL, alerting is exactly as in F2F bridge.
Barrie Partridge - CTD for Bridge Club Live
Usually you can tell from a player's general tempo. I also expect players to state if they know they have a slow connection, and I also recommend to players that if they have delayed due to being distracted, they should say so, just as one would do F2F if it wasn't obvious.
Barrie Partridge - CTD for Bridge Club Live
Alerting online is like alerting behind screens: you can alert very freely because the system will hide your alert from your partner. So alerting a natural call doesn't do any harm.
The alert of 3!c here is not misinformation (assuming that the agreement is that 3!c shows clubs), as it correctly informs the opponents as to the agreement. The opponents are just as entitled to know that 3!c doesn't match the player's actual hand as the player's partner (i.e. not at all). You might want to check to see if the partner fielded the accidental bid, but that seems unlikely. (I don't see any difference between this situation, and a misbid or psyche, or indeed a mechanical error that the player chooses not to correct.)
Interestingly, I had an argument on BBO once, as I self-alerted a bid as 'no partnership agreement'.
This was something like 1C - 2C overcall by me ( I intended it as being Michaels, but we had no agreement and I was strong enough to not care if partner took it as this or as something else. This was a pick-up partner in the ACOL room). The other side claimed to have a right to know what the bid meant and even though I pasted the relevant BBO rule, they would not accept that they had no right to know my intention, only our agreement; just as in face-to-face bridge.
So, it seems that there are 'rules ninjas' online, just as much as in a club - though with no TD to call in the general rooms, there is less that one can do to resolve disputes in a reasonable fashion when both sides believe that they are correct.
Following Martins point, I was asked on the same matter about a recent situation in the EBU lockdown tourney, where the player self alerted a call and when asked, kept saying 'No Agreement' ! ! Would that be an acceptable answer given that the player presumably knew his intention in making that call?
Does anyone know if you can join the EBU session as a Kibitzer just to watch ?
If you can, how is it done and is it free ?
It's a perfectly acceptable answer as long as the partner is in the same situation as the opponents in terms of trying to figure out what the call was meant to mean. If there are relevant agreements that might give clues as to the meaning, though, they should probably be mentioned.
For example, 1NT, (X), 2C! might well reasonably be alerted as "no agreement" or "undiscussed" in a new partnership (there's a chance that, if undiscussed, partner might interpret it as conventional). However, if 1NT, (P), 2C would be Puppet Stayman, that should probably be mentioned, i.e. the alert would be "no agreement, but without the double it would ask for 5-card majors". This is the correct alert even if the 2C bid was actually meant as natural with clubs.
No, this is not allowed.
I played in this afternoon's tournament (8/4) and on the penultimate board east opened 2D, alerted as a multi. I overcalled 3C passed around to East who bid 3NTs. I led the QDs and East asked if my overcall had any special meaning. In answering no I missed what was played by West and East. I asked E & W in the chat area what cards had gone and no answer came. I asked again and because so much time had been taken I was taken out of the game. I really think I was badly treated but had to accept that I couldn't play the board or much to my chagrin the next one. On the understanding that E & W had seen my request do you think they had not adhered to the spirit of the game? Also, how could I have got in touch with the director to explain what had happened. We and the opponents were awarded 50% on the last board which having paid my money left me a bit cheesed off. It also meant that I couldn't get into this afternoon's last game.
AlanB - you can call the director on BBO by clicking on the blue box in the top left hand corner of the screen with the 3 horizontal lines in it. A similar thing happened to me yesterday in that one of the opponents took so long to agree my claim, that we were timed out and got an average on that board and the next one. I appealed to the director that it was obvious that my claim was correct and he reinstated the score. I realise your example is slightly different, but east played his card without waiting for your answer. If he had waited you could have typed in "no" at that point. I know it doesn't help now, but might be a suggestion for the future?
Thanks for that reply stayman. I suspect that East deliberately didn't answer.
I'm not sure about the new version, as I play the older Flash version, until you play to the next trick, you can click on the previously quitted trick and it will show you that cards played.
You can only do this on the previous trick and only until you have played to the next trick.
This was the first round so what should I click?
Thanks Martin. Lets hope I don't have to use it. Alan.
its a great feature, as it is needed when someone plays quickly (especially against bots as they are generally quite quick)
There is a graphic showing quitted tricks in the same way that we do at the table (vertically and horizontally) - click on the card that represents the last trick...
Just checked out the new version and on the left there is a card vertical and one horizontal with a number in each showing how many won/lost. Click anywhere on that diagram and it will show you the cards played - click again and it will disappear.
Incidentally - if you click on the graphic showing the contract, it will show you the bidding. Click again to remove it.
Apologies for zombie-ing a thread, but in BBO when making a bid there's an Alert, and an Explain (and you can do both).
I assume the following apply for ACOL club games, but can someone please clarify, or link to BBO references?
You're almost right:
Note that if you Alert a call without using the text entry box, the red border often prompts opponents to ask about the bid (as with an alert in a regular club), but this increases the potential for UI as one opponent can see that the other opponent asked/didn't ask about the call. (Besides, waiting for a call explanation is slower than typing it out in advance.) So it's best to explain every call at the moment you make it.