Any questions partner?
I was called to the table, hypothetically, at the of the auction.
The player on lead asked "Any questions partner" - and declarer objected.
Declarer stated that the person on lead cannot ask their partner as this was UI since partner must carefully avoid making use of unauthorised information.
Law 20F2 states that "Either defender at his own turn to play may request an explanation of the opposing auction..."
It doesn't say anything about asking the person on lead if they have any questions.
Law 20G2 furthermore states that "A player may not ask a question if his sole purpose is to benefit partner"
Since asking the question "Any questions partner" is for the sole benefit of partner it presumably barred.
In other words you cannot wake partner up to the fact that it might be to their benefit to ask questions about the auction.
Any thoughts?
Comments
Hmm. Many players will ask this routinely before facing the lead, if it is barred. I think of 20G2 as referring to questions about a bid, I'm not convinced it applies here. Although if you were to use a tone that suggested partner should be asking questions that wouldn't be allowed.
41B / C refers to the facing of the opening lead. My first instinct was that you shouldn't face the opening lead without some sign from partner that they don't intend to ask questions. In which case you may either have to ask or sit there until they wake up. This isn't actually explicit in the wording of the law, which just says that they may ask questions. But it seems we should allow "Any questions" as part of the functioning of Law 41.
If we really think it's a leading question because of the tone that probably is improper. Although it's worth noting that opening leader can ask questions before the lead, so it's hard to see how this would really benefit their side.
The purpose of "Any questions partner" is to give partner to option to ask questions before the opening lead is faced. This matters because if it transpires that there has been misinformation (by presumed declaring side), then the lead may be withdrawn and replaced. In fact it is even posible for the auction to be reopened (Law 21B1a).
I think it's clear from the context that the "questions" referred to are those relating to the meaning of opponent's calls.
I would also argue that "Any questions partner" is for the benefit of the partnership, not solely for partner.
Otherwise we could not ask if it was our turn to lead or what the contract was!
The leader asking the non-leader whether they have questions gives unauthorised information. Not asking would also give unauthorised information.
There isn't any rule broken, or any adjustment required, unless the ask or non-ask demonstrably suggests a course of action (and the player receiving the UI selects it over a logical alternative). It seems very unlikely to me that such a question would demonstrably suggest a course of action. (Perhaps if a player only asked if they thought there's something that their partner should be asking about, that would be a problem. But I don't think that commonly happens in practice.)
Agreed in principle - but on that basis at any point when it is your turn to bid or play, not asking a question gives UI.
There has to be a limit!
It does seem extraordinary that something so prevalent and encouraged might not be permissible.
Some analysis:
Presumably in your excitment at spotting this problem, you forgot to mention that the opening lead is already face down on the table.
Presumably you meant to say: It doesn't say anything about asking the person not on lead if they have any questions
There has already been ample opportunity to correct misinformation - declarer or dummy should've done it at the end of the auction (Law 20 F 5 b) and leader could've asked before leading. So there will be extremely few cases where leader's partner might identify something amiss.
Agreed, it just says they may ask, and 41B also says that defender can ask for a review of the auction at their first turn to play a card, so there is no apparent strong imperitive to do it whilst partner's opening lead is face down. One small reason is that the bidding cards are usually removed once dummy is faced, so better to ask questions before the bidding cards disappear.
Nevertheless I believe Law 41B provides the answer to the original query. It says:
By impication, this means that opener must give their partner the opportunity to ask questions, and therefore it is reasonable for opener to verbally check.
I think that not asking questions does indeed give UI, although it usually isn't significant enough to call the Director.
There are some non-asks – like not asking about an alerted bid, then bidding a suit that the alerted bid actually showed – that give such large amounts of UI that partner would be heavily constrained (to the extent that an adjustment is likely opposite many follow-ups from partner that are frequently seen in practice). It is helpful to have an "always ask" policy here to reduce the amount of UI involved.
On further reflection - to strictly comply with the laws, "Any questions" should be directed at both partner and declarer.
Good point.
The procedure probably arose due to annoying partners who say nothing when you lead face down.