[Cascade]

Tonight when I played I had a situation as declarer where both opponents had made at least one discard. I was particularly interested in one of these discards.

Am I entitled to ask a particular opponent rather than the other opponent what their discard method is?

It occurred to me that this could be to my advantage as the partnership was casual and their agreements might not be clear. However the player who made the discard that I was most interested in was more likely to tell me what her discard meant.

I mean if LHO says "low encourage" then her discard is likely to be of that type but RHO may have a different understanding. So I am better off if I can get an answer from LHO rather than RHO.

The pair did not have a system card if it matters.

As it happens i asked to the table and LHO answered.

[bluejak]

The Law says "answers should be given ... by the partner of the player whose action is explained" which is unhelpful to your specific question.

I feel that asking the table generally is fairest, but of course declarers often ask one particular player.

I think the answer to your question is that asking the player when you really want to know his action is probably illegal under the wording of the Law since you would be trying to get the wrong person to answer per Law 20F2.

[barmar]

If you ask to the table, and one defender answers, shouldn't the other defender correct him (after first calling the TD) if he thinks the answer was wrong?

This way, declarer will get the most complete answer. Then the defenders have to deal with the UI from hearing each other describe how they intended their discards. I believe they must continue to discard AND interpret their partner's discards as they each described themselves.

[blackshoe]

A defender who hears what he believes to be a wrong explanation from partner calls the TD and corrects the explanation when play ends.

[jallerton]

blackshoe, on 2011-January-21, 18:46, said:

A defender who hears what he believes to be a wrong explanation from partner calls the TD and corrects the explanation when play ends.

True, but if the other defender is giving his own answer to the original question (rather than correcting partner's explanation) presumably that's OK.

[blackshoe]

That's a different situation than the one to which I was responding.