[Cyberyeti]

---

The 3♣ and 3♠ bids were slow.

I held this hand and as partner bid 3♣ I got distracted by something else going on in a large cramped room. I collected my thoughts and reviewed the auction. I did this by looking at the 3 other players' bids and not mine, what I thought I saw with my bids added was P-P-P-1♣-2♠-3♣-P- meaning that I didn't alert 3♣ as the good version through Lebensohl.

There was then a conversation that made no sense:

"Was 3♣ in a Lebensohl situation ?"

"No but had it been passed back to me and I'd doubled it would have been".

Anyway the man was wheeled in, the facts were incompletely given (I thought the TD was coming back again before he phoned for the ruling), 3N made +2 and it was ruled back to 3♣ with me babbling incoherently that partner must have a decent hand for 3♣ and I was looking for a slam and wondering where his 4th club was (if partner hadn't shown a spade stop, I'd have looked for xxx, Ax, Axxx, xxxx or better).

We would have appealed, but given that we lost the match by a maximum even if we won the appeal, it would have been pointless.

Anybody else admit to bidding in the wrong auction ?

[mikeh]

Cyberyeti, on 2012-May-20, 11:55, said:

---

The 3♣ and 3♠ bids were slow.

I held this hand and as partner bid 3♣ I got distracted by something else going on in a large cramped room. I collected my thoughts and reviewed the auction. I did this by looking at the 3 other players' bids and not mine, what I thought I saw with my bids added was P-P-P-1♣-2♠-3♣-P- meaning that I didn't alert 3♣ as the good version through Lebensohl.

There was then a conversation that made no sense:

"Was 3♣ in a Lebensohl situation ?"

"No but had it been passed back to me and I'd doubled it would have been".

Anyway the man was wheeled in, the facts were incompletely given (I thought the TD was coming back again before he phoned for the ruling), 3N made +2 and it was ruled back to 3♣ with me babbling incoherently that partner must have a decent hand for 3♣ and I was looking for a slam and wondering where his 4th club was (if partner hadn't shown a spade stop, I'd have looked for xxx, Ax, Axxx, xxxx or better).

We would have appealed, but given that we lost the match by a maximum even if we won the appeal, it would have been pointless.

Anybody else admit to bidding in the wrong auction ?

It happens with screens quite often. In Verona in 2006, in the round-robin, a famous author thought the auction had gone P P P to him, and he opened 2N with 20 hcp....his partner passed and that ended the auction. The famous author berated his partner furiously when his partner tabled a 12 count.....the good news being they made 4 overtricks.

His partner pointed out that the auction had actually proceeded (P) 1♦ (P) 2N, with 2N being invitational, and with a balanced 12 count, opener saw no reason to proceed further.


To add irony to the farce, on the previous boards, FA, who was sitting N, had objected strenuously to the vigorous manner in which the tray was passed through the screen, and had twice pushed it back as it came through, insisting that there was no need to pass it so far.

Over stories include not seeing an opening bid, and taking partner's 2♣ overcall as somewhat stronger than intended, with unfortunate results.

[rogerclee]

I once lost 4 imps for 3C= vs 7D-1. At our table, the guy opened 3C thinking he had opened 2N and played it there.

[Mbodell]

My opponents once had the auction 1NT-2NT-6NT making. The 1nt bidder forgot they opened the bidding and thought partners invite was a 2nt opener so 20+16 meant 6nt. They each had running suits and the finesses were on so the 25 high card point slam made.

[Cyberyeti]

Mbodell, on 2012-May-20, 15:49, said:

My opponents once had the auction 1NT-2NT-6NT making. The 1nt bidder forgot they opened the bidding and thought partners invite was a 2nt opener so 20+16 meant 6nt. They each had running suits and the finesses were on so the 25 high card point slam made.

I haven't suffered this one, but did suffer 1N (12-14)-6N dummy decks with some flat 17 count "sorry partner I miscounted my points". Well 2 3-3 breaks and 3 finesses later we got no matchpoints off this one.

My mea culpa on counting points was a situation where I didn't think I'd done anything unusual, opps bid on a hesitation so I asked for a ruling. I was ruled against on the basis that I'd psyched (stupid I know, but absolutely normal in Norfolk). Turned out I'd had an unfortunate time to be struck by 3 point queen disease while holding 4 of them, and opened a weak no trump on an 8 count.

[Furlan]

My teammates at the 2009 Transnational played 2♣ just made, against 6♠ bid and made at our table. The tray was larger than they were used to...

[mfa1010]

Back in the 2000 Junior Europeans a team mate thought he saw a 1♠ opening on his right and overcalled 2♣.

Unfortunately for him (us) the real opening was 1NT, so his 2♣ was systemically for the majors.

Partner was hit with a huge spade fit and chose to jump all the way to 6♠! That was not cheap-

I don't recall having done such things myself, but I have surely made my share of other kinds of technical mistakes.

Edited.

[Foxx]

In a Swiss, I once thought my partner's response to my 4NT bid showed three key cards when he actually had zero. We went down three for -800 in 7♥x, losing 14 IMPs against 3♥ making four at the other table. Within our partnership that became known as the "Ohhhh, you had zero!" hand.

Later that day, I went down in a 5♥ because his hand was weaker than I thought it could be for a bid he had made. We lost 6 IMPs against, you guessed it, 3♥ making four at the other table.

I suppose the moral is: When in doubt in a Swiss match, just bid game.

[barmar]

Foxx, on 2012-May-21, 14:56, said:

In a Swiss, I once thought my partner's response to my 4NT bid showed three key cards when he actually had zero. We went down three for -800 in 7♥x, losing 14 IMPs against 3♥ making four at the other table. Within our partnership that became known as the "Ohhhh, you had zero!" hand.

Later that day, I went down in a 5♥ because his hand was weaker than I thought it could be for a bid he had made. We lost 6 IMPs against, you guessed it, 3♥ making four at the other table.

I suppose the moral is: When in doubt in a Swiss match, just bid game.

Those are all just bad judgement calls, not misreading the bidding.

[Foxx]

barmar, on 2012-May-21, 15:56, said:

Those are all just bad judgement calls, not misreading the bidding.

Oh, sorry, I must not have read carefully enough... I suppose that instead of bidding in the wrong auction, I "bid" in the wrong thread...

[FrancesHinden]

Sitting in 4th seat I once had an auction (something like)

1D dbl 1H 2S
3H P 4H dbl
P 4S dbl all pass

When opponents started asking questions it became clear that partner's double of 1D had been a green one, and I'd done a lot of bidding with a 4-card spade suit and a balanced 10-count....
This had a happy ending, because the defence was also totally confused, partner had 4 spades and we went for 500 against their 620.

[Tomi2]

similar story as the others, world junior teams 2008,
bidding went with east dealing, all vuln.
N E // S(me) W
-- 1♣ // pass - 1♦
2♦ 2♥... //

1club was strong, 16+, 1dia was any POSITIVE, GF
2dia was either diamonds or both majors, 2 hearts was natural with his 16+

now i looked ad the auction and the bidding cards of east have moved because they were so slippy, instead of 1club and 2 hearts i saw only the 2 hearts bid, so the auction looked like my screenmate opened 1dia, partner overcalling 2dia = spades + hearts or clubs, opp bids 2 hearts, so i raise to 3 spades, get doubled and go for 1700

[ggwhiz]

I once got a mp zero against a pair of lovely ole bags when #2 opened a strong 2♠ without noticing that her pard had opened 1♠ and played it there.

Every other pair in a 13 table section bid the grand and went down 1.

[Statto]

1♠ 2♥
4♥ 4♠

Holding ♠A, I mistook partner's 4♠ as a DGR, when in fact it was a cue bid showing a void, much as I dislike cue-bidding a void in partner's suit. With nothing more to offer, I passed to play in a 5-0 ♠ fit when we had a 6-3 ♥ fit. Strangely, it didn't work out too badly, as I managed to make 9 tricks, whilst 6♥ bid at most other tables also went 1 off with ♥AJx offside.

[chasetb]

In a club game last summer, I opened 1♣ (16+) in 1st seat... or so I thought. Turns out I was in 4th seat, and barred my partner from the auction after opponents refused my bid. So 3 passes to me, and I just bid 3NT on my balanced 19. I made 5, but it turned out that 6♥ was makeable, so I was near bottom.

[ColdCrayon]

Playing in an individual IMP match I pick up a 13 point hand 2-4-5-1. Partner opens one heart, so checking his convention card I see "Bergen" and think "okay, great. Even if he doesn't play the concealed raises part of the convention, a double jump shift is a splinter in ANY language. I'll know if he understands what I'm bidding on his rebid."

Bidding goes:
1♥ 3!♠
3NT (okay, the asking bid, so we're on the same page) 4♣, P-P-P.

So I played in my first ever 3 card trump suit. Then came the part where you get yelled at for taking your partner's bids to mean what they're supposed to mean. Continued long after the tournament was over.

[the hog]

ColdCrayon, on 2012-May-24, 22:46, said:

Playing in an individual IMP match I pick up a 13 point hand 2-4-5-1. Partner opens one heart, so checking his convention card I see "Bergen" and think "okay, great. Even if he doesn't play the concealed raises part of the convention, a double jump shift is a splinter in ANY language. I'll know if he understands what I'm bidding on his rebid."

Bidding goes:
1♥ 3!♠
3NT (okay, the asking bid, so we're on the same page) 4♣, P-P-P.

So I played in my first ever 3 card trump suit. Then came the part where you get yelled at for taking your partner's bids to mean what they're supposed to mean. Continued long after the tournament was over.

No doubt the hand was cancelled as you only had 12 cards.

[ColdCrayon]

the hog, on 2012-May-24, 23:36, said:

No doubt the hand was cancelled as you only had 12 cards.

No, I had a doubleton spade, but if he thought that it was a splinter, it wouldn't be the worst inference to draw. Unless he started heading for slam.

[edit: whoops, I meant 2461 ]

[ggwhiz]

chasetb, on 2012-May-24, 00:10, said:

In a club game last summer, I opened 1♣ (16+) in 1st seat... or so I thought. Turns out I was in 4th seat, and barred my partner from the auction after opponents refused my bid. So 3 passes to me, and I just bid 3NT on my balanced 19. I made 5, but it turned out that 6♥ was makeable, so I was near bottom.

He He I had mercifully forgotten about one I had like that.

At imps, red I opened 1nt in 4th chair not accepted and my lho passed smoothly with a balanced 20 count. I bid 3nt when it came around and went for my ever lovin life.

I also once opened 1♣ in 4th in the finals of a midnight, the Director was called and said to my lho, "You are the quarterback and it's 3rd and 10. What's your play?.

He said "Punt" and the Director said "American football, not Canadian". Hook line and sinker, he passed.

[barmar]

ColdCrayon, on 2012-May-25, 07:24, said:

No, I had a doubleton spade, but if he thought that it was a splinter, it wouldn't be the worst inference to draw. Unless he started heading for slam.

Why shouldn't he draw that inference? Like you said, "a double jump shift is a splinter in any language."

Which part of your story was someone misreading the auction or pulling the wrong card, to fit this thread, rather than just confusion over agreements? Did you mean to bid 4♣ to splinter, and pulled 3♠ by mistake?