[Elyk25]

In Individual tournaments, whats the best way to approach your partners bid if your unsure what it means? A few times on BBO when I've been playing, I've had a few situations where my partner has tried to do a transfer with no indication to me that they play transfers. I've also encountered a few bizarre overcall situations by my partner where the strength of their overcall (weak or strong) isn't always clear. Is it okay to ask your partner in general if they play a transfers, or in general how they overcall, or am I going to get a director called on me for unauthorized info? I've been afraid to ask a few times in tournaments and its definitely costed me a few hands. What would you recommend? Thanks!

[helene_t]

In principle you shouldn't discuss anything but just guess the system but in practice many tds condone a bit of discussion. It is best if the td anounces a system which everyone must play.

If there is no policy about this in the tourney description and the td does not anounce any thing then it may be a good idea to ask the td.

What you clearly can't do is to suggest a system before you open in first seat or suggest a nt defence aftet your rho has opened 1nt. This is because you could abuse this by suggesting something that suits your hand.

As a td I would say it is ok to ask partner to pick a system before you open in first or second seat. But some tds may think differently.

Details like overcall style you clearly can't make agreements about except maybe if p has a note on his profile and you say "your profile" before the auction starts.

[scarletv]

I don't think it is a good idea to ask during the bidding though you can shortly agree at the beginning of the round after you had a look at partners profile. Mostly it says something like "your card" maybe adding something about carding. But there is no time for long discussions. Misunderstandings are unavoidable when playing individuals but it is charming too.

I cant tell you what others do but when I play an individual first I check what my partner has in his profile and try to play accordingly especially when the partner is beginner or intermediate. When you have advanced in your profile your partner might expect you to know the common conventions. I would always expect that players know major transfers as long as they don't have a note in their CC telling you they don't play it. So when you do not want to play minor transfers or RKCB for example you might give a hint.

[diana_eva]

Elyk25, on 2015-July-02, 21:45, said:

In Individual tournaments, whats the best way to approach your partners bid if your unsure what it means? A few times on BBO when I've been playing, I've had a few situations where my partner has tried to do a transfer with no indication to me that they play transfers. I've also encountered a few bizarre overcall situations by my partner where the strength of their overcall (weak or strong) isn't always clear. Is it okay to ask your partner in general if they play a transfers, or in general how they overcall, or am I going to get a director called on me for unauthorized info? I've been afraid to ask a few times in tournaments and its definitely costed me a few hands. What would you recommend? Thanks!

It's pretty standard that people play transfers to majors, stayman, negative doubles without any kind of alert or spelling those out on their profile. So if it looks like a transfer, it's probably a transfer. In rest, it's a good idea to agree with your partner at the beginning of the round something really quick like SAYC std, or 2/1, and check their profile in case they have other conventions written there.

Or, if you find it easier, you can list the conventions you play in your own profile if you prefer, and then ask "my profile ok, partner?" before the bidding starts. That doesn't guarantee your partner will bother to follow your profile, but at least you can hope they do