[Ranmit]

A somewhat funny situation at the club game this week. The bidding goes 1C - P - 1H - P - 1NT (alerted).

When asked the meaning of 1NT, responder said that it was new minor forcing. After a slight pause she said "No sorry! That bid is natural, my response is going to be new minor forcing." She then bids 2D and asks her partner to alert it as such.

It was just a club game so we laughed it off, but I wonder what the penalty for such a statement would be (ie, explaining the meaning of your own bid to partner), if the opponents decided to call the director?

[jillybean]

Ranmit, on 2025-March-15, 09:21, said:

It was just a club game so we laughed it off,

And here it starts.

I that doubt any Director would penalize this, education is needed.

[Cyberyeti]

Would you penalise this from a club here, unopposed:

2N-3♥-4♥-4♠ "it was a transfer damnit" -P

[jillybean]

How long has the pair been playing?

[mycroft]

Do you penalize the people who tap their 1NT card when partner doesn't Announce?
Or 2♥ after partner's 1NT?
More dubiously, what about the person who Announces (instead of Alerts) partner's Flannery bid? or NMF for that matter?
More yet, the one that Announces partner's 4NT as "1430"?
Or taps their Bergen Raise to make sure it is Alerted (surely only "partner forgot to Alert", not "partner didn't remember it isn't clubs")?

This is difficult and one of the reasons self-Alerting online, or screen play live, is better. Of course, the opposite problem (self-Alerting, the opponents get mixed messages from the alerts - so what *is* their system?; for screens, "different explanations on each side of the screen", whether it's "differently phrased but the same explanation, but understood differently", or "yeah, they were on two different pages") is much less common, but much worse...

I think after responder's gaffe over 1NT, the cat's out of the bag. "I'm about to bid NMF, partner"; and anything else they do is just gilding the lily. So I wouldn't be too hard on the player for going above and beyond in their bad explanations. Unless, of course, they always tell their partner what their bid means; in which case, yeah, sure.

Legit as director? It's UI, but what are you going to do? Surely you can't rule "without partner waking you up here, you would have forgotten your system and passed", can you (at least, absent evidence of a forget, say last round)?

Education. Ensure that responder knows what they should and shouldn't do; explain how in other situations it could restrict partner; and if they're not careful, they will get penalties for this (and I'll be listening for it).

These sorts of issues are where I wish I was back in the Martinique; because I would be suggesting the $3 penalty ("I'm sure partner would have got it right. But you should probably offer to buy them a drink for the trouble.")