[Cyberyeti]

I played ftf for the first time in a while, it was excruciating, 3 instances of what I consider flat out cheating, although 2 may not have cost and the third not much

Exhibit a:

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So you bid the fine 6♠, before the final pass LHO takes an interest that tells you she has 2 aces before passing without asking. Fortunately 5♦ voidwood was part of the auction.

She now asks and leads the ♥A, her partner virtually shoves the 9♥ up the leader's nose as I play the 10 and she duly gets the ruff. Not how she'd have played the card with 98.

There isn't much else for leader to do at trick 2 though.

Exhibit b: opps are playing strong NT according to their card

1N (announced as 12-14)-P-P and you decide to reopen with a fruity astro 2♣, LHO having been told her strong no trump is thought to be weak now bids 2♦ with KJx, KJx, KQJ32, Qx. We ended up going for 50 and a good score in hearts, 1N makes in comfort with overtricks, so no damage.

Exhibit c:

1N(12-14)-X-P-P

No alerts, the pass simply says "I have no 5 card suit". On their card it says forcing but not alerted as such, and questioning revealed opener didn't think it was forcing.

Opener held AKJx, A98x, 642, Q9 and opted to bid 2♥, and when the doubler doubled this, opener pulled to 2♠ (doubled by doubler's partner).

Kinda OK so far, except responder started to pull the pass card over 1Nx, then made it clear he hadn't seen the double, had a think and passed. I don't know how she divined that partner had 4 spades and 2 hearts rather than the other way round in his zero count. We misdefended and only took 2♠x -1 for 200, but this was still 60% so it didn't cost that much.

[HardVector]

As a director, I tend to give a lot of leeway toward the more inexperienced end of the field. "C" players very often are not aware of or are not paying attention to the more subtle infractions that give UI. "B" players may also be in this camp, but I will usually penalize them for it if the infraction is fairly clear. "A" players I cut no slack. So all of these instances have to have the opponent's experience levels associated with them to decide how picky I would be with the infractions.

One infraction that occurred that happened that I would highlight and discuss to everyone at the table is the second one. Once your partner announces through an alert that they have made a mistake in your understandings, you are NOT allowed to make decisions that incorporate the idea that partner has screwed up your understandings and now you can "correct" them. I have found that it's really hard for people to deliberately make bids that they know are mistakes even though they would be correct if partner was correctly understanding your bids.

[pescetom]

Exhibit A stinks in terms of behaviour and TD (if called) tolerance, although it is not clear you were actually damaged.

Exhibit B is unclear, did you only discover later that 1NT was strong on the card?

Exhibit C is normal f2fwoes rubbish, yes it should not happen but you usually beat them anyway.

[Cyberyeti]

pescetom, on 2025-July-17, 15:34, said:

Exhibit B is unclear, did you only discover later that 1NT was strong on the card?

Yes, after I overcalled.

[akwoo]

If I were a pollee on Exhibit B, I would bid 2D.

Maybe a poll should be taken (if there are enough players who understand strong NT in the room), but I would think there is no logical alternative to 2D.

[Cyberyeti]

akwoo, on 2025-July-17, 22:34, said:

If I were a pollee on Exhibit B, I would bid 2D.

Maybe a poll should be taken (if there are enough players who understand strong NT in the room), but I would think there is no logical alternative to 2D.

On a quacky aceless hand that will not play well opposite a weak dummy, with a heart holding worth more in defence ?

Once you know partner thinks you have 12-14 it becomes much more attractive to bid again as partner might easily have 9 or 10 points.