[McBruce]

ACBL Club Swiss Teams. Auction has gone 1NT - Pass. As TD you are told that the partner of the 15-17 1NT bidder pulled out the 2NT card and placed it on the table, then removed it before the next player made a call but did nothing further. It is quickly established that the player meant to pull 2NT from the box: the 2NT call was not unintended at the time it was made. The player decides to stick with the natural, invitational 2NT. Next player passes.

The 1NT opener has a 4-3-3-3 16 count, honors in each suit. He chooses to bid 3NT, having been warned not to take advantage of the UI. If it makes are you adjusting?

[Cyberyeti]

I let this stand, lots of things could be going on, he might have tried to transfer to diamonds with a zero count before realising he wasn't playing that in this partnership, I don't see a particular steer from the UI.

[RMB1]

McBruce, on 2010-November-04, 12:06, said:

.... It is quickly established that the player meant to pull 2NT from the box: the 2NT call was not unintended at the time it was made. The player decides to stick with the natural, invitational 2NT. Next player passes.

What is this "the player decides to stick with ... 2NT". He has no option. Once the TD rules that Law 25A does not apply, the 2NT call stands. The player does not have the option of making another call: to do so would be to "infringe a law intentionally", which Law 9B prohibits.

McBruce, on 2010-November-04, 12:06, said:

The 1NT opener has a 4-3-3-3 16 count, honors in each suit. He chooses to bid 3NT, having been warned not to take advantage of the UI. If it makes are you adjusting?

Following the principle of "invite rarely, accept often", isn't it normal to accept on all 16 counts (would anyone actually pass); and I am not sure what the UI suggests: diamonds, or a 2NT opener. I suspect that you had to be there.

[McBruce]

RMB1, on 2010-November-04, 13:03, said:

What is this "the player decides to stick with ... 2NT". He has no option. Once the TD rules that Law 25A does not apply, the 2NT call stands. The player does not have the option of making another call: to do so would be to "infringe a law intentionally", which Law 9B prohibits.

Doesn't 25B1 give the player the option of substituting a different call that LHO has the option to accept? This didn't happen; what happened was that when I said that the action of placing the bid-box card on the table constituted a bid and determined that it was intended when he pulled it from the box, the player simply put the 2NT card back on the table. But had he chosen at this point to replace it with a pass card, or 3NT, or 6NT, 25B1 seems to at least give LHO the option of accepting the substitution.

RMB1, on 2010-November-04, 13:03, said:

Following the principle of "invite rarely, accept often", isn't it normal to accept on all 16 counts (would anyone actually pass); and I am not sure what the UI suggests: diamonds, or a 2NT opener. I suspect that you had to be there.

I suppose one could argue it equally likely that responding 2NT and then retracting the bid without offering a replacement might mean that the player is thinking of bidding 3NT or thinking of passing 1NT. If so, opener has no UI that gives him an edge.

[RMB1]

McBruce, on 2010-November-04, 22:51, said:

Doesn't 25B1 give the player the option of substituting a different call that LHO has the option to accept?

No. Law 25B no more gives a player the option to make a deliberate change of call than Law 27 gives a player the option to make an insufficient bid or Laws 29-32 give a player the option to call out of rotation. Law 25B establishes the procedure to follow when a player infringes. Having been told that a deliberate change of call is an infraction, the player "must not" change.

The upthread reference to "Law 9B" should be Law 72B1.

Law 72 B said:

1. A player must not infringe a law intentionally, even if there is a prescribed rectification he is willing to accept.

[bluejak]

RMB1, on 2010-November-04, 13:03, said:

Following the principle of "invite rarely, accept often", isn't it normal to accept on all 16 counts (would anyone actually pass); ...

Me? I nearly always pass mid-range 4333s.