Our friend from the North London club who looks and behaves like a Secretary Bird gathered a team together for Brighton and was involved in the rara avis of a ruling in both rooms on this hand from the Brighton Teams. The above, I was told, was the auction in room 1, in which SB was not involved, and, prior to leading, South asked about the 4C bid and was told "natural". He elected to lead the seven of diamonds and the declarer made in some comfort. South called the director and argued that he would have led the jack of clubs if he had known 4C was not natural. The TD ruled that there was MI in that the correct explanation was "no agreement". She then ruled that the contract would make anyway on the JC lead and decided on "no adjustment", but a glance at the frequencies shows that it is not so easy to make:
https://app.pianola....0/Travellers/21
After the jack of clubs lead, declarer must not ruff a club in dummy, as several declarers wrongly did, but he needs to play a heart, and later he can use his club pips to force a tenth trick after drawing trumps. In addition, there is the question of whether it is right for South to cash the ace of hearts first, in which case a glance at dummy will make it clear to continue with a low club, not the jack, after which declarer has no recourse. Your reporter thinks that 100% of 4H=, the TD ruling, was far from equitable.
In the other room, dummy knocked over his water before the final pass, and North exposed the king of clubs as he took evasive action. The TD ruled that it was still an MPC, and SB, East, elected to leave it as one and allowed South to lead anything he liked. The auction, I was told, had been 1H-(Double)-1S-(Pass)-2C-(Pass)-3H-(Pass)-4H-(All Pass). South thought that a club lead was the only LA, and he was told by the TD that he was allowed to know of the disposition of the penalty card, but not what it was. South asked, away from the table, whether the TD would be entitled to award an adjusted score if he led a small club successfully, and the TD just recited Law 50E. South decided to lead the ace of hearts instead, and when dummy appeared he switched to the four of clubs. This was a dagger to the heart of SB's contract and he could no longer get home. The TD consulted with at least one colleague and declined to adjust on the basis that there was no LA to the four of clubs after dummy appeared, and this was just rub of the green for SB.
So, 4H= in one room and 4H-1 in the other. And in both cases SB's side was the non-offender; SB was ranting away for several hours. How would you have ruled in both rooms?