[MickyB]

luis, on Nov 18 2005, 02:17 PM, said:

What you say doesn't make sense, you are basically saying that this player can't think

A player can't hesitate to limit the options of his ethical partner. Of course thinking is ok.

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if pulling is right you will say it was suggested by the break in tempo, if passing is right you can say it was suggested by the break in tempo. It can't be that way.

That isn't what was said. I agree, only one of these two actions can be suggested by the UI - In this case, it is pulling. Passing in this situation when you would have pulled had partner not hesitated is not an infraction.

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If the break in tempo gives his pd information he can't use it.

More than that - he should not make a call that is suggested by the UI over other logical alternatives.

It is clear to me here that the break in tempo suggests pulling. If pass would have been forcing, then partner was probably considering a forcing pass which you would then pull. If pass would have been non-forcing, pard was probably considering either a pass or a 5♠ bid, either of which suggests competing to 5♠.

The responses to this thread indicate that pass is certainly a logical alternative, so it is an infraction to pull the double.

If partner has hesitated with a clearcut double, he has committed an infraction. Committing another one yourself doesn't help.

[SchTsch]

luis, on Nov 18 2005, 09:17 AM, said:

What you say doesn't make sense, you are basically saying that this player can't think,
if pulling is right you will say it was suggested by the break in tempo, if passing is right you can say it was suggested by the break in tempo. It can't be that way.
As far as I know any player has the right to think. If the break in tempo gives his pd information he can't use it. In this case I don't think the break in tempo gives any sort of information since as I said he could be thinking about a lot of things.

I think this is the whole problem.
If partner has only two choices it's easy, he should either bid in tempo and leave the decision to you, or take a break in tempo to decide what to do and then his decision should be final (except if it is obviously totally absurd).
But if partner has three or more choices I think it's normal for him to break a tempo, and there is no UI as there is not one specific bid suggested but at least two.

In this case I think that partner could be thinking about lot of things, maybe he wants to investigate a slam? After all you were preempted.

[david_c]

SchTsch, on Nov 18 2005, 04:50 PM, said:

But if partner has three or more choices I think it's normal for him to break a tempo, and there is no UI as there is not one specific bid suggested but at least two.

First of all, if you mean "it's normal for him to think for a few seconds" then I would agree. However, that then is not a break in tempo, by definition. On the other hand, if partner really did take an exceptional amount of time to double, then it doesn't matter how difficult his problem is, it's still a break in tempo and you have UI.

Secondly, there may be cases where a hesitation doesn't suggest anything in particular, but this ain't one of them. Partner's hesitation means that he was considering not doubling. That makes it more likely that pulling the double is right. We don't need to know exactly what partner was considering in order to work this out. In fact it's irrelevant what partner was thinking about - he might be thinking about something completely unrelated to bridge for all we know, but it doesn't make any difference. All that matters is what the hesitation suggests. Here it clearly suggests that pulling is more likely to be right than if there was no hesitation, so you're not allowed to pull if pass is a logical alternative.

[Fluffy]

luis, on Nov 18 2005, 02:17 PM, said:

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Now, Luis suggests that partner may have hesitated deliberately to make sure that you pass. Even if you think this might have happened, it is STILL your responsibility to pass here. The point is, if partner did hesitate deliberately, then that is the infraction, not your fielding it. From your point of view, you have to assume that partner's hesitation is genuine, and in that case it clearly suggests pulling the double, so you must not do that unless you think pass is illogical.

What you say doesn't make sense, you are basically saying that this player can't think,
if pulling is right you will say it was suggested by the break in tempo, if passing is right you can say it was suggested by the break in tempo. It can't be that way.
As far as I know any player has the right to think. If the break in tempo gives his pd information he can't use it. In this case I don't think the break in tempo gives any sort of information since as I said he could be thinking about a lot of things.

Also you are forgeting it may be RHO who has been tinking in purpose after partner made a very quick double.