[ahydra]

So I was defending 3♥ and we'd already beaten the contract by two tricks in this position (rotated for convenience, so South is declarer):

West is on lead

---

I'm West. Aware that the spades and the club Q were high, but not having kept count of the trumps, I said "I give up", which is my usual way of conceding the tricks. I didn't fold my hand, just showed it. After about 3 seconds declarer agreed and showed her hand right as I said "I assume you have a trump left" - and, of course, she doesn't...

So I sat there while partner lectured me on how I shouldn't have conceded if I wasn't sure there was a trump left, and that it's best not to bother calling the Director and sorting this out to avoid a "heated debate" or some such (but as an ex-TD, I'm surprised he didn't remember the golden rule "if something goes wrong, call the TD"!). To declarer's credit, she did ask me if I was happy with that - but partner was still busy lecturing and we were already behind, so we just scored it as -2 (i.e. declarer won all of the last 3 tricks).

Looking in the Laws it would appear -2 is right here because there was no claim statement (I did mention that I was "obviously" going to play a spade next (a club has no chance to gain), but this doesn't count because it wasn't part of the original claim statement). Plus, of course, that "normal" includes careless plays such as "forgetting there's a trump out and hence playing a club instead of a spade since apparently it doesn't matter" (though you guys already know my opinion on that).

However, 68D doesn't apparently exclude the claimer from doubting his own claim:

Law 68D said:

if [the claim] is doubted by any player (dummy included), the Director must be summoned immediately

and 69B offers this:

Law 69B2 said:

Agreement with a claim or concession (see A) may be withdrawn within the Correction Period established under Law 79C if a player has agreed to the loss of a trick that his side would likely have won had the play continued.

(Out of interest, the "likely" here seems to be at odds with the definition of "normal" in Law 71...)

So if you were the TD and I'd called you over after declarer asked if I was happy with the result, would you award me the two spade tricks?

ahydra

[blackshoe]

"I give up" isn't a claim, it's a concession. You don't make a claim statement when you're conceding. However, since your partner was too busy lecturing to immediately object to the concession, we're in Law 71 territory, and you aren't getting any more tricks unless playing your club is not "normal" in the sense used in the law. FWIW, I don't think it is.

[barmar]

If you think declarer has a spade void and a trump, then no play wins. While it's better to play a spade, since it caters to miscounting, I think not doing this just counts as inferior or careless, but not irrational.

[ahydra]

Right - but what's this Law 69B? Does it mean that if I concede, I (or, say, my partner who agreed initially to the concession) can later withdraw my/his agreement? Or does it mean the Director can pretend the side conceding the tricks never agreed to the concession if he thinks it likely that they would have actually won some/all of the tricks in the putative subsequent play?

ahydra

[blackshoe]

Law 69 has nothing to do with the side that conceded. "Agreement is established when a contestant assents to an opponent’s claim or concession…" Granted that's in 69A, but since B, in speaking of agreement, refers us back to A, it applies.

[bluejak]

ahydra, on 2012-March-02, 06:25, said:

So I sat there while partner lectured me on how I shouldn't have conceded if I wasn't sure there was a trump left, and that it's best not to bother calling the Director and sorting this out to avoid a "heated debate" or some such (but as an ex-TD, I'm surprised he didn't remember the golden rule "if something goes wrong, call the TD"!). To declarer's credit, she did ask me if I was happy with that - but partner was still busy lecturing and we were already behind, so we just scored it as -2 (i.e. declarer won all of the last 3 tricks).

Your partner certainly deserves -2, and probably a DP as well. Silly person.

ahydra, on 2012-March-02, 06:25, said:

(Out of interest, the "likely" here seems to be at odds with the definition of "normal" in Law 71...)

Deliberately so: different standards.

ahydra, on 2012-March-02, 06:25, said:

So if you were the TD and I'd called you over after declarer asked if I was happy with the result, would you award me the two spade tricks?

You made a concession, and partner did not object having other things on his mind. So, initially, the concession stands.

Law 71 allows a concession to be cancelled if there is no normal play that means you lose all the tricks. Since you did not know what was going on, playing a club looks normal to me so I would award you no tricks.