[bluenikki]

mycroft, on 2025-March-22, 19:03, said:

"yes, and *what else do you need to know*, since *clearly* they haven't guessed from your question?"

Or are you suggesting they are *deliberately* misinforming you?

No, they were simply too ignorant to know that what "everyone" played in the Washington DC area is not the same as what "everyone" played everywhere. And also, of course, they were trying to make me seem ignorant.

[mycroft]

That was aimed at blackshoe, not you, sorry.

But that would probably have been my response as TD to you as well, though not quite as aggressively as you were trying to get help rather than than "reserving your rights"(*) and throwing the resulting problem at the director.

(*) Listen, I'm as big at following the rules (even when they're stupid) as anyone. My self-declared title should be a clue. But there's following the rules, and there's using the language of the rules imperiously to Bridge Lawyer and show off (or, even, to deliberately try to catch the opponents, like the "reserve my rights" "if they didn't agree about the UI, they would have objected, so they have clearly admitted it" game. Which, I am sure, only half the people who do this are actually playing, the other half simply don't understand how anybody doesn't know this. Hmmm, how could that *possibly* apply to "answering a question missing some (obvious to them) information"?)

[barmar]

mycroft, on 2025-March-21, 12:55, said:

I don't remember when "clarifying questions" *after the initial "please explain" were ever banned.

While not banned, asking leading questions like "How many clubs does that show?" can often transmit UI to partner (e.g. the questioner has long clubs of their own), so it's best to avoid them when possible.

[blackshoe]

Some "clarifying questions" I've used:

"Please explain further."
"Tell me about your partner's style." (Club players have no idea what this means).
"I don't know what that means."

[barmar]

blackshoe, on 2025-March-28, 15:07, said:

Some "clarifying questions" I've used:

"Please explain further."
"Tell me about your partner's style." (Club players have no idea what this means).
"I don't know what that means."

Unfortunately, vague questions like these rarely elicit what you're looking for.

For instance, often you want to know what kind of strength the bid shows. If you just ask "please explain further", they don't know that this detail is what you want.

[jillybean]

barmar, on 2025-March-31, 13:51, said:

Unfortunately, vague questions like these rarely elicit what you're looking for.

For instance, often you want to know what kind of strength the bid shows. If you just ask "please explain further", they don't know that this detail is what you want.

Yep, you must ask just the right questions.

I am playing 3nt today. My RHO discards the 7♥ on the second diamond trick.
I ask LHO, what are your discards please?
LHO says "we play lavinthal"
I think "Oh, how nice". I ask "what does the 7♥ mean?"
LHO "she doesn't like hearts"
Me: "Oh, okay, does it say anything about preference for the other suits?"
LHO: "No we are in NT so there is no trump suit, the other suits don't matter"
Me: OH, OK!
(not corrected at any time)

The whole hand was quite a hoot, making 7 on diamond lead

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