[bid_em_up]

FrancesHinden, on Sep 11 2007, 10:18 AM, said:

blackshoe, on Sep 10 2007, 07:03 PM, said:

psych (note, there is no k, and no e, in that word)

Depends where you live.
It has an 'e' in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Island and Eire, among other places.

Spelling psych psyche is just psyck.

[DrTodd13]

mycroft, on Sep 11 2007, 08:04 AM, said:

barmar, on Sep 11 2007, 09:09 AM, said:

I think it's commonly called "manufacturing a bid". 
[...stuff I agree with snipped]

And I don't think anyone is trying to regulate these bids away.  They're a natural consequence of the fact that there aren't enough bids available to describe everything, which is part of what makes bridge interesting.

...which I also agree with.

The problem is that the players who want to play in "no psych" games don't see it that way. They never want to see 1NT with a singleton, a reverse into hearts before game-forcing support of spades, a 4-card overcall, a 5-card weak 2, preempts on QTxxxx, 3C-p-3NT on CQTxx and out, 2H-2NT "feature ask" on a Hxxxx and a 3-count, 2H-4NT on the same hand at favourable, Stopper-showing cuebids on xx, ...

And they yell "Psych!" And the TD has to rule. And she's going to annoy one side or the other.

It's not a regulation issue, it's an education issue. And unfortunately, like a lot of things, we're teaching intolerance, and lack of knowledge of the Laws under which the game is played. For good and valid reasons, but I think it's wrong.

Michael.

If the tourney has no system restrictions but does say no psyches then just do the following. Alert every overcall as "4+ cards", every NT opening as may have a singleton, every reverse as "possibly preparatory for GF support showing later", every weak 2 as "maybe 5 cards", all preempts as "says nothing about suit quality", every feature ask as "strong or (weak with support)", etc. They can't say it is a psyche if you tell them beforehand. If they do then bitch-slap them with the rulebook. Better yet, don't play "no psyche" tourneys.

[SoTired]

DrTodd13, on Sep 11 2007, 01:42 PM, said:

If the tourney has no system restrictions but does say no psyches then just do the following. Alert every overcall as "4+ cards", every NT opening as may have a singleton, every reverse as "possibly preparatory for GF support showing later", every weak 2 as "maybe 5 cards", all preempts as "says nothing about suit quality", every feature ask as "strong or (weak with support)", etc. They can't say it is a psyche if you tell them beforehand. If they do then bitch-slap them with the rulebook. Better yet, don't play "no psyche" tourneys.

and they'll just boot you for being a nuisance, which is a kinder word than i would use.

If people want to play no psyche games, someone agrees to direct that minefield, and you agree to play in, you should try to cooperate.

Why would you get mean?

[han]

Agree with that SoTired, but I also agreed with the last line in DrTodd's last post.

[DrTodd13]

SoTired, on Sep 11 2007, 10:46 AM, said:

DrTodd13, on Sep 11 2007, 01:42 PM, said:

If the tourney has no system restrictions but does say no psyches then just do the following.  Alert every overcall as "4+ cards", every NT opening as may have a singleton, every reverse as "possibly preparatory for GF support showing later", every weak 2 as "maybe 5 cards", all preempts as "says nothing about suit quality", every feature ask as "strong or (weak with support)", etc.  They can't say it is a psyche if you tell them beforehand.  If they do then bitch-slap them with the rulebook.  Better yet, don't play "no psyche" tourneys.

and they'll just boot you for being a nuisance, which is a kinder word than i would use.

If people want to play no psyche games, someone agrees to direct that minefield, and you agree to play in, you should try to cooperate.

Why would you get mean?

If they want to play in a "no psyche" tournament and a "every system must be normal according to my definition of normal" then they should say so. If they don't place system restrictions then you're free to play whatever system you want regardless of how "non-normal" the meanings are. If they kick you for then playing something strange they are doing something unethical. They should use the experience to more correctly state their rules in their next tournament.

[ralph23]

Mbodell, on Sep 9 2007, 06:59 PM, said:

jillybean2, on Sep 9 2007, 03:42 PM, said:

I agree with the other posters here and I fail to understand why people ban psyches. Out of interest, how are bidding misclicks handled in these tournaments?

I had a sort of misclick psych playing in IMP pairs against a novice player (partnered with a good player) SAYC in ACBL. The LHO novice opened 2C, partner passed, RHO bid 2H positive, I passed with a 15 count and 5 hearts, LHO passed, partner passed. The LHO had a weak-2 opening in clubs. I misdefended and let them make when they should have been down 1. Was a flatish result as most people were playing 2H our way down 2.

The 2♣ opening actually wasn't a "psychic call" as defined in the Laws, so the evidence suggests.

That is defined as "A deliberate and gross misstatement of honor strength or suit length." [Emphasis added]

The bidder apparently just got confused about weak-2 bids and thought that 2♣ was one of them. Whoops. Therefore it wasn't an "intentional" or "deliberate" distortion of his hand, and therefore wasn't a psychic call. Just a super-size Whooops.

[kenberg]

FrancesHinden, on Sep 11 2007, 10:18 AM, said:

blackshoe, on Sep 10 2007, 07:03 PM, said:

psych (note, there is no k, and no e, in that word)

Depends where you live.
It has an 'e' in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Island and Eire, among other places.

If they ban psyche bids (rather than psych bids) do they also ban cupid bids?