[Laird]

Hello Everyone

Perhaps I am being too sensitive but I was taught that unnecessary hesitation was in fact a form of cheating and was not ethical bridge play.
It seems to me that some 'expert / advanced players may be adopting very subtle hesitations in the hope that it will influence a play eg... to take a finesse or not. Now I realise that at BBO where there is nothing at stake this may not matter. However it seems to me that experts/ advanced players should not be adopting such tactics as it gives a bad example to less able players watching..... there again it may be the computer speed, connection, etc. Huh!
A phrase used at my club is ' Sorry. No reason for hesitation', when someone took too long for a bid and for no good reason.
If I can see it happening, then expert/ advanced players can see it happening.... are they in fact condoning unethical bridge play?

BBO is great, its fun and I love playing here but is our ethical underwear in need of a wash?

John  >

[Rado]

Hi John,
You are completely right about hesitations during live bridge. Anyway at BBO many times the tempo is broken by the bad connections. My advice is not to bother from the speed of play of the opps or partner since we cannot know whether they had problem to think or bad connection. I've had many occasions when I've played the card and it's sen played on my screen, but actually the others did not see it and waited for me. As you said BBO is for pleasure play so no need someone to try to win with the help of varying the tempo which is unethical and forbidden in live bridge.
best regards,
Rado

[the hog]

OK John, I think you need to be a little careful here. I too am annoyed by hesitations, and in the past have called the director to the table, particularly when the hesitations are not agreed.
eg last Thurs night in a major event
(3D) 3NT (P*) P
(4D)

Where (P*) was a pass with "what does 3nt mean?" followed by a good 10 sec hesitation. As it turns out i, pd of the 3nt bidder, X 4D for 300, but 3nt makes. We called the director straight away and the hesitator said that he was entitled to ask, and anyway we play such a complicated system that he wanted to know it all. I was p'd off, but thinking about it they acted through ignorance. They were really annoyed that we called the director.

John, I know what you are going to say, but....this club is owned privately and the owner does not want to offend his paying clients, so what do you do? Look, I have come to the conclusion that I just store this stuff away and try to use it for my benefit next time. No doubt you are familiar with Mollo's books. There is a great story in "Murder in the Menagerie" where HH notices a player trying to divulge her distribution by shifting cards around in her hand. HH takes notice of this and does the exact opposite of what she intended.

Truly, while I totally sympathise, I have come to the conclusion it is not wrth while getting my undies in a knot about. If I can't beat these turkeys by my own bridge ability I should probably give up.

Cheers

[inquiry]

Hi John,

I agree with Rado about not reading too much into a hesitation during on-line bridge (agreeing with Rado in general is good advice for most of us... he is a gold star for a reason, disagree with him at your own peril).

There a whole host of reasons why people hesitate during on line bridge, bad connection is one.  You don't know what kind of environment they are in. Maybe their kid just started crying, maybe someone knocked on the door, maybe a phone call, maybe they are surfing the web and playing at the same time, etc.

I suspect "coffeehousing" does occur in the BBO, but the high frequency of bad connections/distracted players make it almost impossible to tell when it is happening... at least for me. So I simply ignore breaks in tempo.

ben

[JRG]

Interesting discussion.

I agree with the comments about playing online. Don't take inferences from hesitations -- they often aren't.

On the other hand, playing live at the local club is a different story. When I lived in Toronto, I played at the same club that Fred Gitelman and Geoff Hampson did. If there was a hesitation that potentially conveyed unauthorized information, we called the director.

However, I now live in Costa Rica and the level of play and understanding of the ethics of the game is on a different, lower plateau - unfortunately. So, I grit my teeth and try to ignore it - I go to socialize. Interestingly, I don't think I've had a hesitation that was meant to deceive me -- most are "honest" -- "ummm, I don't know whether to bid on or not, I'd like to, but I can't think of an excuse" sort of thing. Or, "Hmmm, did I leave my cell phone in the car...".

[tepsi]

I can only speak for myself. I'm a relatively new player, and there are only two bridge-related reasons for my delay in making a bid:

(1) I'm trying to figure out if/what to bid - sometimes it takes me as long as 10-15 seconds to count points and tricks, or
(2) I'm trying to figure out what my opponents' bids mean.

Of course, in online Bridge, there are the additional possibilities of connection trouble, or external distractions (e.g. phone rings, knock at the door, children misbehaving, etc.)

I'm not even a sophisticated enough player to understand how a hesitation in bidding COULD give away unauthorized information. On the other hand, I can easily see how hesitating during the play can be deceptive (e.g. before following with a singleton).

I'd appreciate if someone would explain how bidding hesitation can be used for unfair advantage. Thanks.

[Codo]

Hi,

[color=Yellow]if someone would explain how bidding hesitation can be used for unfair advantage[./color]
In play this is easy:

IF pd is thinking, he has NO singelton.
If Pd is thinking he has a choice. F.E. to duck an honour or not or what to signal.

During the bidding: F.E.
Opp 1 pd Opp 2 YOu
1 Heart 1 Spade 2 Heart 2 Spade
3 Heart pass

If you pd thought long before passing, he may needed time to decide whether he should bid 3 Spade or pass.
This is an unautorized information too.

Kind Regards

Roland

[inquiry]

Quote

I'd appreciate if someone would explain how bidding hesitation can be used for unfair advantage. Thanks.

Hi Tepsi,

The problem with a break in tempo (hesitation) is the potential to send unauthorized information to your partner. What is unauthorized information? The only authorized information that is suppose to be transmitted between partners is information codified in the form of a bid (1H, 3C, even pass) or the play of a card (lead A from AK, or give count signal). Sometimes, however, hesitations during an auction become unavoidable: you may have a difficult choice to bid, you may need to work out what the auction to date means if it is unusual. But for instance, if the general expectation is that you were going to pass for instance and you take a long unexpecte huddle, that has the potential of providing information to your partner.

Or during play a trump is lead to dummy's king and you, playing fourth in hand go into a two minute funk trying to decide to win your ACE or not. When you fail to win your ace, your partner now has "unauthorized information" as he (and declearer) know you have the ace. If your partners later defense is predicated on the fact that he is SURE you have the trump ace, then there is a problem.

That is, after a hesitation and resulting indecision (no bid or the play like above) gives unauthorized information to your partner and he in turn use that information to take action you have a problem. For instance, if one might view it is "safer" to balance on an auction where partner had a long hesitation than one in which he passed quickly each time. Of course such a balancing action would be illegal and unethical. The skip bid warning was created to handle this kind of information. If someone preempts in front of you without a skip bid warning and you PASS instantly, what might that convey to partner? That you had no concern that they preempted and are happy to pass. Or what if you bid over their preempt at the speed of light? You have a really good hand. And if you instead took 10 seconds to find a pass??? You had a problem and wanted to do something but you didn't know what. An ethical person waits 6-10 second after all jump bids (weak or not) before bidding so that there is no chance to accidentally send unauthorized information.

Hesitating with a singleton is a horse of a different color coffeehousing. Here you are not trying to give partner unauthorized information, you are tying to "hoodwink" declearer by innappropriate mannerism. This is also not good manners and people who do this need a stern lecture on sportsmanship.