[goingoren]

Am I allowed to ask my opponents what a particular bid means? Must they answer?

[gordontd]

goingoren, on 2015-June-10, 04:20, said:

Am I allowed to ask my opponents what a particular bid means? Must they answer?

You are allowed to ask them when it's your turn to play or call. They must disclose their mutual understandings, whether explicit or implicit, but they do not have to tell you how they are going to interpret a bid nor what was intended if they have no agreement about it.

From the point of view of not giving your partner Unauthorised Information, it is usually better to ask for an explanation of the entire auction rather than singling out a specific call for attention.

[aguahombre]

Law 20
"F. Explanation of Calls
1. During the auction and before the final pass, any player may request, but only at his own turn to call, an explanation of the opponents’ prior auction. He is entitled to know about calls actually made, about relevant alternative calls available that were not made, and about relevant inferences from the choice of action where these are matters of partnership understanding. Except on the instruction of the Director replies should be given by the partner of the player who made the call in question. The partner of a player who asks a question may not ask a supplementary question until his turn to call or play. Law 16 may apply and the Regulating Authority may establish regulations for written explanations."

If a particular bid is our focus, whether alerted or not, properly asking at our first turn to call following that bid seems fine.

Later on, picking out one bid of many could present UI problems --- as opposed to asking about the entire auction to-date. I understand there are cases where a subsequent call by an opponent seems incongruous with a previous action and we would want to say "whoa" and get an explanation. Some people can ask these questions better than others.

[Vampyr]

Also some people do not know that they must (if the declaring side) reveal misinformation before the opening lead is faced. So if something seems unusual or inconsistent, you may wish to ask the person you did not ask the first time whether that is really the agreement.