[Vampyr]

Imagine a player who has a number of partners, some regular, some occasional. And imagine that this player open 1NT with a singleton rather more frequently than most players.

Of course our player will not always declare in no trumps, and in any case her partners may not pick up a pattern. Of course the opponents wont see it enough to pick up a pattern either. Yeah that one exists, and it is not just a matter of partner being prepared for it; the opponents deserve to know as well. Should the player, knowing that she has a tendency to open with a singleton, announce (or have partner announce it) even though it is not systemic?

In the immortal words of Suzanne Vega:

It’s a one time thing. It just happens a lot.

[hrothgar]

Vampyr, on 2018-August-02, 05:35, said:

Should the player, knowing that she has a tendency to open with a singleton, announce (or have partner announce it) even though it is not systemic?

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Right now, too much hinges on the words "rather more frequently"

[Vampyr]

hrothgar, on 2018-August-02, 06:47, said:

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Right now, too much hinges on the words "rather more frequently"

Yes. Unfortunately I do not know exactly. I would guess at least 5x as frequently as other players for whom it is not systemic, but 20x or much more on average since there are as there are lots of people who don’t do it at all. Of course I have no way of knowing how many.

[pescetom]

Vampyr, on 2018-August-02, 10:38, said:

Yes. Unfortunately I do not know exactly. I would guess at least 5x as frequently as other players for whom it is not systemic, but 20x or much more on average since there are as there are lots of people who don’t do it at all. Of course I have no way of knowing how many.

In general I'm not thrilled with the idea of announcing variations on already regulated natural openings as opposed to alerting them. But certainly one or the other (as regulations impose) is appropriate.
Frequency may be useful as an honest self-guide but it's not much use to the TD or opponents as many relevant distributions are quite infrequent.
I used to avoid opening 1NT with a singleton even AK, then main partner asked that we try it and we modified the CC accordingly, but it's happened maybe 3 times since then.
I've opened 3NT Gambling twice and neither time did partner get it right

[barmar]

Law 40A1a says:

Quote

Partnership understandings as to the methods adopted by a partnership may be reached explicitly in discussion or implicitly through mutual experience or awareness of the players.

This sounds like "awareness of the players". If the player in question is notorious for doing this, his partners are likely to be aware of it if they're part of the same player community. However, I don't know of any specific disclosure requirement for this.

However, you have to be careful about making assumptions like this. We have a pair in our club who have a very aggressive style (e.g. it feels like their weak 2's are 5-card suits about 90% of the time, but that might be just selective memory). But when they play with other partners, they rein it in.

[pescetom]

barmar, on 2018-August-02, 16:06, said:

Law 40A1a says:

This sounds like "awareness of the players". If the player in question is notorious for doing this, his partners are likely to be aware of it if they're part of the same player community. However, I don't know of any specific disclosure requirement for this.

However, you have to be careful about making assumptions like this. We have a pair in our club who have a very aggressive style (e.g. it feels like their weak 2's are 5-card suits about 90% of the time, but that might be just selective memory). But when they play with other partners, they rein it in.

You have to look at situational variables too. For instance my main partner is very aggressive in opening when zone and/or position allows but conservative otherwise. If you encountered us twice in similar situations then you might formulate a dangerously wrong impression.