[blackshoe]

pran, on 2019-July-14, 07:29, said:

So your opinion is that when we in our club run an event where inexperienced players are each paired with an experienced player for their benefit to gain experience, and announce that no psyches are allowed, then we (being the RA for this event) exceed our power?

I don't think so.

Are you the RA for this event? (See Law 80).

[sanst]

pescetom, on 2019-July-14, 10:50, said:

One issue I was interested in is Nige's point 3: does East's passivity constitute a serious error for a player of his level (or any level)?

The pressure is certainly on East, but I cannot see why to pass, excluding some kind of double shot which is not the case here.

A related question is how much to weight 3nt+1 or +2 versus 5d, considering the specific auction.

It’s far from a serious error. I don’t think bidding on is wise. You have no distribution, your partner can’t have much if anything at all and it’s doubtful whether 2NT will make, but the same goes for 2♦. As for the weighing, your guess is as good as mine. You can poll, you might even look at the travellers to see what’s done at the other tables.

[sanst]

blackshoe, on 2019-July-14, 20:35, said:

Are you the RA for this event? (See Law 80).

Even if you are, I don’t think you’re allowed to forbid psychs.

[barmar]

sanst, on 2019-July-15, 01:37, said:

Even if you are, I don’t think you’re allowed to forbid psychs.

What forces an RA to follow the Laws in the first place?

I suppose an RA like ACBL or USBF could be prohibited from sending representatives to international competition if they blatantly ignore the Laws. But if you're running a social game at home, who cares?

[blackshoe]

barmar, on 2019-July-15, 08:16, said:

What forces an RA to follow the Laws in the first place?

I suppose an RA like ACBL or USBF could be prohibited from sending representatives to international competition if they blatantly ignore the Laws. But if you're running a social game at home, who cares?

If you're running a social game at home, nobody cares except maybe the people for whom you're running it.

There is no force involved in the administration of competitive duplicate bridge, whether at the club level or any higher level. At those levels, however, the rules need some consistency. If you say "this RA (or that one) can do whatever they want, without regard to the laws" then you have no consistency.