WHITE BOOK 2004 EBU Tournament Directors' Guide Edited by ...

White Book – November 2003 – Chapter IV
16.4 "Hesitation Blackwood"
The partner of a Blackwood bidder is normally expected to accept his partner's
decision, and when that decision is after a pause for thought, it is not permitted to
continue except when partner "cannot" have a hand on which slam will fail.
While this is the normal case there are particular positions where it might be acceptable
for a player to continue, which include:
Responder holds an unshown but useful void.
Because he has miscounted responder has more aces than he has shown
After a response showing 0/3, 0/4 or 1/4, responder has the higher value.
16.5 A short hesitation after an unexpected call
A short hesitation following an unexpected call by an opponent would not necessarily
be considered to be a departure from normal tempo or to transmit significant
unauthorised information.
However, a “bounce” in response to a pre-empt should not be regarded as unexpected.
16.6 Logical alternative
A “logical alternative” is a call or play which three or more in ten players of equal ability
could be expected to make in the particular situation, if playing a similar system and
style, but if the irregularity had not occurred.
The converse of this is that if the TD or Appeals Committee is satisfied that over seven
in ten of his peers would make a particular call, such call is evident and it is legal to
make such a call whatever the unauthorised information involved.
These definitions are modified somewhat if there are several possible alternatives. For
example, if there are five apparent actions, and it would be expected that two players
out of ten would find each one then they are all logical alternatives.
Example West opened 1, North passed slowly and East passed. The TD might
conclude that Pass, 1NT, double, 2 and 2 might all be found by a similar
number of the player’s peers, so all are logical alternatives.
It should be noted that the standards are different nearly everywhere else in the world.
Outside North America the normal standard is one player in four. The WBF have
published a definition with no mention of numbers – see “Use of unauthorized
information” in the Appendix WBF Code of Practice – see Section XVIII.
Knowledge of the player is used when deciding what players of equal ability might do.
If the player is unknown to the TD or Appeals Committee it is best to assume he is
average for the competition.
16.7 Think before you adjust!
There is a problem when a player has unauthorised information available from partner,
and chooses the successful action from amongst logical alternatives. It is very easy,
but incorrect, to adjust without fully investigating whether the unauthorised information
suggests the chosen action rather than another.
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