No agreement
If, say North, when asked about partner's call says 'not discussed' or 'no agreement', is it the right procedure to send North away from the able and ask South to tell the opponents what his call means when in fact they do not have an agreement about the (conventional) call?
Comments
My answer is "no"!
If North says "Not discussed" or "No agreement", then that is a clear statement. If it is inaccurate, South has to wait till the appropriate time to correct this information. North should not be sent away in order to see if South disagrees.
If North says "I can't remember if we have an agreement" or "I can't remember what we agreed", then North can be sent away and we tell South:
"Your opponents are entitled to know what agreements you have but are not entitled to know what you have in your hand. Do you think you have an agreement about your call, and if so, what is that agreement?"
The following EBU Blue Book quotes are also relevant, and are based on the Laws.
_2 B 3 A player should explain only the partnership understanding for a call, not how they intend to
interpret it. They should say if there is no agreed meaning, but if there is any relevant partnership
experience the answer should be along the lines of, “we have not specifically discussed it, but
we have understandings in similar situations which may be relevant”.
2 B 8 Regular play with one partner is likely to lead to knowledge, even if only implicit, of partner’s
habits. In such a case, ‘no agreement’ or ‘random’ is unlikely to be an adequate description of
the partnership understanding for the bidding or the play._
Barrie Partridge - CTD for Bridge Club Live
Thanks Barrie.
Am taking this up after a delay as I was away playing a major tournament.
So if North makes a clear statement 'No agreement' then the opponents have to shoot in the dark, so to speak. C'est la vie?
Oui - C'est la vie! I had a similar circumstance on Sunday - took some time to explain to the opponent that all they were entitled to know was that the other pair didn't know what they were doing.