Barmar has a point As long as you have two or more cards in a suit, I suppose you can usually demonstrate a bridge-reason for tanking. For example if Roy Welland had played his pips more carefully against Helness, he might not have needed to appeal.
What if you take "The tanker believed that he had a Bridge Reason" argument to an extreme? What about a singleton?
How would Barmar rule in this case. You hold
♠ A 3
♥ Q J 2
♦ 6 5 4 3
♣ 6 5 4 3
Against RHO's 6
♠ contract, you lead a
♣ to declarer's ace.
Decarer immediately leads a
♥ towards dummy's
♥ A T 9 8 7 6 . After thought you insert the queen and dummy wins with the ace.
Now declarer leads a
♥ from dummy and ruffs with
♠2.
You are about to follow suit, when your
♥ J 2 transmogrify into
♦ J 2
This kind of thing may never happen to you but for me it's a frequent occurrence
You over-ruff gratefully with the
♠3 and cash your ace of trumps (before partner has a chance to revoke).
Declarer complains to the director that, although he could have ruffed higher in complete safety, he felt there was no need to bother, after your hesitation.
Should the director judge that you had a demonstrable bridge-reason for your hesitation? (You certainly believed that you had one).
And how should the director rule?