[James_H]

Hi All,

The auction goes:
1C - 1S - 2H - P
P - P

Opening leader asks about the 2H call. It turned out its non forcing.

I was talking to a friend who says it's not alterable in European / World competitions.

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks, James.

[helene_t]

James_H, on 2016-May-10, 08:09, said:

Hi All,

The auction goes:
1C - 1S - 2H - P
P - P

Opening leader asks about the 2H call. It turned out its non forcing.

I was talking to a friend who says it's not alterable in European / World competitions.

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks, James.

http://www.eurobridg...ing-policy.aspx

EBL is not explicit about this. A change of suit is alertable but it probably only applies without intervention.

I guess it depends how unusual negative freebids are in the local environment. If this is an international tournament it is hard to say as you can't expect players to know what is unusual in opps' culture. They are explictly alertable in EBU and not in the NBB, fwiw.

But if you think it is in the opponents' interest thatyou alert it, and the alert rules do not explicitly tell you not to alert, then you have to alert.

[Vampyr]

I am wondering if the NFB double is still alertable in the EBU. It seems like it would be.

[Zelandakh]

James_H, on 2016-May-10, 08:09, said:

I was talking to a friend who says it's not alterable in European / World competitions.

Alerts are a matter of regulation rather than law so it is always best to include a jurisdiction with a question of this type. It is not possible to provide answers for every jurisdiction in a single thread! The usage of screens, which would be available for many large events, also has an impact on alerting regulations so it is worth mentioning if they are relevant for your question.

It is also interesting to note that the regulations just for Ireland appear to be shockingly inadequate with conflicting advise.

Quote

ALERTABLE CALLS
You should alert
(a) Any call that is a convention
(b) Any bid that is natural but unexpectedly weak
© A forcing raise of a natural opening one of a suit.

The following bids are considered natural and do not require an alert. Any offer to play in a suit named for the first time which shows
(a) Three or more cards in a minor suit
(b) Four or more cards in a major suit and says nothing about any other suit.

My reading for this would be that the first part is more important than the second and that therefore this 2♥ call would be alertable but I can understand why someone might read it differently.

And this is just Ireland. You can probably imagine how difficult it would be to provide definitive answers for every European country, let alone other jurisdictions around the world.

[gordontd]

Zelandakh, on 2016-May-12, 07:46, said:

Alerts are a matter of regulation rather than law so it is always best to include a jurisdiction with a question of this type.

Wasn't that what he was doing by specifying "European / World competitions"?

[barmar]

gordontd, on 2016-May-12, 08:23, said:

Wasn't that what he was doing by specifying "European / World competitions"?

It's not obvious whether that's stating the venue he cares about or giving an example of a venue.

[gordontd]

barmar, on 2016-May-12, 08:50, said:

It's not obvious whether that's stating the venue he cares about or giving an example of a venue.

I find it hard to see how it could be interpreted as asking anything other than "Can anyone confirm that it's not alertable in European / World competitions?" [Presumed typo corrected]

[barmar]

Yeah, I was looking at the line in isolation, but the "Can anyone confirm?" question does make it clear.

[nige1]

If that's the question, then what's the answer? FWIW, IMO, the meaning is alertable because it's unexpected.