[steve2005]

GCC definition "A no trump opening or overcall is natural if, by agreement, it contains no void, at most one singleton which must be the A, K or Q and no more than two doubletons. If the hand contains a singleton, it may have no doubleton"
The only conventional 1N bids allowed are strong and forcing. Natural 1N calls also have to be 10+ hcp and have a range of 5 or less or no conventional bids are allowed.

So in the last 2 days I have gotten 2 completely different rulings when someone has opened 1N with a small singleton on BBO. This would apply anywhere in ACBL though but only in ACBL.

I see these possibilities.
1) If you open 1N with a small singleton it is a violation of rules and a penalty may be assed.
2) You may open 1N with a small singleton as long as your partnership has no agreement as such and it is registered as a psych.
3) You may open 1N with a small singleton as long as your partnership has no agreement and it should be kept to track of to see if it occurs again.

Now the last time this occurred the hand was very unsuitable as a NT hand so when there was competition they ended up in a bad spot. So it wouldn't have mattered. Also NT hand was dummy so our defense wasn't really harmed unlike Gib who thinks the human declarer opening 1N has at least 2 cards in all suits.

Anyways just wanted to know what the rule should be.

[blackshoe]

steve2005, on 2017-August-14, 18:43, said:

I see these possibilities.
1) If you open 1N with a small singleton it is a violation of rules and a penalty may be assed.
2) You may open 1N with a small singleton as long as your partnership has no agreement as such and it is registered as a psych.
3) You may open 1N with a small singleton as long as your partnership has no agreement and it should be kept to track of to see if it occurs again.

1) Not the case, unless you have an agreement to do so (the agreement may be implicit, and would be if you've done it frequently enough for your partner to expect it).
2) There is nothing in ACBL regulations requiring the registration of psychs. Agree with the rest of your sentence.
3) You might file a Player Memo, yes. However, apparently the current crop of recorders don't think it's part of their job to deal with this sort of thing, so it would probably be a waste of time. BTW, there's no requirement to file a PM on yourself (or your partner).

The rules for ACBL games on BBO (or anywhere else online that the ACBL has sanctioned) are AFAIK the same as for f2f bridge, subject to the limitations of the online environment.

[steve2005]

Ok, then if you can open 1N with small singleton and there doesn't seem to be anyway to track this other then the director remembering you. Why have the rule not allowing an agreement to open 1N with a small singleton?
I remember under the old rules it was similar and if you opened with a single twice in a session you have an agreement according to some directors. This was just silly how does director know this isn't the only 2 times you had opened 1N with a singleton in last 2 years?

[johnu]

steve2005, on 2017-August-14, 18:43, said:

1) If you open 1N with a small singleton it is a violation of rules and a penalty may be assed.

Freudian slip? I agree with the sentiment

steve2005, on 2017-August-14, 18:43, said:

2) You may open 1N with a small singleton as long as your partnership has no agreement as such and it is registered as a psych.
3) You may open 1N with a small singleton as long as your partnership has no agreement and it should be kept to track of to see if it occurs again.

Whether you call it a psych, a deviation, or an illegal agreement, I would call the director and would file a player memo. Either the opponents don't know the rule and are consistently opening 1NT with a small singleton (in which case they will be informed of the rule and presumably will not abuse the rule in the future), or they know the rule and are choosing to ignore it.

[barmar]

steve2005, on 2017-August-14, 22:07, said:

Ok, then if you can open 1N with small singleton and there doesn't seem to be anyway to track this other then the director remembering you. Why have the rule not allowing an agreement to open 1N with a small singleton?
I remember under the old rules it was similar and if you opened with a single twice in a session you have an agreement according to some directors. This was just silly how does director know this isn't the only 2 times you had opened 1N with a singleton in last 2 years?

This is a general problem with all kinds of psychs. Without some organized way to track them, there's no practical way to tell whether a psych has occurred frequently enough to become an implicit agreement.

But many people play among the same crowd frequently. If you play in a bridge club regularly, the other players and the director are likely to get to know your tendencies. They don't need a database to notice that you pull this kind of thing all the time. E.g. there's a pair at my club for whom we're surprised when their weak 2 has 6 cards, it seems like 99% of the time they open it with 5-card suits (I'm not saying this is a psych, just using it as an example of getting to know pairs' styles). The same thing also goes for most of the regulars at local bridge tournaments. They've been playing here for years or decades, and some of the TDs have been around almost as long. They know who the jokers are.

So to really get away with this stuff you have to play outside your regular venues, then they don't know your history.

[blackshoe]

steve2005, on 2017-August-14, 22:07, said:

Ok, then if you can open 1N with small singleton and there doesn't seem to be anyway to track this other then the director remembering you. Why have the rule not allowing an agreement to open 1N with a small singleton?

Your high school English teacher is disappointed. :-)

As to the question, you'll have to ask the regulators. I agree that the ACBL ought to be tracking psychs and probably misbids, too. But they aren't. If you want to know why, again you'll have to ask them.

steve2005, on 2017-August-14, 22:07, said:

I remember under the old rules it was similar and if you opened with a single twice in a session you have an agreement according to some directors. This was just silly how does director know this isn't the only 2 times you had opened 1N with a singleton in last 2 years?

He doesn't, and yes, that's a silly approach, not to mention outwith the rules. Hopefully we see less of it these days.

[hrothgar]

The rule in the ACBL is "The director gets to make ***** up. Learn to live with this."

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