Misc
 Alert! Alert - Spring Hill, Florida - Cuisine |
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| Pat Clark | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, June 26, 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Alerts are an important part of Duplicate Bridge, and separate it from all other games, making it the most civilized of all games. When we Alert, we are saying "To be fair, opponents, you should know what we really mean when we bid this way. If you don't know, please ask me, and I'll tell you." I have witnessed two incidents in the last two days where an Alert was clearly required but not given. As a player, one pair playing with us used a series of bids similar to Precision, with low-level ace-asking bids and other artificial bids at a low level. Last night as Director, a pair was using an unusual variant of Stayman that carried information unknown to the opponents. We need to remember that there may not be "secret" understandings in this game -- the opponents are entitled to know exactly what your bids mean. Also remember that there is no penalty for Alerting unnecessarily, but there may be penalties for failure to Alert. One significant problem, is that determining which bids are Alert-able is based on historical usage, stretching back 50 or more years, when most of us were not even born yet. (Right?) Many newer players have no idea how the bidding used to proceed Some bids are not Alert-able, even though strange and unusual to modern bidders, because they've been in use for a long time. Other bids are Alert-able, because they are new, not so much because they are unusual. Others are unusual in one locality but not another -- it doesn't matter -- any bid which is "highly unusual and unexpected" by historical standards must be alerted. Perhaps the most unusual non-alert-able bid to a newcomer's ear is the 2NT overcall, also called the "unusual notrump" indicating the bidder holds 2 low ranking suits. A common alert-able bid is 2S over 1NT indicating a transfer request to 3C. This is not to say that the Alert system does not evolve. Not long ago, 2/1's 2NT response to Partner's minor-suit opening. showing 10-11 HCP, was Alert-able, even though it seems like a perfectly natural jump bid above a 1NT response showing 6-9. This was because in the olden-days, it meant a stronger, game forcing, hand. The result of all this leads to confusion -- Alerts sometimes seem to be a matter of opinion. The best way out of the confusion is for opponents to call attention to bids which they feel, or know, are alert-able. Bidders should not take offense if the Director is called, because the opponents may have been hurt by your failure to Alert. Since, in duplicate, we are not playing against them, but the other pairs sitting our way, we should not want to hurt them -- they're not who we're really competing against. Quoting from the ACBL website: "If partner fails to Alert[...], a player may not make any indication during the auction. Showing surprise or discomfort may awaken partner to the error and would be a violation of Law. In addition, a player may not make allowances for partner's error. The auction must continue as if partner had acted properly." When there has been a failure by your partner to Alert one of your bids, you are required to notify your opponents after the auction is over. However, you may not do so when on defense until the play of that hand is complete. On offense, you must notify your opponent before he makes the opening lead. Again quoting from the ACBL website: "When the auction is over, the declaring side MUST reveal to the defenders, after first calling the [...] Director, any errors of explanation (including Alerts [...] that were omitted) before the opening lead is faced. A defender MUST reveal any of his partner's errors but may NOT do so until after the play has been completed. A defender (or any other player) who becomes aware of his own error or omission should correct it immediately. [...] in either case the [...] Director should be called first." Advancing players should know there are other rules about Alerts, such as delayed Alerts and pre-Alerts, that don't generally affect you. Another important thing is that even when you are not Alerted, if you know what the bid means, you are expected to protect yourself by asking and/or by bidding accordingly. A full explanation of Alerts can be found here: ACBL.
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