[aguahombre]

barmar, on 2015-January-05, 10:45, said:

But Blackshoe's original question was about the tempo in skip-bid situations, not the warning. So the answer (about use of the warning) was non-responsive.

Oh, I see. He concluded something about Australian tempo in skip-bid situations from a statement which didn't apply to skip bid situations, only to warnings. I should have figured that out; oh, wait, I did.

[sfi]

You're both right. No skip bid warnings exist and no change in tempo is required or expected.

Despite the lack of rules regarding skip bids, I rarely see director calls that would have been prevented by a mandated pause (although I almost never direct, so my experience may be skewed). It feels totally normal if a player takes a couple of extra seconds to process the information relating to the skip bid, and I've never seen a director call for a 5 second pause instead of 3 seconds.

[Vampyr]

sfi, on 2015-January-05, 14:26, said:

You're both right. No skip bid warnings exist and no change in tempo is required or expected.

That's a shame. I wish that here we had more stop warnings and the ensuing extra time, like for competitive bids at or above the three-level.

[sfi]

Vampyr, on 2015-January-05, 15:03, said:

That's a shame. I wish that here we had more stop warnings and the ensuing extra time, like for competitive bids at or above the three-level.

I used to think that until I saw it work in practice. Now I actually prefer not having them.

But this is off topic and I don't feel particularly strongly about it one way or another. So this thread is probably not the place to discuss their merits or otherwise.

[nige1]

Vampyr, on 2015-January-05, 15:03, said:

That's a shame. I wish that here we had more stop warnings and the ensuing extra time, like for competitive bids at or above the three-level.

Agree with Vampyr. Also the timing should be less subjective. The timing could be electronic (e.g. a Bridgemate function). Or each table could have a double egg-timer. You must wait seven seconds (say) before any action and complete it within ten seconds (say). You could also use the enforced thinking-time of the other 3 players. IMO this would speed up the game and reduce UI.

[barmar]

As an aside, the 10-second idea goes way back. I'm currently reading "Bumblepuppy Days", a history of whist and bridge. He mentions an 1898 publication "Whist of the Future" in which the author suggests a 10 second rule as a control on hesitations. The author of the current book comments:

Quote

This certainly is unworkable. Who runs the clock? Ten seconds pass much more quickly when one is trying to make a decision than when admiring the wallpaper.

The author is from the US, obviously not from a country where players regularly obey skip-bid warnings.

Note that since this was about whist, not bridge, it was referring to card play -- whist didn't have bidding. BTW, the proprieties in most of the laws of whist had admonitions against coffeehousing, and some versions specifically mentioned hesitating with s singleton.

[Bad_Wolf]

sfi, on 2015-January-05, 15:13, said:

I used to think that until I saw it work in practice. Now I actually prefer not having them.

But this is off topic and I don't feel particularly strongly about it one way or another. So this thread is probably not the place to discuss their merits or otherwise.

Exactly, all the bumshifters round here (over the ditch) make it perfectly clear they have a problem when the stop card is out or ignore it when they don't. Good luck getting an adjustment for that (when their mate doesn't take a borderline action)

[vigfus]

In Iceland
If I understand this right. Break in tempo.
4S-1 50% 4S-2 50%

[lamford]

vigfus, on 2015-February-07, 17:09, said:

In Iceland
If I understand this right. Break in tempo.
4S-1 50% 4S-2 50%

I think gnasher's post #7 says it all, but I would still not give declarer any of 4S-1. -100 is still going to be a bucket of IMPs out, and it looks almost impossible to fail to find the club ruff, even if West leads the AH, as there is no quick entry to dummy. 100% of 4S-2 looks right.