[aguahombre]

 TimG, on 2012-September-27, 07:45, said:

I expect you are right. But, I am still very surprised that anyone thinks 4 seconds is a BIT.

You might also be surprised that I accept 4 seconds as a sufficient pause by next opponent after I make an early skip bid (ACBL).

This post has been edited by aguahombre: 2012-September-27, 12:52

[barmar]

 aguahombre, on 2012-September-27, 12:46, said:

You might also be surprised that I accept 4 seconds as a sufficient pause by next opponent after I make an early skip bid (ACBL).

10 seconds is a really long time when you don't actually have anything to do. (It's also a long time when I'm in a group exercise class at the gym, and the instructor starts the 10 second countdown of jumping jacks.)

I think in normal auctions by decent players, most bids by the active side take 1-2 seconds -- if the other side is passing throughout, their bids are usually even faster. 4 seconds will be noticeable. It's not a tank, but it sticks out.

Novices and other poor players, on the other hand, often take 4-5 seconds for most bids. They hesitate even when there's nothing to think about, because they don't know there's nothing to think about -- everything is a struggle (I suspect they count their points again each time it's their turn to bid).

[bluejak]

A BIT is a break in tempo. If a player normally passes during an auction in one second or slightly more, when he takes four seconds then passes, that's a BIT. If he always takes about three or four seconds to pass, then four seconds is not a BIT.

Yes, I know it makes it very difficult to decide whether a BIT has occurred, but that is unlucky: a BIT is a different tempo from the player's norm, not from other people's norm. It is a bit like whether an overcall on JTxxx and no other points is a psyche: it depends on what the player who made the bid has agreed to play an overcall as. If he plays it as 0-8, no, it is not a psyche.

[blackshoe]

 gnasher, on 2012-September-27, 01:38, said:

As the director, I would:
- Confirm that the question asked was as you describe.
- Explain to your opponent that if he thought an infraction had occurred, he should call he director, announce that he reserved his right to call the director, or wait until the end of the hand and then call the director.
- Explain that his question as phrased was offensive, not justified by the evidence available at the time of the question, and a breach of Laws 74A1, 74A2 and 74B2, and of the ACBL Zero Tolerance Policy.
- If he is anything other than contrite, impose a fine.
- Deal with the UI issue in the normal way.

Excellent! Only one little thing: the ACBL ZT policy requires, when a ZT violation has been determined to have occurred, an immediate quarter board disciplinary penalty (or 3 IMPs at that form of scoring) against each offender in the incident. "He was contrite" does not let him off the hook. A second offense by the same player in the same event requires expulsion from the event. A third offense (this can occur, for example, if when the TD is called for a second offense by a player, he then argues disruptively with the director) may, says the regulation, result in the convening of a disciplinary committee to consider whether the player should be allowed to play in other events at the tournament or whether additional sanctions may be appropriate.

[barmar]

 bluejak, on 2012-September-27, 14:53, said:

A BIT is a break in tempo. If a player normally passes during an auction in one second or slightly more, when he takes four seconds then passes, that's a BIT. If he always takes about three or four seconds to pass, then four seconds is not a BIT.

The comment that started this tangent was "I don't think 4 seconds would be considered a hesitation/BIT by many, if any." So we're not talking about whether there actually was a BIT, but whether most players would THINK there was one. I also think Tim was talking about it independent of the player's normal tempo -- I think he was asserting that most people would not consider 4 seconds to be a long time to make a bid.

[Fluffy]

Althou this is not the question, I think the best thing you can do on this cases is not to play RHO's game and refuse to answer his question about if your partner has understood, you can take the initiative and start disputing his bad manners.