sanst, on 2025-March-08, 04:39, said:
You don't ask what the player was thinking if only to avoid UI. You give the opportunities (s)he has and the consequences, and answer questions, if necessary away from the table. It's often difficult enough or impossible to keep them quiet ("I wanted to bid XX!" or "I didn't see the 1♦.") or even preventing them to show their hand.
If the player want to bid anything else than the lowest possible bid, you make clear what the consequences are. But still, there's no need to know what the player thought when making the IB.
It's a basic rule for TD's to avoid asking for superfluous information that doesn't influence the ruling and can only lead to UI.
Asking away from the table rarely creates UI.
It can however tell you what a comparable call is.
Eg (1
♠)-1
♦-
You ask away from the table, if the answer to "what were you thinking" was "I thought he opened 1
♣, we play 2
♦ as a 2 suiter, so I had to bid 1
♦ or 3
♦ on my 6 count", it would be entirely appropriate to correct to 3
♦ WJO as a comparable call.
If the answer was "I thought I was opening" then this would not be the case.