Dodgy ethics

Me and Anna played at St. Andrew's Bridge Club on Monday. I've been on holiday quite a while now, and have slightly lost track of time. "Is it normally aggregate scoring on a Saturday?" I asked irrelevantly. I'd forgotten that it was Monday. It was indeed aggregate scoring though.

Me and Anna played well, with no mistakes. We bid and made all of the games we were dealt, and did well in the partscores. We were even lucky the opponents missed a slam against us, but unlucky that they made a lot of games too. In the end we finished 3rd overall.

In my featured hand we got a very good result, making a part score our way when everyone else went minus. But it came at quite a price, as I made a dubiously ethical bid. I didn't know at the time what the law was, and bid it because I wanted to, but now I know that I was very wrong.

Here's my West hand and auction, leading up to my crucial decision. No one vulnerable:

♠ K 7 6 5 2 ♥ 8 4 ♦ K 6 3 ♣ Q 8 3

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - - ?

North opened a 12-14 no trump. Anna sitting East paused for quite a while, then passed. South transferred with 2♦, and North completed the transfer. Anna paused again over 2♥, and it was passed round to me.

Even though it's aggregate scoring, I'd like to bid 2♠ here. After they pass out 2♥, partner rates to have some points (at least 8 or so), and we've probably got a Spade fit. It's a risky bid, but it's what I want to do. But after partner's two big pauses, it's sort of clear she's got a decent hand.

Ethically, I have to pass. Even though I think I would have bid 2♠ even without the help of partner's pauses, that's not good enough. I think the law is that I have to be actively ethical. I can only bid 2♠, if it's really the only sensible bid. Here that's not the case, as pass is certainly a logical alternative. I wasn't sure on this, but have since got some expert help (more on that later). In a tournament if the director was called, he would probably rule that my 2♠ bid was suggested by partner's hesitation, and rule the score back to 2♥ their way, making.

In the end though I did bid 2♠. Here's the full hand and auction:

No one vul s deal ♠ A Q 4 ♥ K T 9 ♦ J T 8 5 4 ♣ A 6 ♠ K 7 6 5 2 ♥ 8 4 ♦ K 6 3 ♣ Q 8 3 14 8 10 8 ♠ J T 9 3 ♥ A J 2 ♦ - ♣ K J T 9 5 4 ♠ 8 ♥ Q 7 6 5 3 ♦ A Q 9 7 2 ♣ 7 2

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - - 2♠ - - -

After I did bid 2♠, it was passed out. South had a good think about this, and I would certainly have bid 3♦ with his hand, as you've got a 5-5 hand with short Spades so don't want to defend. If you do bid Diamonds, it works out great as partner has five of them, and three card Heart support too.

I get a great dummy in 2♠, and it looks like I could make loads of tricks. Actually though it was hard going. Both Spade honours offisde, repeated Diamond leads, and forgetting how many trumps were left, meant I made just eight tricks. Still, 2♠= was a very good score. On the other tables North-South were playing in Diamonds or Hearts making overtricks. North-South have such a good fit in fact I think you can make 4♥, but the analysis sheet says you can only make nine tricks (why is this?).

Here's the results of the deal on the St Andrew's website.

Finally, as mentioned above, before writing this I wanted some expert advice. So I wrote a poll about what I should do on the Bridge Base Forums. You can see the results (and vote if you want) here. Almost everyone thought that I should pass out 2♥, most because I'm ethically barred from bidding, and some because they wouldn't bid anyway.