[Bbradley62]

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[wank]

whilst your 2d bid was vomit-worthy, the opps' bidding is for sure suspicious.

[Cyberyeti]

They were playing penalty doubles and didn't bother to tell you ?

[StevenG]

 Cyberyeti, on 2016-January-02, 10:47, said:

They were playing penalty doubles and didn't bother to tell you ?

It's easy enough to find the hand and check out the opponents. Both mainly play free individual tournaments (as was this), and there's no sign of them playing any other hand together. OP just got shafted this time by bad bridge, but there's nothing suspicious.

[Bbradley62]

 StevenG, on 2016-January-02, 11:36, said:

It's easy enough to find the hand and check out the opponents. Both mainly play free individual tournaments (as was this), and there's no sign of them playing any other hand together. OP just got shafted this time by bad bridge, but there's nothing suspicious.

No, there's absolutely nothing suspicious here. Not only was it an individual, but it was the Free Automated Express, where the level of play is hopelessly bad. I was going to wait a little bit longer, to see what entertaining responses I might get, before 'fessing up.. This score wasn't as bad as it could have been, as scores for my side ranged from +1100 to -800. I was the only one (of 20 tables) to play in diamonds, after my vomit-inducing opening.

[PhantomSac]

If they were cheating east wouldn't pass since 3N is cold and 2D X is not down 4.

[Cyberyeti]

 PhantomSac, on 2016-January-02, 18:41, said:

If they were cheating east wouldn't pass since 3N is cold and 2D X is not down 4.

Depends how they were cheating, if EW could only see each others' hands and not the NS hands, it might not be obvious to them 3N was on.

[Bbradley62]

 PhantomSac, on 2016-January-02, 18:41, said:

If they were cheating east wouldn't pass since 3N is cold and 2D X is not down 4.

You have to remember that these would not be national champion caliber cheaters. Two pairs played 3N; one went down and the other made because South fell asleep.

[1stpanda]

I am surprised that a N of the caliber usually associated with these tournaments would pass 2♦X with that hand.

[zillahandp]

Good players tend not to cheat, bad players do but cheat obviously, you are getting a persecution complex, these were bad players playing badly

[MrAce]

This is nothing. Check these. I do not even bother to report anymore. These 2 hands played on row after W joined to table. Brand new account, of course...

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I was south and there is nothing we can do to 3 NT. On the 2nd hand perhaps you may not agree with my 5♣ but at the time I thought pd has a shapely but broke hand and opener is on my left.
Funny thing is, my RHO called his pd out for it, not me. All i had to do was to click the "remove player" button. And we kept playing and having fun. It is good thing that I do not need to have a Kit Woolsey style statistical proof to decide who gets to stay at my table. I usually wait another 8-10 boards to decide but when his pd called for it, it was good enough for me.

[oryctolagi]

I'm not quite sure what the word 'shenanigans' means in this context - but I can guess. Here is a hand which I was in earlier today.

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I was east and we reached 6NT by a fairly straightforward bidding process, which I made without too much trouble. With a good IMP score I was expecting at least an equal 'top' here but no: one table made an overtrick in 6NT (fair enough) and another got 7NT. Curious, I looked to see how the bidding had gone on that last one.

East opened 1♥ and West responded 7NT.

Any thoughts about the bidding? Any - er - suspicions?

[magdolan]

 oryctolagi, on 2016-January-03, 17:09, said:

I'm not quite sure what the word 'shenanigans' means in this context - but I can guess. Here is a hand which I was in earlier today.

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I was east and we reached 6NT by a fairly straightforward bidding process, which I made without too much trouble. With a good IMP score I was expecting at least an equal 'top' here but no: one table made an overtrick in 6NT (fair enough) and another got 7NT. Curious, I looked to see how the bidding had gone on that last one.

East opened 1♥ and West responded 7NT.

Any thoughts about the bidding? Any - er - suspicions?

II understand an occasional odd bid....my fingers slip on the wrong bid not infrequently. But really, what is served by cheating in an online game . Status? Self satisfaction?

This post has been edited by magdolan: 2016-January-03, 22:04

[annne]

 magdolan, on 2016-January-03, 22:03, said:

II understand an occasional odd bid....my fingers slip on the wrong bid not infrequently. But really, what is served by cheating in an online game . Status? Self satisfaction?

Tbh no, not unless they were really really bad players........anyone looking at both hands would stay out of 6 and certainly wouldn't bid 7

[mikestar13]

Off topic, but not totally:

Legend has it that a blackjack dealer caught player cheating by sneaking a few chips off of his bet if he expected to lose the hand, or sneaking a few extra chips onto his bet if he expected to win. In spite of this advantage, he was playing so badly that he was losing heavily. Dealer was unsure how to handle this and consulted the pit boss whose response was "Let him keep playing as long as he keeps losing. If he starts to win, call me over and we will have him arrested."

[oryctolagi]

 annne, on 2016-January-03, 22:07, said:

Tbh no, not unless they were really really bad players........anyone looking at both hands would stay out of 6 and certainly wouldn't bid 7

Provided the hearts are not 5-1 or 6-0, 6NT makes if two out of the four possible finesses win. I think that's a reasonable gamble, and it worked for me. Or there may be a better line of play. To make 7, of course, you need better luck than that.

[Caitlynne]

I tend to agree that there is suspicious behavior here. For one thing, playing penalty doubles is rare and, if they are, it requires an alert because it is a "highly unusual and unexpected meaning." Being natural does not exempt the Double from the alert responsibility. So the director could have been and should have been called and the board should have been adjusted.

Second, if the double is takeout, for advancer to pass is ridiculous. The world bids 2H.

Did they pull off the double dummy defense to beat you 4 tricks (winning 4 diamonds, 2 clubs, 1 heart and 1 spade)? That would seal it for me if they did.

[Bbradley62]

 Caitlynne, on 2016-January-04, 10:34, said:

... So the director could have been and should have been called and the board should have been adjusted.

As I said above, this was a Free Automated Express tournament, so there is no director and no adjustment.

 Caitlynne, on 2016-January-04, 10:34, said:

Did they pull off the double dummy defense to beat you 4 tricks (winning 4 diamonds, 2 clubs, 1 heart and 1 spade)? That would seal it for me if they did.

Down 2

[Bbradley62]

 Caitlynne, on 2016-January-04, 10:34, said:

Did they pull off the double dummy defense to beat you 4 tricks (winning 4 diamonds, 2 clubs, 1 heart and 1 spade)? That would seal it for me if they did.

Taking 8 tricks when defending 2♦ would be setting it 3, no?

[rhm]

 StevenG, on 2016-January-02, 11:36, said:

It's easy enough to find the hand and check out the opponents. Both mainly play free individual tournaments (as was this), and there's no sign of them playing any other hand together. OP just got shafted this time by bad bridge, but there's nothing suspicious.

For the paranoid everything is suspicious, if it is not out of the completely ordinary.
Bridge is the ideal game for people with such tendencies

Rainer Herrmann