Have a listen to the latest Radio Show (July 5)

The systems and alerts regulations apply only to a partnerships methods.
To violate ones methods is Ok unless it happens so often it effectively becomes a different method.

So, as “Judge Julie” says on that radio show, there is normally no requirement to announce the 1NT opening might be a 4441 hand.
That is unless they always open 1NT with that shape in which case they should say “might be off-shape” along with the announcement of point range.

Damage for non-compliance is not as common as many believe.
To say “I would have done something different (and more successful) if I had known there was a singleton” is not relevant to the actual situation.
That is because they can never know there was a singleton, only that there might have been one.
4441 hands are much less common that balanced hands so it is unlikely the complainant would have adopted a different line of play which specifically caters for a singleton.

thank you !

Helene

Hi NIick, my question is about that  pair  who systematically open 1NT ( 11-15 and used to say"may be off shape"but don't anymore) . Now that pair tells me that they do not have to announce the "off shape part". They base their argument on Alerting procedure in  Manual D61  which says: about announcing:  

"For a natural 1NT opening bid:: "12 to 14" (or the appropriate range) Note: A 1NT opening bid that could contain a single (an unbalanced hand) is considered a natural 1NT opening bid if the partnership are prepared to play in 1NT or be transferred to their singleton suit and play there. It is alerted by announcing as above and no further announcement is required. Note: A 1NT opening bid that could contain a 5 card major is considered natural and is alerted by announcing as above. No further announcement is required."

Thing is, they have a whole set of responses to find out  the shape and strength of that hand...

I am not too ..concerned about the damage just that at our club level, most players are juniors/ int and i feel it is unfair that they do not need to know about the shape of such an opening 1NT

I would really appreciate  an in depth  clarification about this please. as that director is asking me to prove that they need to announce...

Thank you

Helene Labreche

Hi Helene,

In my opinion they are correct in that this is the correct announcement for a non-alertable natural 1NT however that doesn't excuse them from pre-alerting that their 1NT may be off shape if the bid does not require to be alerted.  They must also be prepared to play in their singleton suit if bid or transferred to by partner for the 1NT to be natural. They are otherwise permitted to have subsequent bidding agreements to describe the 4441 shape.

This is similar as if their double of a 1 level bid, say, unusually promised 7 cards of the same colour suit. They don't have to alert the double as per the alerting rules whilst bidding but they must pre-alert their unusual use of a double in this way when they come to the table to convey this information to their opponents.

A failure to pre-alert means that they possess unauthorised information that their opponents don’t share and they could be penalised by the director accordingly and board adjusted.

NZ bridge manual:

Alert stages

There are three stages of the alerting process. All are important.

• The pre-alert before the round starts.

• Alerts during the auction.

• Delayed alerts by the declaring side before the opening lead.

Pre-alerts

At the start of a round or match, Pairs should acquaint each other with their basic system, length of their 1-level opening bids, the strength and style of their opening 1NT and any unusual self-alerting calls as defined above that may catch their opponents by surprise (e.g. doubles that are neither for penalty nor for takeout, or high-level transfer pre-empts).

Examples

• Acol, 5-card spade suit, 12–14 point 1NT.

• Precision, 5-card majors, 15–17 point 1NT, 4-level opening bids are

transfer pre-empts.

Calls that require an alert during the auction need not be pre-alerted.

Highly unusual carding (e.g. leading low from doubletons) should also be pre- alerted at this stage.

The agreement that their 1NT may have a 1444 shape is also by definition a Red system and, therefore, limited to be played only in open A point tournaments and at club level in accordance with any club system restrictions for Red systems. At Palmerston North there aren't any restrictions on any system being played (i.e Systemic relays) in club sessions as tournament playing pairs often use these club sessions to practice new system agreements but they must have prepared system cards and follow any necessary pre-alerting requirements.

As an aside, provided properly pre-alerted, they could similarly open a natural no trump containing a void (i.e a 445 shape or 634 shape) unalerted with only an announcement of high card point range provided they are prepared to play in the void suit if bid or transferred to by partner.