More about Hesitations / Questions, followed by a pass...

At the time of writing this hand is the only one to appear in two different sections on this website! West's original 1♠ bid has been recorded as a 'Green Psyche' - i.e., one that was NOT 'fielded' by partner. See the report in that context here.

The (non-playing) Director was called to this board for a second reason - East / West reserved their rights because at point (1) in the auction North asked East questions about West's 4NT bid, to which East responded that there was no specific understanding, and then passed. East / West argued that South's final double may have been influenced by North's questioning, and therefore not allowed to stand.

North's first double was for take-out; the doubles of the two four-level bids were both penalty-oriented.

It is well understood that should a player either hesitate before passing or ask questions before passing, then he / she may be putting partner under pressure, as it is likely that 'Unauthorised Information' has been given to partner. After Partner's questioning and then passing, South can only base any further bids on 'Authorised' knowledge, which comprises all the legal bids up to the point of the questioning and all explanations given by the opponents.

A panel of club experts were enlisted to comment on this hand, and the clear view was that through the first three doubles - all made in the absence of any indication of values from partner - North had clearly already indicated an exceptionally strong hand. The majority also thought that West's original psyche had been exposed by the subsequent bidding. There was a case for South bidding 5♥, but he had no way of knowing for sure that this was the right action to take. With a hitherto unannounced 9 high card points the panellists considered that South's double (for penalties) was entirely justified.

The result of 5♦*-3 (500 to NS) was allowed to stand.

Within reason, psyches are part of the game. Sometimes the psycher gains, sometimes they come a cropper. On this particular board, the opponents finished up with a second top score.