Phil, on 2012-June-30, 14:30, said:
It may not be the same difficulty for you but its a good idea to let your partner get caught up and process, especially if you can anticipate an early decision. The more you do this, the more you'll just get into the habit of playing slowly at T1 as third hand. And as Andy says, the more you do it, the more the UI issues become minimized.
Watch Crush sometime - or Fred. Their early tempo is a model for players.
I am not sure but i think by law you are not allowed to slow the game to help your pd figure out things when you know what to play.
Anyway, here is what i do (assuming i am playing at real table) at T1 as 3rd seat defender.
I analyse the bidding, the lead, study dummy and count hcps and possible shapes. After that i try to figure if there is any false carding or deceptive play positions or if there is any suit that declarer may try to gain info from my tempo by playing fast and decide which card i will play if he does so. During this process if i already decided which card to play at T1 i put it face down on the table and let em know i am thinking the whole hand. If i am not putting my card on the table it means i havent decided what i will play at T1.
One thing i dont do is, i never check my clock or count to figure how much time i spend doing this every hand. It maybe 5 seconds or 20 seconds or it maybe 60 seconds sometimes. I dont really care about UI really since i am not doing it intentionally. Whatever i decide at the end of my thinking process i expect my pd to do the right thing.
I have no idea how you guys can give numbers like 20-30 seconds and try to obey it, because i have no time concept while i am trying to focus on something else more important to me.