[gombo121]

 JLOGIC, on 2013-January-25, 14:42, said:

If you don't like it, then don't change your tempo based on whether you want me to think you have an honor or not lol.

But how would you know that I don't (well, I'm not LOL, but anyway)? Probably you'll still try your little trick on me and then I'd better try to trick you back, don't you think? In all seriousness I'm sure that your 90% estimate is way off the mark.

BTW, the famous example of this technique was back from 50s, I think, and ethics of the game was a bit different. I doubt that 73D was in the book at the time.

[gombo121]

 blackshoe, on 2013-January-25, 10:02, said:

The law does not say "fast" it says "steady". It takes about two seconds to reach for the bidding box, pull out a bunch of cards, and put them on the table. If you allow yourself two or three seconds to think before you do that, your goal might be to set a steady tempo of 4 or 5 seconds on every call (except those made after RHO puts out a stop card). Ten seconds for every call is too long - and then what do you do when the stop card is put out?

I believe, your timing is incorrect. I expect it to take under a second for most players to put a pass on the table in "no problem" situation (probably, excluding old persons), on the other hand, two or three second is not nearly enough to think if you actualy have a decision to make. Two or three seconds is fine when bidding goes along a well-beaten path. (May be you noticed that BIT appeals started to discuss 7-10 secons BITs - that's because normal tempo is much faster.)

My point is it is possible to slow your play down to 5s per action and that probably won't make you look like a jerk in the eyes of your fellow players, but it won't save you from BIT in difficult situation either.

[blackshoe]

Not gonna argue about how many seconds a call takes. What I stated is my experience. Yours may differ. Tell you what: collect some data, and then get back to us.

[Trinidad]

 Cascade, on 2013-January-25, 14:39, said:

I am completely unconvinced that this is legal.

"looking intently at any other player during the auction and play" is a violation of procedure. Doing anything with the intention of inducing a tell whilst looking for the tell in my mind is 'looking intently' even if it is a sly look out of the corner of your eye.

There is a difference between "intently" and "intentionally".

"Looking intently at somebody" does not mean "looking at somebody" or "looking at somebody on purpose". It roughly means "staring at somebody".

Bridge tables usually are square. This means that the angle LHO-YOU-RHO is 90 degrees. This means that if you look straight ahead, both opponents are clearly in your field of view. The same is true if you look somewhat more down (so that you are not staring your partner in the face). You don't need to look intently to any of the players to pick up whether a player hesitates, whether he has a problem or is relaxed or whether he is interested in the play or not.

Rik