RMB1, on 2014-December-15, 06:22, said:
If the poll shows Pass is a logical alternative, we also have to decide what is suggested by a slow 5♥.
If South were thinking about which try to make then I am not sure what is suggested.
If South were thinking about bidding 6♥ directly then 6♥ is suggested over Pass.
If South were thinking about not bidding at all then Pass is suggested over 6♥.
All true. See below.
helene_t, on 2014-December-15, 06:43, said:
Such a 5h bid will normally be slow since he will usually consider Blackwood or a cuebid. And as Robin says, it could also be that pass rather than 6h is suggested.
So probably the result should stand.
Maybe. See below.
gordontd, on 2014-December-15, 09:18, said:
Not in my opinion: it would normally ask for control of the opponents' suit in a contested auction. However, I realise there may be other agreements which is why I think we need to know what they play it as meaning, in order to work out what a slow 5H bid means.
Yes.
The actual wording of the law is "could demonstrably have been suggested over another by the extraneous information." I think we can demonstrate how pass might have been suggested over 6
♥, and vice-versa. So either 1) whichever choice North makes, if it's successful, we roll it back or 2) we try to figure out enough about what South was thinking to eliminate one of the options. I'm not sure the second procedure would be legal, and I'm not sure "damned whatever you do" is how we want to rule. So what do we do?
Normally a bit slow is one thing, but six minutes?! Even accounting for time distortion in the perception of the OP or whoever at the table claimed it was that long, six minutes is a
very long time. Well, maybe not in a state championship. Are such pauses not unusual in this event?
I'd ask for an explanation of the entire auction. In particular, in addition to the meaning of 5
♥, what's the meaning of 3
♠?