Insufficient Bids

So the other day a couple of my novices were playing in a novice game and one of them made an insufficient bid. The auction was something like the opponents opened the bidding 1♥ and my novice didn't pay any attention to the bid and bid 1♦. She was then told that the bid was insufficient and she had to bid 2♦.

This is untrue.

While it IS true that the bid was insufficient (and thus not allowed) and bidding 2♦ is an option for her it is also true that there are other options.

If this happens you should call the director. Remember the director is your friend and is there to help you understand the rules and the options available to you.

First of all your opponents are allowed to accept the bid. They can (if they want) allow you to still bid 1♦ even if it is an illegal bid. Obviously they would only do this if they feel it is beneficial to them or perhaps feel sorry for you. If you feel they have any feelings whatsoever then look extra innocent and more confused than you usually do. Perhaps the sad puppy face. You might get away with it. In any case that is the first option available. But don't expect most people to accept this bid. They won't.

The next thing you can do is to make your bid sufficient. That means you are allowed to bid 2♦. If you choose to bid 2♦ then there are no more problems on the hand and the director can walk away.

You do NOT however have to choose that option. The last option available to you is to make another bid. If you choose to make ANY other bid (including "Pass") then Partner is now banned from bidding for the rest of the auction. However you still get to bid as much as you want. Partner is not allowed to do anything but Pass.

Now when I first heard that I immediately thought "What a great way to stop Partner from bidding! I can now go crazy knowing Partner can't get excited and bid too much!" However there is something in the rules that state you can't do this. If the opponents feel that you did this deliberately in order to make a bid and ban Partner they can ask for recourse. Sadly the insufficient bid is not allowed to give you an advantage.

But here is another case of when you should call the director. Do NOT assume the opponents know what they are talking about. Sometimes they don't. Even when they do most players only give you the one option. They feel like you should know the others. Why should you? You shouldn't. They also shouldn't tell you what to do but they do. No one wants to bother the director. The director should be called and will explain your options to you in such a way you will understand them.

The other day I was watching a VERY good pair. An insufficient bid was made by one of their opponents (2♦) and one of the good players said "You need to bid 3♦". Now I know he knows there are other options. He does. I also know he would not say that in order to deliberately mislead his opponents or force them to bid something they don't want to bid. He wants to get a good board because he is good -- not because he swindled them. But the good players forget that not everyone knows all their options. They are just trying to get on with the game with the least amount of problems. The less experienced players don't even know the options so they can't be trusted at all. Call the director. Remember too with the invention of the computer, directors these days are just bored out of their minds. Unless they get a director call what do they have to do? The computer does everything! It types in the names, it calculates the scores. By calling the director you keep them active and entertained. It is a win-win situation.