Posted 2013-February-12, 14:20
Wolff does have a point; pre-emptive bids, especially those that are "assumed-fit" (i.e. shorter than normal, especially 4-cards where it could be our fit) and those that have unknown suits (in particular, no known suits) are pretty misbid-safe; the chance that they'll damage the side with the strength is much higher than the chance they will damage the preempting side.
Ghestem, as a specific example, has both suits known, but the "standard" way of playing and misbidding it makes it a psycho-Suction equivalent (either clubs or the other two suits). This makes it much harder to defend against, even if they don't play Forget Ghestem (i.e. if they forget, they suck it up). It's even harder to defend against if the opponents "play it" as two-way (for instance, just taking a preference instead of push-raising with 5-card support and a weak hand) but don't disclose the mistake potential.
And insufficient disclosure (especially of the "we haven't talked about it, at least partly so we 'don't know' when we would, for instance, pass a Multi 2♥ opening" or "oh, partner's described her hand completely, so we just place the contract" variety) doesn't help. Especially when said insufficient disclosure is at world championship level.
BUT: as I've said above, there are calls that are equally disruptive, that "everybody" plays, especially at "everybody" level. You play Bergen? Which way? Does it apply after a double? Does it apply after an overcall? What if it's not a jump? What if 3♣ wouldn't have been a jump, but your call is? What if it's a cuebid of our overcall? Would you raise to 3 with the right zero count, favourable? How about with a bad 7 (or, in a Precision context, a bad 8?) What's the difference between 3M and 4? Oh and what happens when this time partner forgot and has a WJS in clubs? Or: you play Lebensohl. The auction goes 1NT-(2♥ Alerted)-2NT!; 3♣!-3NT!. 2♥ was not asked about. Does 3NT show a spade stopper or not (of course, 2♥ shows spades)? A heart stopper? You play Good/Bad 2NT. Please explain (note, I have yet to get a good explanation at the table). You play Support doubles? Do they apply after 1NT overcalls? What about Sandwich 1NT overcalls?
It's really easy to put any non-serious partnership into "don't know" territory in *basic* auctions, if you don't do things the "normal" way (and sometimes even if you do). I play K/S in North America, trust me. Get it wrong, and it's CD. I'm willing to deal with the "germ warfare" problems over ruling CD to hell and back in normal games (and Wolff may be saying it's only at the highest levels, but he still mentions it in the non-NABC+ appeals, if they're appropriate; even Bracket 4 KOs and the like) (Again, I play K/S in mono-2/1-land; I'm going to be more-than-normal the victim on those "normal games"). I would be happy with, at higher levels and specific events, requirements for "basic auctions in normal situations", as long as they're much better defined than that. And it still means that cannon fodder in the Spingold get treated like professional pairs when they screw up against their first-ever Transfer-Walsh auction; I don't think we need to discourage players from playing the top events any more than we are.
When I go to sea, don't fear for me, Fear For The Storm -- Birdie and the Swansong (tSCoSI)