Board 69 Vul: NS Dealer: N	Brad Moss QJ32 AJ54 64 A84
Eric Rodwell       KT7 T863 83 T965		Jeff Meckstroth A94 KQ QJT52 J72
	Fred Gitelman  865 972 AK97 KQ3

Auction:

South	West	North	East
		1	1
3	Pass	3NT	Pass
Pass	Pass

The play went as follows:
 
            East     South   West     North
 
1.         DJ        DK       D3        Dx
2.         Sx        Sx        S7        SQ
3.         Cx        CK       Cx        Cx
4.         SA        Sx       S10       SJ
5.         HQ        Hx       H3*       Hx
6.         D10      DA       D8        Dx
7.         S9        Sx        SK        Sx
8.         HK        Hx       H8         HJ
9.         DQ
 
* Prolonged BIT
 
North claimed that East had unauthorized information from the slow encouraging heart 3 that led him not to play West for the heart jack.  It also caused North to duck the heart queen in the hope of a heart continuation and to play West for the heart king in the end game.
 
East said that he pretty much knew all the high cards, since he had earlier asked about whether N/S opened balanced 11s and was told “rarely”.  Therefore, North was a heavy favorite to hold the heart jack, the only unknown high card, and he deliberately played the wrong heart (no Rusinow after opening lead) hoping to create a deception that would lead to something like what happened.  He said that had he been interested in the heart jack from partner he would have led the king but he had planned his defense in case North cooperated – wrong heart, then high diamond.  His partner’s heart holding was of no concern to him, he knew partner would win the next spade and lead a heart.  West said his huddle was an attempt to visualize the heart position and the whole hand, including what partner needed to beat the hand and what he might lead with certain heart holdings.
 
North rebutted that he had opened two balanced 11’s earlier, one of which was dummy, so East should have known of the possibility.  He also said East knew the club count from partner’s count card so he just could have continued a club after the heart queen, probably leading to down one.  And he alleged that after the heart queen held, East took some time before playing the diamond 10, which was inconsistent with his planned defense contention.  East said he wasn’t aware of any balanced 11’s, he doesn’t reconstruct declarer’s hand after the play and didn’t recall the supposed dummy 11.  West denied he would have given honest count with any club holding, in case declarer had A10xx.  East denied that he took any appreciable time before switching to the diamond 10.
 
The director ruled and the committee affirmed that there was no unauthorized information, since the heart queen did not ask for jack-attitude and the indication was overwhelming that East never planned to continue hearts.  In that case, there could be no infraction and any damage was self-inflicted.  The committee felt there was not much substance to the appeal but didn’t think an AWMW was warranted.
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
Ron Gerard, Chairman
Robb Gordon
Jeffrey Polisner