Persistent hesitation by player

[Mark]

Posting this for opinions on how to proceed as their behaviour has negatively affected the game on many occasions, and the director seems reluctant to impose any form of censure.

At our mid-week/social bridge night, we have one player who consistently hesitates with hands that have no possibility of bidding. The opps and his partners all agree that he has nothing to hesitate over, but he persists on hesitating. In addition to the hesitation, he will frequently ask out-of-turn about every alerted and un-alerted bid. Claims at the end of play are also very protracted as he will dispute every part of the claim.

The net result is that play is frequently delayed and the results are impacted by his actions.

I've brought this up on a few occasions with the director and nearly all the times he will change the score, but I think it has got to the stage where further censure is needed.

How can I proceed?

Thanks in advance.

M.


PS Typical examples
Me LHO P RHO
1S P 2C P RHO asks about the 2C bid and passes
2D! P 2S P RHO asks about the 2D bid when it is LHO's turn
3D P 3S P RHO asks about the 3S range
4S AP The last past is very slow

RHO has - x Qx Jxxxxx Kxxx

Me LHO P RHO
P
1NT P! 2C! P
2S P 3N P
!'s highlight any time he asked a question. The 1NT range was announced. 2C was announced as stayman.
He has...
xx Qxxx xx Axxxx

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Mark
How can I proceed?

There's little to do if the director won't take action.

If you can get a group of players to agree, then you might tell
the director that either the problematic member or the group will
leave the club and play elsewhere - if that is realistic.

Ultimately start your own club.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Bertel Lund Hansen
Ultimately start your own club.

Or turn his weapon against him. If all players at the table ask
questions at every turn and out of turn the whole evening
through, then maybe he will get the point. Otherwise keep it up
until he does.

This will ruin some evenings but it might prove useful in the
end.

[ais523]

Post by Mark
Posting this for opinions on how to proceed as their behaviour has
negatively affected the game on many occasions, and the director seems
reluctant to impose any form of censure.
At our mid-week/social bridge night, we have one player who
consistently hesitates with hands that have no possibility of bidding.
The opps and his partners all agree that he has nothing to hesitate
over, but he persists on hesitating. In addition to the hesitation, he
will frequently ask out-of-turn about every alerted and un-alerted bid.
Claims at the end of play are also very protracted as he will dispute
every part of the claim.
The net result is that play is frequently delayed and the results are
impacted by his actions.
I've brought this up on a few occasions with the director and nearly
all the times he will change the score, but I think it has got to the
stage where further censure is needed.
How can I proceed?

Only the Director (or Directors, if you have multiple) and Tournament
Organiser can do anything about this. So you need to persuade them to
take action, and if they won't, to find somewhere else to play.

If I were the Director and knew that the player had this sort of
tendency, I'd give a warning to the player at the start of the session
not to waste time and not to violate rules on acting out of turn (to
ensure that they couldn't claim to be unaware of the rules in question).
If the player then breaches the rules that I warned a bout and I
judged the breach to be intentional, according to EBU guidelines, the
first breach of those requests would be a disciplinary penalty (at
matchpoints, 50% of a top), and the second breach in the same session
would lead to a disqualification and a report to the EBU (allowing
them to take further action if they thought it were necessary). Those
guidelines seem reasonable to me, so I would likely follow them.

For unintentional breaches (say a player's been told to play quickly but
they can't help themselves), the penalties would be lower, starting with
a warning and then moving onto a procedural penalty for each subsequent
offence (25% of a top).

My guess is that the Director is following guidelines intended for
unintentional rule breaches when the player is breaking the rules either
intentionally, or at least negligently. You might want to diplomatically
point this out to them, in the hope that they start applying penalties
on the higher scale.

(On a side note, what does the offender's partner think of all this?
Another good way to exclude a problem player from a club is if everyone
refuses to partner them.)

[Grant Robinson]

If the director agrees that the player’s behavior is not desirable (at least that) but doesn’t know what to do about it, suggest that the director consult with a tournament director for a course of action.

[Mark]

Post by Mark
Posting this for opinions on how to proceed as their behaviour has negatively affected the game on many occasions, and the director seems reluctant to impose any form of censure.
At our mid-week/social bridge night, we have one player who consistently hesitates with hands that have no possibility of bidding. The opps and his partners all agree that he has nothing to hesitate over, but he persists on hesitating. In addition to the hesitation, he will frequently ask out-of-turn about every alerted and un-alerted bid. Claims at the end of play are also very protracted as he will dispute every part of the claim.
The net result is that play is frequently delayed and the results are impacted by his actions.
I've brought this up on a few occasions with the director and nearly all the times he will change the score, but I think it has got to the stage where further censure is needed.
How can I proceed?
Thanks in advance.
M.
PS Typical examples
Me LHO P RHO
1S P 2C P RHO asks about the 2C bid and passes
2D! P 2S P RHO asks about the 2D bid when it is LHO's turn
3D P 3S P RHO asks about the 3S range
4S AP The last past is very slow
RHO has - x Qx Jxxxxx Kxxx
Me LHO P RHO
P
1NT P! 2C! P
2S P 3N P
!'s highlight any time he asked a question. The 1NT range was announced. 2C was announced as stayman.
He has...
xx Qxxx xx Axxxx

Thanks for all the responses.
I'm going to have a word with the director. If this fails, then i'll try and find another TD that can offer further advice.

PS for those that asked. His partners are just annoyed at his delays :)

[Lorne]

Post by Mark
Posting this for opinions on how to proceed as their behaviour has negatively affected the game on many occasions, and the director seems reluctant to impose any form of censure.
At our mid-week/social bridge night, we have one player who consistently hesitates with hands that have no possibility of bidding. The opps and his partners all agree that he has nothing to hesitate over, but he persists on hesitating. In addition to the hesitation, he will frequently ask out-of-turn about every alerted and un-alerted bid. Claims at the end of play are also very protracted as he will dispute every part of the claim.
The net result is that play is frequently delayed and the results are impacted by his actions.
I've brought this up on a few occasions with the director and nearly all the times he will change the score, but I think it has got to the stage where further censure is needed.
How can I proceed?
Thanks in advance.
M.
PS Typical examples
Me LHO P RHO
1S P 2C P RHO asks about the 2C bid and passes
2D! P 2S P RHO asks about the 2D bid when it is LHO's turn
3D P 3S P RHO asks about the 3S range
4S AP The last past is very slow
RHO has - x Qx Jxxxxx Kxxx
Me LHO P RHO
P
1NT P! 2C! P
2S P 3N P
!'s highlight any time he asked a question. The 1NT range was announced. 2C was announced as stayman.
He has...
xx Qxxx xx Axxxx

Has anybody asked him why he does it ? Maybe the response will help you
work out how best to proceed.