pescetom, on 2022-September-07, 09:14, said:
I can hit East's hesitation with a small PP if I consider it unduly slow play and with a bigger one if I retain it was intended to convey UI. But if West previously underbid and Pass is not an LA, then 3♥ is the book bid for West to avoid being ruled against, even if East is likely to raise it to game. Even if I poll and find that everyone thinks like mikeh that 4♥ is the only LA (and it's not going to happen) then it's hard to pin anything on 3♥, especially by someone who already misbid in the same hand.
Note that I did qualify my view that 4H is the only logical call by noting that, to paraphrase, the ability/willingness to see that one’s hand is now worth 4H absent any BIT is inconsistent with being the type of player who doubles 2D.
As I understand it, when assessing LA’s, the TD is to consider the approximate skill/knowledge level of the player. Don’t blame a weak player for not being an expert but the flip side is that don’t credit a weak player with expert level thinking either. Here, I strongly suspect that the great majority of players, capable of the misbid earlier, would at least consider 3H absent a BIT
I think most good players would upgrade the hand, fearing that opener won’t bid game over 3H on many hands where it’s very good. But such players would not be in this position, since they’d bid 3D the round before, so I guess I’m arguing about the number of angels dancing on that pin rather than about reality. Oh well.