South is the dealer, but West opens 1H out of rotation. North declines to accept this bid, so the auction reverts back to South. South now opens 1S.
Scenario 1: West overcalls 2H (forcing East to pass once per Law 32A2a). North now responds 2D. Does East have the option of accepting/rejecting the insufficient bid?
Scenario 2: West decides to pass (East is barred for the auction per Law 32A2b). The auction continues 1NT by North, 3S by South, and 3D by North. Does East have the option of accepting/rejecting the insufficient bid?
If your answers are different for the two scenarios, why? And what about Law 28A?
Law 27.A.1 states that "Any insufficient bid may be accepted (treated as legal) at the option of offender's LHO. It is accepted if that player calls."
Law 28.A states that "A call is considered to be in rotation when it is made by a player at his RHO's turn to call if that opponent is required by law to pass."
Law 28.A suggests that, while we don't necessarily have to wait for the barred player to pass, he does, in fact, still have a turn. This is buttressed by Law 37, Action by a Player Required to Pass.
The only person allowed to accept an insufficient bid is the LHO of the player that made the insufficient bid per Law 27. Therefore, in both situations, I believe that East has the option in both of your scenarios of accepting the insufficient bid, although the only call he is legally allowed to make, whether he accepts the insufficient bid or not.
I'll stand behind this answer strongly, as there is, nowhere that I could find, any law pertaining to the options by a player, that is required to pass, when an infraction occurs. The laws do state, however, when barring a player "...the offender (or, offender's partner) must pass whenever it is HIS TURN to call." Since we're in a picky situation here, let's nit-pick the wording of the laws. "Barring" is a commonly used, and useful phrase, used by both club and tournament directors. However, it does carry a different meaning than the words in the lawbook. "Barring" suggests that that player is superficial to the play throughout the remainder of the auction. "...must pass at HIS TURN to call." means that there is a proscribed action required by the offender that he must take at his turn, but that he is not superfluous. He's still in the game. Another situation which allows this theory to be advanced is: N E S W the auction goes: 1H - P - 1S - P 2D - ? - 2NT
East having been bypassed.
If East passes, South must repeat the 2NT call, and we proceed as though there had been no infraction. South has a proscribed action, but is certainly not out of the game.
Any other thoughts on this would be welcome, especially opposing viewpoints.
