The ACBL Board of Directors has voted to discontinue the use of Stop cards at sanctioned tournaments effective Jan. 1. In addition to the removal of the Stop cards from bidding boxes, the use of the verbal skip-bid warning is also being discontinued. Clubs are encouraged to do the same to provide players a consistent experience at both tournaments and clubs. Accordingly, bid boxes at the Bridge Center (and perhaps other games in the Unit) will no longer contain a Stop Card.
Following the skip bid, the left-hand opponent is obligated to wait approximately 10 seconds while giving the appearance of studying his hand before making a call. The onus is on players to develop the good habit of pausing after their right-hand opponent has made a skip bid. The pause should be about 10 seconds, but strict observance of this duration is less important than making sure that there is a clear break in the tempo of the auction.
The rationale for this procedure is to decrease the likelihood that unauthorized information is transmitted. For ex-ample, you open 2♥ (weak), and LHO passes quickly. Your partner passes, too. Your RHO may now know that competing is dangerous because his partner’s quick pass could suggest a weak hand. RHO, of course, is not entitled to this information.
Note that there’s no penalty prescribed for players who forget this new rule and use the Stop card (in bidding boxes that still have them) or issue a skip-bid warning. Because these behaviors are well developed in many players, directors should merely encourage proper procedure while players transition to the new protocol. However, continued use of the Stop card or skip-bid warning simply to alert partner to strong or weak actions is, of course, a violation of the Laws and subject to penalty.
What happens when a player fails to maintain proper tempo following a skip bid? The director should be summoned immediately so that the rights of all four players are protected for the remainder of the auction. Waiting to call the director at a later point in the auction (or when the auction is over) can cause other complications.