[blml] ...have we really come to this??? [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[Herman De Wael]

richard.hills at immi.gov.au wrote:
> Alain Gottcheiner:
> 
>> xxx-AKQ10x-xxx-xx, which is obviously not "a
>> king below average".
>>
>> Whence R18 goes farther than TFLB, hence is
>> in contradiction to L40, yet TDs are there
>> to apply it.
> 
> Richard Hills:
> 
> (R18 = Rule of 18, used by several NBOs to
> define the legality of a one-level opening.
> Number of cards in longest suit, plus number
> of cards in second-longest suit, plus number
> of Milton Work points must equal 18 or more.)
> 

I have often defended the R18. Yes, in principle, it is illegal. But 
in practice, it is the only rule that can be applied and from which 
you can say - it's easy to check if you are allowed to open on this 
hand or not.

> In the recent past the ABF revised its system
> regulations.  Because it had qualms about the
> legality of using the Rule of 18 to define a
> Yellow (HUM) system, it abolished R18 and now
> uses the Law 40D criterion "a King or more
> below average strength" to define a Yellow
> system.
> 

And how do you define "average strength"?

> Another reason the ABF abolished R18 was that
> the Rule of 18 was infracted so frequently that
> it became an unenforced dead-letter law, due to
> the Aussie style of mad overbidding.
> 

That is a better reason to change the regulation. But then change it 
to R17, why don't you?

> :-)
> 


-- 
Herman DE WAEL
Antwerpen Belgium
http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/index.html