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

[Harald Skjæran]

On 10/08/07, Herman De Wael <hermandw at skynet.be> wrote:
>
> 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"?


Average Hand is defined by the WBF in it's "System Policy" as a hand
containing 10 high card points (Milton Work) with no distributional values.
Not long ago it was defined as a hand with an honour of each rank (or
something with the same meaning). I don't know why and when this was
changed. The definition without regard to any specific hand evaluation
method is strongly preferrable. The Milton Work count (or any other
evaluation method) should have nothing whatsoever to do with laws and
regulations, one should be free to use whatever hand evaluation method one
likes and be able to comply with system regulations without translation.

-- 
Kind regards,
Harald Skjæran

> 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
>
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