[blml] Close Encounter of the Third Kind [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[richard.hills at immi.gov.au]

Wayne Burrows:

[snip]

>>5C made and at the end of the hand I said to my partner that I had
>>misbid and my RHO questioned why I had not told them I had misbid.
>>I said "I have no obligation to tell you I have misbid".  At which
>>point he questioned my morals.
>>
>>Like Richard I was not happy with the remark so summoned the
>>director.  After some discussion the chief TD asked my opponent to
>>apologize and when he would not fined him 1 VP.
>>
>>Thereafter my path diverged from Richards outcome as we were
>>comprehensively beaten by these opponents.
>>
>>To me this is a move in the right direction as my experience has
>>been that rudeness which is often a form of gamesmanship is often
>>left in the "too hard basket" by the directors with either no
>>action or a request to report the incident to a recorder - at
>>least down-under - when in fact courtesy is a matter of law and
>>therefore the responsibility of the director to uphold.

[snip]

ABF Newsletter January 2007, front page Letter to the Editor:
(full details at http://www.abf.com.au/newsletter/Jan07.pdf)

[snip]

>Imagine you are relatively new to the game and have been persuaded
>to attend your first congress. In the first round you are drawn
>against one of the top seeds and proceed to get pulverized.
>
>Not only is this not a good feeling, but along the way the top
>seeds (let's face it, some of them are not exactly friendly) have
>pointed out that your system card is imperfect and they have talked
>down to you about your hesitations and generally made you
>miserable.
>
>The outcome is that, having filled their bucket of self-importance,
>the seeds move on, leaving behind at least two players vowing never
>to play teams again.
>
>To change the attitudes of some top players is impossible.

[snip]

Richard Hills:

Like Wayne I agree that changing the attitudes of some top players is
definitely possible, provided that directors in general follow the
example set by Wayne's chief TD in sanctioning all infractions of Law
74A2.

(For the benefit of newbies to blml, I reiterate my belief that the
courtesy requirement of Law 74A2, "A player should carefully avoid
any remark or action that might cause annoyance or embarrassment to
another player or might interfere with the enjoyment of the game," is
the single most important rule of bridge.)

In my opinion experts have a greater-than-normal obligation to be
courteous, due to the principle of "noblesse oblige".

So when my partner Hashmat Ali and I attend the annual Cootamundra
Congress as a top-seeded team of Canberra Raiders, we pulverise with
politeness.  We put our opponents at ease with pleasant remarks
before and during the match.  (I specialise in bad puns, and off-the-
wall comments such as, "No imagination pard; the winning call was an
insufficient bid.")

During the auction we clearly and carefully explain the positive and
negative inferences of our Symmetric Relay auctions.  As a result,
if we reach slam after a 15-bid auction our opponents are intrigued
rather than upset.  Indeed, on several occasions our opponents have
souvenired the bidding slip of the auction (Australia still mostly
uses written bidding) in order to show it off to their friends.

:-)


Best wishes

Richard James Hills, mentor
Divisional Executive Officer unit
People Services, Values & Training Division
(02) 6225 6285

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