[blml] Clarification... [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[Herman De Wael]

richard.hills at immi.gov.au wrote:
> Eric Landau:
> 
>> The WBFLC need to define observable criteria that indicate a
>> tendency has become an implicit understanding.  "Psychic" is a
>> red herring that can only distract from the real issue.
> 
> Richard Hills:
> 
> President Bill Clinton once said, "Abortion should be safe,
> legal and rare."  My interpretation of the criteria laid down
> in the WBF Code of Practice is that, "Psyches should be unsafe,
> legal and rare."  A particular rare psyche should not be made
> safe for partner by a player _always_ perpetrating that rare
> psyche.
> 

So far, so good.

> That is, in my opinion, a player's general permission to
> deviate from his side's announced understandings is limited to
> those cases when their partner has no more reason to be aware
> of the deviation than have their opponents.
> 

And this.

But then:

> In my opinion there is no general permission to _repeatedly_
> deviate from announced partnership understandings, since such
> repetition leads to implicit partnership understandings which
> then form part of the partnership's methods and must be
> disclosed (if legal) or refrained from (if illegal - such as,
> for example, a banned HUM method of automatically opening 1H
> with 0-4 hcp in third seat).
> 

What's with this word "repeatedly"? Yes, I've said that I always do 
it, but what does that matter? Over and above 1000 third-in-hand 1He 
openings, there are maybe 4 that qualify for the H1H. I know I've said 
I always open them, but sometimes you just don't feel the urge, and I 
pass anyway. So I open 3 out of 4. That means that in 1003 times I 
open 1H, 3 times it's psychic. Now of course it is possible that my 
current partner remembered that last time, and that is why I believe 
this must be revealed, but you cannot treat me any different from 
another player, who opened 2 out of 4, or even one who opened 4 out of 
4. Because our psyching frequency (3 out of 1003 or 2 out of 1002) is 
exactly the same (and I doubt if we open all 1000 same hands !)

So even if there is "automatic" psyching, to the rest of the table it 
is just a freak occurence.

And I repeat, if you are going to call my psyches illegal for none 
other reason than because I said I "always" did them, then I'll no 
longer say I always do them. I'll just let you figure it out for 
yourself, and admit to 3 psyches without revealing whether I had 3 or 
30 suitable hands in that period.
-- 
Herman DE WAEL
Antwerpen Belgium
http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/index.html