[blml] Split score

[Eric Landau]

On May 9, 2007, at 6:40 PM, Adam Beneschan wrote:

> Laszlo Hegedus wrote:
>
>> #2 If the sacrifice seems really bad with the MI as well, then result
>> 5H*-2 stands and give a procedural penalty to the OS.
>
> In your part of the world, I believe this only applies if you can
> judge the 5H bid to be "wild, irrational, or gambling"; in that case,
> you can rule that the 5H bid was not caused by the misinformation and
> thus no adjustment is necessary.  In the ACBL, the standard is a bit
> looser---the bid just has to be egregiously bad to break the causative
> link.

It was Edgar Kaplan who introduced us to the concept of an "egregious  
error" that "breaks the causative link" between an infraction and  
subsequent damage.  While I'm confident that Adam is correct in the  
context of current ACBL and European practice, if one actually reads  
Kaplan's original writings on the subject it is pretty clear that the  
standard he intended to set would have been a good deal tighter than  
the Europeans' "wild, irrational or gambling", more like just  
"irrational".

The Europeans intended their standard to cover not only "egregious  
errors" but also obvious "double shots".  Current American practice  
notwithstanding, that was never Mr. Kaplan's intention.


Eric Landau
1107 Dale Drive
Silver Spring MD 20910
ehaa at starpower.net