[blml] ACBL LC Detroit minutes

[Eric Landau]

On Apr 7, 2008, at 10:42 AM, Robert Frick wrote:

> On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:31:36 -0400, David Burn  
> <dalburn at btopenworld.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I am an old man, and I can remember being set mathematics problems at
>> school
>> that contained the injunction "Show your working". This was, of  
>> course,
>> to
>> stop you simply writing down the answer at the back of the book, or
>> cribbing
>> it from a more competent classmate (my mathematics classes  
>> contained only
>> these).
>>
>> Similarly, if you "work out partner's intention" at the bridge table,
>> you do
>> so at least in part on the basis of agreements (implicit and  
>> explicit)
>> that
>> your partnership has. These must be explained to the opponents. So  
>> says
>> the
>> Law, so say John Probst and Grattan Endicott, and so say I.
>
> I disagree. If you can work out the meaning of a bid, based on  
> knowledge
> of your system that the opps do not have, you should have an  
> obligation to
> explain the meaning of the bid; it is inappropriate to just give  
> them the
> necessary information and see if they can work it out.

Your obligation is to tell them what you know.  It doesn't matter  
whether "you can work out the meaning of a bid"; what matters is  
whether you have in fact done so.  If you haven't, you are not  
obligated to do so on the spot for your opponents' edification.

> For example, the 1D opening bid in Precision shows an opening hand  
> and no
> other bid. Is that an acceptable explanation? I don't think so. If  
> I add
> "We play that 1C is 16+ HCP, 1M shows a five-card major, 2C shows a  
> 6-card
> club suit, and 2D shows 4-4-1-4 or 4-4-0-5 distribution, is that  
> enough?

It might be, if in fact you have just completed the last chapter of  
"Precision for Dummies" for the first time, and this was indeed all  
you knew that was relevant to the meaning of 1D.  But...

> I think the opps should be able to sit peacefully in their seats  
> and hear
> that the 1D openers shows an opening hand, fewer than 16 HCP, 2 or  
> more
> diamonds, and possibly as many as 5 clubs.

...now that you and your partner have actually played Precision once  
or twice, you *do* know what 1D shows (you've just proven it), and so  
does he, so the actual meaning, notwithstanding that you have never  
explicitly discussed it, has become a "partnership understanding" per  
L40A1(a), to which L40A1(b) applies.


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