[blml] ACBL LC Detroit minutes

[Eric Landau]

On Apr 7, 2008, at 10:52 AM, Alain Gottcheiner wrote:

> Eric Landau a écrit :
>
>>
>> Possibly never.  You can't hide behind "no agreement" just because
>> you have no specific agreement about the particular call in
>> question.  If you are disclosing ethically, "no agreement" should
>> mean that you have no agreement whatsoever that might be potentially
>> useful in determining what the call in question might mean.  IOW, it
>> should be the same as "I haven't got the foggiest clue" -- and if
>> that's the case, you're better off saying it outright.
>
> Okay, I can accept that. Now, am I thereafter allowed to guess  
> right or
> not ? Remember, that was the initial question.

Of course you are.  If you genuinely "haven't got the foggiest clue",  
the quality of your guess will depend entirely on (a) your experience  
and knowledge of bidding systems and methods in general, (b) your  
exposure to or self-generated insights into the general principles of  
bidding theory, and (c) your ability to apply the rules of logic to a  
set of facts to deduce or infer logical conclusions.  These are bona  
fide "bridge skills" that legitimately differentiate better players  
from inferior ones.  They are not extraneous advantages to be  
"redressed" in the interest of an a priori "level playing field".  It  
isn't illegal to be better at bridge than your opponents.


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