[blml] ACBL LC Detroit minutes

[Eric Landau]

On Apr 8, 2008, at 3:37 AM, Herman De Wael wrote:

> Alain, you don't seem to understand my argument. When it turns out
> that a player has the same idea about the meaning of a certain call
> than his partner, it is up to him to prove that this is not due to
> some form of partnership understanding. (The director is to  
> presume ...).

"...in the absence of evidence to the contrary".  I trust we do know  
the difference between that and "it is up to him to prove..."

> Now of course it is possible that the understanding was just a lucky
> guess. A player is allowed to say "We don't have any understanding".
> He is allowed to look into his hand and guess a meaning from that. But
> he'll have to convince the TD that that is what he has done.

The TD gets to look at the player's hand too, and if it is consistent  
with the player's story that's one piece of "evidence to the  
contrary".  But if a TD determined to exercise a presumption of  
misexplanation requires him to "prove" otherwise, the player's hand,  
CC and notes, together, will not satisfy.  The TD should make an  
ordinary (L85) balance-of-probabilities finding.  "The director is to  
presume... in the absence of evidence to the contrary" requires  
"absence of evidence to the contrary" -- it is a directive that tells  
the TD only what to do when he can find no actual evidence to consider.

> I realize there are cases where this is in fact true, but in the vast
> majority of cases there is reason to believe that players know more
> than they are telling.

Perhaps we should waterboard them.  Seriously, ISTM that any director  
who can say this lacks sufficient competence at "ascertain[ing] the  
facts" [L85A] to be plying his trade.  Perhaps I'm particularly naive  
for a TD, but it is only on the very rarest of occasions that I ever  
feel like I might have "reason to believe that [the] players  [whom I  
am questioning] know more than they are telling".


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