[blml] new L27

[David Burn]

[TK]

It is important to understand that a replacement by 2H makes the auction
normal (no further rectification) 

But it is worth discussing the possibility of other substitutions.

Formally spoken when 1H is made with at least 5 hearts a splinter or 2NT is
not a more precise call (assuming it may show 4 hearts). The question now is
are we going to say no to such a substitution?

Discussing this among top TD's in the Netherlands some did not like the idea
that the system being played will get such a dominant place when bidding
insufficiently (conclusion: players withe the tendency to make insufficient
bids frequently should have a system in which calls have no meaning, then
the substitution certainly will be more precise).

[DALB]

I sent this a few days ago to a couple of members of the DSC:

I have been wondering what the phrase "more precise" means in the context of
the new Law 27.

One might imagine that a statement A about a bridge hand is "more precise"
than a statement B if there are fewer hands about which A can be said than
there are hands about which B can be said. For example, the statement "I
have 0-12 points" is more precise than the statement "I have 0-13 points".

The statement "I have exactly 13 hearts" supplies complete information about
my hand. The statement "I have exactly 12 hearts" may in the sense above be
regarded as less precise, because there are 507 hands with 12 hearts and
only one hand with 13. But it is not clear to me that this is what is meant;
by this token, the statement "I have exactly three hearts" is less precise
than the statement "I have exactly four hearts" (there are 181,823,183,256
hands with exactly three hearts and 151,519,319,380 hands with exactly four
hearts, if anyone cares).

Yet intuitively, whereas one might think "I have 13 hearts" is more precise
than "I have 12 hearts", it is far from obvious (and may not be intended)
that "I have four hearts" is more precise than "I have three hearts" (while
less precise than "I have two hearts" - there are only 130,732,371,432 hands
with exactly two hearts). Similar difficulties may arise, of course, when
talking about point counts.

I received a reply to the effect that one would not be allowed to replace a
call meaning "I have four hearts" with a call meaning "I have three hearts".
This of course is perfectly true, but Ton's question above remains
undecided. If the definition of "more precise" that I have outlined above is
the intended definition, we arrive at this conclusion: a pair playing
four-card majors may bid 1H-2NT (Jacoby) having previously bid 1H-1H,
because both the second 1H call and the replacement 2NT show opening values
with 4+ hearts. But a pair playing five-card majors may not make this
replacement, because the second 1H call shows at least five hearts while the
replacement 2NT shows at least four (and is therefore less precise - there
are more hands with at least four hearts than with at least five).

That seems a bit silly. But...

David Burn
London, England