[blml] 40B3, etc.

[David Burn]

[EL]

On Mar 25, 2008, at 7:41 AM, David Burn wrote:

> [RH]

> However, Law 23 does not bar better bids that you discover after  
> the fact, known as "rub of the green".

> For example, if you make an insufficient bid which cannot be untangled, so
> partner must call an enforced pass, and you choose a rational guess of
> punting 3NT, you keep your top if the field has had a scientific  
> auction to 6NT failing by one trick due to a 5-0 break.

> [RH]

> "...Damage exists when, because of an infraction, an innocent side  
> obtains a table result less favourable than would have been the
expectation  
> had the infraction not occurred..."

> [DALB]

> What is truth, and what is fable? Where is Ruth, and where is Mabel?

It is all truth; the fable is where we fut our cards.  Ruth is in the
expectation, where 6NT is superior to 3NT; Mabel is in the actuality, where
3NT is superior to 6NT.

The law-writers are to be commended for making it unambiguously clear that
it is Ruth, not Mabel, that counts here, by including the reference to
"expectation" (cited by Richard above) in the new L12.

[DALB]

It is not clear to me whether you would then adjust the score to 6NT down
one, which was the expectation had the infraction not occurred, or leave it
at 3NT making five, the actual table result. Richard seems to me to consider
on the one hand that the 3NT bidders keep their top, and on the other that
the innocent side has suffered damage and is entitled to redress.

One would expect the Australian answer to "Where is Ruth and where is
Mabel?" to be "Drinking - strewth! Under the table."

David Burn
London, England