Unauthorised
Information
By Mike Amos
Law 16 & 40
footnote
The English Bridge Union runs training
courses for Tournament Directors at all levels - from those just
intended for people who want to learn about running a small duplicate
and acquiring the skills of a Club Director to more advanced courses
for County and even Panel Directors. Although I'm often a tutor
for these courses, I recognise that I can often learn from the problems
other people have and so I always invite them to ring me or send
queries. After a recent course in Doncaster, Cheryl Duddell rang
me with the following query: -
The scorecards we use at our
club have a space for recording the opening lead alongside the contract.
One lady at our club has the habit of writing the lead down at the
start of play and then later of opening her scorecard and referring
to this to remind herself of the opening lead. We are sure this
is against the Laws of the game but how can we prove it to her?
Like Cheryl, I was pretty sure that
this was against the Laws, but at first sight I wasn't certain that
I could put my finger on the particular Law which would make this
illegal.
Law 16 has to be the starting point
LAW 16 - UNAUTHORISED
INFORMATION
Players are authorised to base their
calls and plays on information from legal calls and or plays, and
from mannerisms of opponents. To base a call or play on other extraneous
information may be an infraction of law.
In one sense this is very clear,
we can base our game on legal calls, plays and mannerisms
of opponents and nothing else. Most experienced bridge-players
understand this Law pretty well. Legal calls, plays and mannerisms
of opponents are authorised information - everything else
is not. Law 16 goes on to describe some common situations
- such as for example when partner provides Unauthorised Information
by hesitating, failing to alert and the like or when we overhear
information from another table. However this doesn't really help
Cheryl - she'd like a Law that says "You mustn't write down
the opening lead and refer to it later. If you do we'll ……"
We finally found the clearest answer
in a rather surprising place - the footnote to Law
40 which is really about Conventions and agreements and their
disclosure to opponents.
The footnote reads
A player is not entitled, during the auction and play periods,
to any aids to his memory, calculation or technique. However, sponsoring
organisations may designate unusual methods and allow written defences
against opponents' unusual methods to be referred to at the table.
We cannot for example refer to our
own convention card nor to our scorecard if it records the opening
lead.
What should Cheryl do if this continues?
Not a lot I guess - a bit of gentle persuasion, a friendly smile
at the foibles of others. It wouldn't worry me a great deal, after
all, if a player in a club game is having difficulty in remembering
the opening lead then they are unlikely to pose much of a threat
to the rest of us.
This will probably get me into trouble,
but I do think that in a club situation, we have to make compromises
about some such relatively trivial things to keep the peace (but
not for example rude or boorish behaviour). If she continues to
do it, one technique might be for her opponents to ask her what
the lead was when she has looked at her card, so that everyone at
the table shares the same advantage. My guess is she'd soon get
fed up.
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