RMB1

Are you refering to EBU Appeals 2007 Appeal No. 28!? I think we only fine in aggravated circumstances. The normal penalty, as Frances describes, is having a weary looking TD sigh at you. Robin

... and am I allowed to know the form of scoring: match points v IMPs?

Changing names also obscures bridge achievements. The Portland Pairs (the British Mixed Pairs Championship) has been won three times by three different people. In the list, the two men are more obvious than the woman who has won with three different surnames. Unless I have overlooked someone. Robin

"Tempest in a teapot." :) In English there is more than one equivalent because, in England, the equivalent is "a storm in a teacup". Robin

I don't think that is the way the law works. The process is that a player substitutes a call, the TD rules it is not permitted under Law 25A, now LHO gets the option of accepting the substituted call. The process is not that the player or TD gets to ask LHO whether he will accept a substitued call before that call has been made/named. So, without screens, both partners will see the substituted call before LHO decides whether to accept it. This commits the player to creating more UI before the call is accepted or not. With screens, the situation is not symmetic if East or West want to substitute a call. Do they have a right to get the tray back (before unseen LHO calls), make a substitute call, and pass the tray again, to see which call LHO will accept. I'm not sure a player is allowed to substitute a call in the hope that LHO will accept it. Just as a player is not allowed to make an insufficient bid or a call out of rotation in the hope that LHO will accept the illegal call. Robin

I think strictly a range is a set (of possible values), it is often an interval (a set without gaps). A range is not strictly a number. An interval may have a number associated with it, for examle the number of possible values or (alternatively) its length. The number associated with a range may also be called the "range" but it depends on context. Statistics usually deals with real-valued quantities, for example heights, weights. A range of such values (an interval) has a length which is max-min. Other quantities are integer-valued, for example number of cards, number of oranges. A range of such values has a "number of possible values" which is max-min+1. Naively, HCP are integer-valued and 13-15 is a range of 3 values or a 3-point range. [if HCP are regarded as real-valued then the 2-point range 13.0-15.0 excludes half the 13HCP and half the 15HCP hands (or excludes almost all the 15HCP hands). The integer-valued range 13-15 probably corresponds to 12.5-15.5 (or 13.0-15.99), again a 3-point range.] Robin

Under the heading "Perfect Bridge Hand" the Official Encyclopedia of Bridge gives the figure as 3756. By my calculation, this breaks down as follows. Shape nCr x Hands 10111 120 4 480 9211 126 12 1512 8311 56 12 672 8222 56 12 672 7411 7 12 84 7321 7 24 168 7222 7 4 28 6511 1 12 12 6421 1 24 24 6331 1 12 12 6322 1 12 12 5521 1 12 12 5431 1 24 24 5422 1 12 12 5332 1 12 12 4441 1 4 4 4432 1 12 12 4333 1 4 4 Total 3756 nCr = binomial n choose (13-n), where n>6 is the length of the longest suit x = number of shapes of a given pattern Robin

I don't think Paul wanted to ban HUM/BSC in Scotland. His concern was that of a team captain who would lose seating rights if his team had a pair playing HUM/BSC. He was not convinced that the advantage of his pair playing HUM/BSC was worth the loss of seating rights, he didn't think that his team's opponents should not play HUM/BSC. The Scotish Bridge Union could decide that their international teams would not employ HUM/BSC because they prefered to retain seating rights. I understood Paul was looking for input to see if the SBU should adopt such a policy. It was an interesting question but the direction the thread went was not. Robin

The EBU L&E committee do not like the word "ban", they just fail to allow/permit. :) In TRS was only briefly allowed under the previous arrangements for licencing systems and conventions, that was replaced by levels 1/2/3/4/5 over a decade ago. TRS only had an experimental licence - allowed in national events of 32 board matches or longer. The relevant year books of the L&E committee show: EBU Licenced System: June 1987 TRS - Experimental Licence application pending EBU Licensed Systems: September 1988 TRS - Licence lapsed As I remember, a successor to TRS was the DAW pass. The main difference was that the "responses" to the medium opening pass in TRS were artificial negatives 1C/1D and natural GF positives, in DAW I think there was one artificial GF positive. DAW had an experimental licence after TRS. Under the new scheme, experimental licence were replaced by level 5, which was expressed in terms of other EBU and EBL permitted systems/conventions. Robin

I think I was the TD who was asked, by the overcalling side, to record this hand. The opening bidder (the psycher) was flabberghast - not for having his psyche recorded (responder's actions were clearly kosher) but that the overcalling side would want their actions recorded. When the hand record was reviewed, it was indeed the overcalling side whose actions attracted interest (seen as evidence of a concealed understanding). Robin

www.nationalrail.co.uk says change at Birmingham and Preston, journey time 3 hours. maps.google.co.uk says M6 and M55, journey time 2.5 hours. :rolleyes: Robin

There is insufficient evidence that EW play 3♦ as a transfer overcall. So I rule (Law 75) that EW agreement was 3♦ was natural. So South was misinformed and would not have bid 3NT with the correct information. What South would have bid is a harder question and I would ask some players: 4♣ and 4♠ are possible, 4♦ would be interesting if it was choice-of-games. I would adjust to some weighting of some of 4♥, 4♠, 5♣ making however many tricks. If I can not give weighted scores, I award the most favourable of those results. Robin

Just to be clear, this should be EBL="European Bridge League". Robin

Yes the other couple were two men. Nevena was billed as "doesn't believe in same-sex relationships".

"this decade" :huh: What I will refer to it after 2010, I don't know. I don't think I have a name for the decade including 1901-1909 - except "the first decade of the century". Robin

Law 75 in the new law book is a collections of examples. The force of the old law 75 is now in law 20F5b: "The player [whose partner has given a mistaken explanaction] must call the director ... " Robin

I tried to log on to BBO this evening: starting at 19:00 BST (18:00 GMT) it took over 30 minutes to load the player list and table list. When I tried to view the vugraph from London, the system was again "waiting response from server"; eventually I gave up. I tried again at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT) and got an almost immediate response, and loaded the vugraph from Brazil. Was this "just one of those things"? :D Robin

It looks like we need more cards in the bidding box. Previously, people have found Double cards marked both "D" and "X", and suggested one for takeout and one for penalties. Now it looks like we need two or three 4NT cards, marked "4NT (natural)", "4NT (RKCB)", and "4NT (T/O)". ;) Robin

Worked for me. 1. Download Windows Binary Release to my desktop 2. Extract the zip file to the desktop 3. Open Command Prompt 4. C:\Documents and Settings\Robin>cd Desktop 5. C:\Documents and Settings\Robin\Desktop>cd deal311win 6. C:\Documents and Settings\Robin\Desktop\deal311win>cd deal311 7. C:\Documents and Settings\Robin\Desktop\deal311win\deal311>deal works, as do deal.exe .\deal .\deal.exe Robin

LHO can only change his card if declarer changes his card (Law 62C2, 1997 or 2007). Robin

In my story from this hand, the opening bid was 1♦, NS bid hearts, West (1057) bid clubs and diamonds, and when EW bid 6♦, North bid 6♥. Now East had a think (this is when I turned up - monitoring time) and emerged with 6NT; passed back to North who soon concluded that double was greedy. South lead a major and they took the first seven tricks (6NT-6). If doubling 6NT pushes EW to 7♦ then North will be very sick: a spade lead is only -1 and any other lead is making. Robin

I think you make on a trump lead: 1. win in South, 2. diamond to K, 3. win trump in North, 4. ruff spade, 5. diamond to Q, 6. ruff spade, 7. club finesse, 8. ruff spade, 9. club to North, 10. cash trump, and South has winning diamonds.

It is called "Crowhurst" in England - I heard the name used last weekend at Brighton. It is the defense that Crowhurst recommends in his book on competitive bidding. More commonly "Crowhurst" means a check-back 2♣ bid. John and Julian Pottage played 2♣=1 suit, 2♦=2 M, 2M = M+m; I guess this is Cappaletti/Hamilton. So the defense in question is "Pottage" with the 2m responses swapped and is/was also called "Reverse Pottage" or evn "Egattop". Robin