Club director powers

[aguahombre]

I know that club directors can decide that Mid-Chart and higher conventions are allowed. But:

 

In an Open game (regular club rated), does the director have the power to forbid the use of properly disclosed conventions which are GCC approved?

 

(J2N, Xfers, stayman, NMF, Michaels, whatever)?

 

Not talking about some special game which is advertised as convention free....this is about deciding to exclude one or more GCC conventions.

[LH2650]

I have a copy of this on my computer, but the link on the ACBL site seems to be broken (or they have made a change and failed to implement it properly), so I can't prove that it is currently official. The link to Appendix A of the ACBL Handbook also seems to be broken.

 

From ACBL Codification, Chapter VI, Section F:

 

"A club manager can bar or allow specific conventions and can bar certain conventions in novice games but allow them in open games. The types of events for which this applies are club masterpoint games, club championships, club charity events, ACBL-wide events, unit championships, unit charity events, district charity events, and the North American Pairs events."

 

There are exceptions for events held across multiple clubs.

[blackshoe]

Yes, club management (in a sole proprietorship club, the club owner) can disallow GCC conventions. And often the TD and the club owner are one and the same. But buried somewhere in that ACBL Codification is the statement that clubs are supposed to publish their regulations in advance. Few clubs do (none around here). So you get the TD making a regulation "on the fly", which is IMO very bad practice. Unfortunately, since the ACBL doesn't care what clubs do in this regard, your only option if you can't convince the TD/owner to relent and don't want to accept the restriction is to "vote with your feet". :ph34r:

[aguahombre]

Well, the bad news is, it would be a long walk. The good news is that it is not an issue here in Scenic St. George. This was pursuant to a light-hearted discussion, with the Director saying he could ban Stayman if he wanted to. He doesn't want to.

[aguahombre]

Forgive me if this seems ridiculous, but what about agreements for, say second-round bidding and beyond which are not addressed at all in the convention charts?

 

(4th suit artif, forms of ace-asking, splinter rebids, etc.) Are there any bounds to the power of the local owner/director with respect to bidding style?

[Sadie3]

Local clubs can pretty much do what they want with maybe the exception of barring a player if it is an open club without going thru some legal manipulations. I once had a player so disliked by the other players that everyone in the club requested a sitout and avg - score just to not have to play against this player. (Imagine...one could have a 60% game without playing a card!) The ACBL is not really helpful in assisting with this type of problem, but I found that just telling the player that (s)he was bad for business and that I would prefer (s)he take their business elsewhere was the best way to deal with it. The player continued to attend my games for about another month but eventually left. ...and I suspect (s)he was thinking of sueing me if I said anything further.

 

For the most part, I believe it is not in the local club's best interests to make many restrictive rules regarding their games. Club games are the place to experiment with the exotic conventions before going to a tournament. I can understand restrictive rules if a club is frequented by a specific group and they wish to play only certain things. In my opinion that club should become invitational only and posts its membership rules and policies.

[Siegmund]

Two things.

 

One, let's make sure we don't confuse terms. The sponsor of the event (at the club level, the club manager) can set whatever conventions policy he wishes. The director enforces whatever the event sponsor's policy is. (In other words, no, a director cannot on his own initiative choose to allow midchart conventions -- but in some clubs the director and the club manager might happen to be the same person.)

 

At the club level that can be just about anything, from anything-goes to no-Stayman. The sponsor of a higher-level ACBL tournament is required to allow at least the GCC in all the non-novice games.

 

Completely separate from the above, the director has the authority to enforce the disclosure rules. Usually that consists of adjusting for damage or giving PPs for non-disclosure. Since properly disclosing an agreement is a requirement for all agreements, "either properly disclose it or take it off your card, your choice" is a perfectly legitimate demand for the director to make.

 

At one time, the standard ACBL policy for not having a convention card in a tournament was that you were obligated to play only items on the Limited Convention Chart until such time as you were displaying a pair of properly filled out cards. I only ever saw it enforced once (at a sectional in Helena, MT in 1997). I don't know if the regulation is still on the books -- but it shows there is a precedent for refusing to allow an otherwise legal convention because of not properly disclosing it.

[blackshoe]

At one time, the standard ACBL policy for not having a convention card in a tournament was that you were obligated to play only items on the Limited Convention Chart until such time as you were displaying a pair of properly filled out cards. I only ever saw it enforced once (at a sectional in Helena, MT in 1997). I don't know if the regulation is still on the books -- but it shows there is a precedent for refusing to allow an otherwise legal convention because of not properly disclosing it.

Not too long ago, I noticed that the regulation then in place referred to a requirement to play "category A" conventions, or some such. When I wrote to the ACBL asking about this, they in essence said "oops". and the regulation, which does indeed still exist, now says that pairs without a card have (I think) two rounds to correct that problem, or be required to play SAYC.