Directors page

Mountnessing Bridge Club

Thursdays, 7.25 for prompt 7.30 start

Mountnessing Village Hall, Roman Road, Mountnessing, Essex

DIRECTOR'S PAGE

This page was last updated on 28/01/2010

On this page I have set out certain principles and guidelines to which the club will operate. As with all other content on this website, both club members and visitors are invited to pass feedback, ideally using the 'contact us' facility, or by using the 'comments box' available on club nights.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY (Updated 22/07/2008)

Most people would agree that it is irritating to hear a mobile phone ring while the club is in session. Further, most people would agree that it is discourteous to answer a call in a manner that disrupts normal play. Members are asked to SWITCH OFF phones while the club is in session; if a phone really has to be left on then it should be set to 'silent' mode.

In order not to spoil others' enjoyment, the club strictly operates this policy:

If a mobile phone is heard to ring then a fine of two match points will be applied
If the phone is answered in a manner that disrupts play then an additional fine of four match points will be applied
If a second mobile phone incident occurs on the same evening - whether or not the same player is involved - then the fines levied will be DOUBLE standard rate

The ONLY grounds for appeal against such fines will be if the call is literally a 'life or death' issue

Policy concerning SCORING ERRORS (Updated 22/07/2008)

The club operates to these principles:

Players should check the travellers carefully at the time the score on the board is recorded. If an odd-looking result is evident from play at an earlier table, then the Director's attention should be drawn. Any errors on the traveller can be corrected if both pairs agree at any time up to 12 noon on the day after club nights. Any recording errors identified after that time will be scored at face value and cannot be adjusted.
It is now standard practice as part of the scoring operation to enter the contract, tricks made, Declarer's orientation, and the score from the traveller. From time to time these entries are found not be consistent with each other. In such circumstances the scorer will initially provide a provisional result, usually based on a 'majority vote' (i.e., if three records are consistent then that will initially be assumed to be correct.) The scorer will then take all reasonable steps to verify the correct score with the players involved before the results are described as 'CONFIRMED'. As far as feasible such queries will be pursued by e-mail.
Players who notice potential transcription or typing errors made by the scorer when entering the results into the computerised scoring system can ask for such errors to be corrected if the issue is notified at any time up to 30 minutes after the posting of the results. For the purposes of this principle, the results are deemed to be formally posted on the wall at the Village Hall at 18:50 p.m. the following week. The results are normally available through this website by 10:00 on the day after club night, and as far as possible any errors should be alerted by 12:00 on Friday. PLEASE NOTE: it is now standard practice for results to be 'double entered' on the computer: this practice virtually eliminates any possibility of errors by the scorer.
If any such errors when corrected impact the results in any material way - for example affect the ranking order or the Local Points - then the original results will be cancelled and replaced by revised results. There could then be knock-on effects on issues such as the winners of the wine and ladder points, which will be based on the revised results.

UNAUTHORISED INFORMATION (UI) - Updated 22/07/2008

Please follow this link to read a very interesting article originally provided by Mike Graham, but now supplemented by comments provided by David Stevenson, from the Laws and Ethics Committee of the EBU..

BEST BEHAVIOUR (updated 20/03/2008):

Bridge is an extremely enjoyable game. Courteous behaviour is an exceptionally important part of that enjoyment. All players naturally follow the EBU's code of conduct but there are times when concentration and pressure can take their toll and it is for these situations that the EBU has issued its code as a reminder. Note also that the Essex Contract Bridge Association has a code of conduct statement on its website. It is particularly important that if a player feels that he / she has been infringed against, then that player should remain calm, call the director, and adopt a pure 'matter of fact' approach. Unnecessary aggression can cause upset and spoil enjoyment for others, even those not directly involved. The problem should be described factually to the director, who will reach either an 'on-the-spot' ruling or will offer a deferred judgement ruling. Few Directors are infallible, and the players have a right of appeal if they wish to contest the resolution - but remember - it is only a game!

DISPUTED BOARDS - FEBRUARY 21st 2008 (MEN'S PAIRS)

There were problems with two boards at three tables in the Men's pairs event on February 21st. All three examples revolved around the lack of an alert for penalty doubles of naturally bid suits below the level of 3NT.

We come to play Bridge to enjoy ourselves, but especially with the added tension of a major club championship, anyone who thinks that they have been 'damaged' by their opponents' perceived transgressions should call the Director as soon as the incident comes to light. See this special note about alerts of doubles.

KEY ROLES OF THE DIRECTOR

Two of the key roles of the Director on club nights are:

To decide on the appropriate movement (s)
To resolve any irregularities in mechanics, bidding, or play of the cards

Members may be confused about the new EBU rules concerning announcements
The EBU has recently issued a new template for convention cards
Following issues with the results for September 7th 2006, the club has adopted new and transparent guidelines concerning scoring errors

MOVEMENTS

NEW (23/02/2007): The club has now adopted a set of standard movements. The chosen movements depend primarily on the number of tables is each section.

IRREGULARITIES

In a relaxed atmosphere, if a player makes a lead out of turn or makes an invalid bid, it is awfully tempting to say "put it back - let's forget it", but unfortunately there is always the possibility that partner may gain an unfair advantage as a result - quite possibly unknowingly. Even if, for example, the 2 of a non-trump suit was exposed contrary to the rules of the game, then the offender's partner knows that the offender holds at least one card in that suit in, and he / she may adjust play accordingly. Further, given the way that Duplicate Bridge is scored, it is not just the two pairs at the table who may be impacted, but any other pairs in the section as well.

The important point is that the Director should be called as soon as an irregularity is noticed - if the players at the table try to resolve it, they risk making the situation worse.

The club is run under the auspices of the laws of Duplicate Bridge, 1997. These laws often contain phrases such as "... where a partner could have ..." rather than "... where a partner did..."

Irregularities may be of one of two types:

"Book rulings" - where the 1997 laws lay down clearly what the course of action should be. This category covers issues such as bids out of turn, insufficient bids, leads out of turn, revokes, etc. In these situations the problem facing the director is simply to ascertain which law (or laws) has been infringed, and then to explain all the options available to the non-offending player in order to redress the balance. A summary of the common situations of this type - and how they are resolved - is available from this link.
"Judgement rulings" - these are much more difficult to handle, and sometimes can only be resolved after the hand has been played or even at the end of the evening. These judgements tend to revolve around "unauthorised information". For example, if during the bidding a player pauses or asks questions, and then passes, his / her partner may draw the inference that he / she holds some values. The offender's partner is not allowed to use this unauthorised information, and so if he / she subsequently makes a bid it must be one that at least 70% of the players in the room would have made without the unauthorised information. It is no defence to say "but I always bid aggressively" - the issue is what 70% of the players in the room would have done, not what the individual player would normally do. Often, the Director will award adjusted scores to resolve situations of this type. If you find yourself faced with such a situation as a result of partner's actions, it is often best to pass (unless the call is absolutely clear-cut) and then, if appropriate, politely point out to partner later that but for the potential 'unauthorised information', the outcome on that board might have been different.

We all come to the club for an enjoyable evening out in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, and the best way of ensuring that is to try to avoid situations like this, but if one does arise, then please accept the ruling of the director courteously and do not 'take it out' on your opponents for raising the issue.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Players will have grown used to the idea of 'alerting' partner's conventional bids, but with effect from 1st August 2006 the EBU has introduced a new scheme whereby the rules about 'alerting' have changed, and some bids need to be 'announced' instead. The Mountnessing Bridge Club has adopted the new scheme.

A useful summary of the new rules has been downloaded from the EBU Website, but the main points are:

If your partner opens 1NT you must 'announce' the High Card Point range
If your partner opens a natural two of a suit you must 'announce' the strength - such as 'weak', or 'strong and forcing' or 'strong and non-forcing'; If the two of a suit opening is not natural (e.g., strong 2§, Multi, Lucas, etc.) it must still be alerted
If your partner responds 2§ to your 1NT opening and it is Stayman (whether promissory or not) 'announce' it as Stayman, but alert it if it is anything else. The 2¨ response to Stayman is no longer alertable'
If your partner responds in diamonds or hearts to your 1NT opening and this is a transfer bid, 'announce' hearts or spades as appropriate
Doubles of 1NT bids - including 1NT responses and rebids - are assumed to be for penalties and should be alerted otherwise. E.g., if in the sequence 1♥ no 1NT x the double is intended as a take-out of 1♥ then it is alertable.
Doubles of suit bids up to 3♠ are assumed to be for take-out, and must be alerted if otherwise. E.g., in 1NT 2¨ (natural) x - if the double is not for take-out it is alertable.
Bids above 3NT are no longer alertable EXCEPT artificial opening bids at the 4-level or higher

Some comments as to when doubles should be alerted can be viewed here.

NEW EBU STANDARD CONVENTION CARD

A 'blank' convention card in WORD can be downloaded from the EBU website for you to complete and print out. I have done this for the card that I use with my regular partner, but I should add a few cautionary comments:

In order to fit even brief comments into the spaces available I had to change the font size - typically down to 8, but sometimes to even less
To keep the result looking reasonably tidy, I had to make extensive use of the 'merge cells' and 'split cells' features within WORD
You may encounter print problems due to the very tight margins

However, with a degree of patience you can see this exercise through, and the net result looks very 'smart'. By way of proof, I am carrying a copy in my pocket!