Director's Ruling - Disputes

CALLING THE DIRECTOR

Decisions should not be made at tables by individuals but by the Director.

Always call the Director politely. Do not shout.

Please try to avoid the following:

·   Paying insufficient attention to the game.

·   Detaching a card before it is your turn to play.

·   Summoning and addressing the Director in a manner discourteous to him/her or to other contestants.

MADELINE LAWSON

Chief Director

QUESTION ASKING

When may I ask a question?

A player may ask for the meaning of a call:

A  at any time when it is his/her turn to call during the auction

B  before selecting the opening lead if on lead

C  after the opening lead is face down if partner is on lead

D  before the opening lead is faced if he is declarer

E  at his/her turn to play if she/he is declarer or a defender

Declarer may ask about the Defenders card play agreements

A  before the opening lead is faced

B at her/his turn to play throughout the play of the hand

IT IS REQUIRED THAT THE OPENING LEAD BE MADE FACE DOWN

Consequences of asking questions

A player who asks concerning a call which was not alerted and then passes has shown an interest which may well restrict her/his partners subsequent choice of action.   Although an ALERT reduces the likelihood that a question would appear to show interest the possibility is not excluded.

Every player should recognise that, where the answer to a question will not affect her/his immediate action, you are advised to defer your enquiry until the auction has concluded. 

Also if partner is on lead you should wait until your partner has made the opening lead facedown.

Please note you should make your face down lead THEN write the Contract on your card.

MADELINE LAWSON

Chief Director

Ethics and Helpful Hints  - Helpful Hints - (3) May 2011

SHOWING CARDS AND TOUCHING THE CARDS

Showing a card

Should you make to play a card and it becomes visible to your opponents it is counted as being played. 

Accidentally dropping a card

This does not include accidentally dropping a card on the floor or on your lap.  Should that happen when you are declarer you may replace the card in your hand. If you are defending it is an "exposed" card and should be left face up on the table and played at the first opportunity when it would be a legal to play - even if it does not suit you.

Touching cards

When playing from dummy, if you touch a card with the intention of playing it is deemed to have been played and you may not change your mind. You are allowed to push cards or move to get to the card you wish to play, but it is best to say you are doing this. The best guidance is to decide which card you intend to play, both from hand and dummy, and only then touch that card.

MADELINE LAWSON

Chief Director

Ethics and Helpful Hints  - Helpful Hints - (4) June 2011

NO TRUMP PLAY

When Dummy is put down do not rush - look carefully at your hand and dummy

Count the number of tricks you can take immediately (top tricks).   If you have enough to make your Contract - take them.  However, if you do not have enough

Tricks to make your Contract do NOT play out any of your winners yet.

Decide from which suit you will try to make your extra tricks (this is usually the suit in which you hold the most cards between the two hands) and attack that suit first while you still have high cards to protect your other suits.  When you can count enough tricks to make your contract then take them.

If your opponents lead a suit in which you hold only one stopper it is usual to duck the trick for as long as possible trying to exhaust at least one opponent (usually the partner of the opponents who has led the suit) of his supply of that suit.

To keep control push out your high cards before enjoying any of your winning cards in other suits.

If there is only one way to make 9 tricks you have to try it, however, if it is a finesse,

take your long suit first and squeeze the opposition as long as possible, but KEEP

Control.   Should you be able to do the finesse either way this gives you a little time to try and work out who may have the vital card.

Madeline Lawson

Chief Director

Ethics and Helpful Hints - Helpful Hints - (5) July 2011

WHEN IS A CARD CONSIDERED PLAYED?

Defender wants to withdraw a card

Should Declarer call the Director to the table because a Defender has retracted his /her played card? - Yes the Director should be called.

Even if the Defender insists he did not play it.

Both Declarer and dummy state they saw the card but the defenders partner says he did not see it because he was not looking - what is the answer?

The card is consideredPLAYED.

 Declarer wants to change their mind

North is Declarer and leads the 2d towards the AQ in dummy.  East plays the Kd and North says "Queen, no, I mean the Ace".   As long as the statement is made in the same breath this is allowed to stand - any hesitation it is not.

Madeline Lawson

Chief Director

Ethics and Helpful Hints - Helpful Hints - (6) August 2011

Sorry this is rather late but I don't know where the time goes to.

Thank you for the response on hands - very encouraging - I hope everyone received my reply but my computer was not working properly.  If you did not, please ask meat the Club or telephone me.

CALLING THE DIRECTOR

It appears that sometimes when there is an infringement of the Rules at a table the Director is not called.  Please ALWAYS call The Director even if you think you know what should happen, or someone at the table appears to know - no matter how experienced they are. Even if they are a Director themselves.

SWISS PAIRS

I thought you may all like to know about Swiss Pairs and how they are played.

You and your partner play a match (a number of boards usually 7 or 8) against your opponents. This is more than you would play at The Club where it is normally two or three boards.  At the end of the round the final score is calculated.  If you beat your Opponents you go up the ranking list if you lose you go down.

For the first round you would draw your opponents with a number of a table.  This is completely random   Everyone in the room plays the same boards.

This means that you only play against another pair once, and should you be drawn against a pair you have already played you will play the highest pair you have not played.

Scoring is done by the Director and each match is played for 20 victory points.   You share the 20 points between you and your Opposition.   You may win your match 20-0 or 14-6 or lose it 1-19 or draw it 10-10.   To win 20-1in Swiss Pairs you would have to achieve 66%.

Swiss Pairs are great fun and even if you are fairly inexperienced you will be playing someone of your own level in the field.

Swiss Pairs is very good for learning defence and teaching you to make that extra trick in a game or slam, as they all make a tremendous difference.

MADELINE LAWSON

Chief Director

Ethics and Helpful Hints - Helpful Hints - (7) September 2011

HESITATIONS

 One of the most common forms of unauthorised information is the PAUSE that suggests doubt. This is generally called a hesitation.   It is important to understand that thinking about the hand IS hesitating.

 When deciding whether a "hesitation" points to a particular course of action by Partner, The Director uses the following as a guideline:

1.              if a player hesitates and the passes, he would welcome a bid or double from partner.

2.            if a player hesitates and then doubles he would not be unhappy if his partner removed the double.

3.            after a suit is agreed if a player hesitates and then bid no trumps they would not be unhappy to hear their partner go back to the agreed suit.

MADELINE LAWSON

Chief Director