PANNAL BRIDGE CLUB

Club Etiquette and Procedures

Introduction

This document has been prepared by the club committee to provide members, both old and new, with some useful reminders on etiquette and procedures.  Our main aim in providing this text is to keep our club nights relaxed and friendly sessions.  As time passes and new members join it is useful to have some guidance in place to keep us all on the ‘straight and narrow’.

Whilst most existing members will already be aware of the majority of these points, we hope that the list will prove useful.  More experienced players are asked to be tolerant of those who are still learning their way around the intricacies of duplicate bridge and to provide gentle help and guidance where necessary.

The club meets on Monday evenings at Pannal Memorial Hall, play starting at 7.05 pm and ending by 10.15 pm.  Please make every effort to arrive and be seated by 7.00 pm as this allows movements to be decided and boards distributed for a prompt start at 7.05 pm.

Etiquette & Procedures

1)       Pannal Bridge Club is a friendly, non-affiliated club.  It is expected that all members are well mannered with their partners as well as their opponents and the club seeks to encourage good honest play whilst upholding the etiquette of bridge.

2)       The Tournament Director is in sole charge of the play and should be called if there is any decision to be made, or if a member has been affected by bad behaviour. The Tournament Director’s  word  is final.

3)       Please remember to switch off your mobile phone or set it to 'silent mode' before play begins.

4)       Always count your cards before looking at them.  If you don’t have 13 cards, call the Tournament Director (TD).

5)      Use the ‘STOP’ card when making a jump bid (including opening bids): take it out, leave it on the table for approximately ten seconds then put it away. The next player should not bid whilst the ‘STOP’ card is still on the table.

6)       Any bid which is a bid subject of a convention must be drawn to the attention of the opponents by the partner of the person making the bid. This is achieved either by announcing that bid, for example an opening bid of 1NT or 2NT announce point count, or 2Hearts opened announce weak or strong, transfers after a NT bid, etc. Other convention bids need to be alerted.  An alerted bid need only be explained if requested by the opponents.  When alerting a call, it is your responsibility to make sure that both opponents see the 'ALERT' card. As a general rule, if in doubt alert.

7)       During the bidding, you can only ask an opponent for an explanation of a bid made by their side when it’s your turn to call, and you must ask the partner of the player who made the bid, not the player who made it.

8)       At the end of the auction, the bidding cards of all players must remain on the table until after the first lead has been made.

9)       When you are on lead, make your lead face-down in case your partner wants to ask a question.

10)      Try not to take too long over bidding or when playing a card.  Best practice is to always try and play ‘in tempo’.

11)      Slow play is to be avoided as it disrupts the flow of the evening and can disadvantage pairs who as a result of slow play find themselves and their opponents having reduced time to bid and play subsequent boards.

12)      Unless dummy has left the table, declarer should never touch dummy’s cards, even to rearrange them. This avoids arguments about whether a card has been played or not.

13)      Remember that in an attempt to reduce revokes, (the most common error), now any player at the table can ask “Having None?” as a challenge. If a revoke is discovered at this stage before the trick in play is completed, the revoke can be corrected by playing the correct card, while the card played in error and causing the revoke remains face up on the table as a penalty card to be played at the first opportunity.  In this way no penalty tricks are incurred. However if a revoke is not discovered until after the trick in which the revoke occurred has been completed, then call the TD.

14)      As declarer, if you can clearly see that all the remaining tricks are yours you can, claim them rather than play on.  You must specify clearly your line of play, including a statement about drawing any remaining trumps.

15)      At the end of a board, make sure that all players are agreed on the result before shuffling your hand and putting the cards away.  North should be careful to record the score on the traveller fully and accurately, and East or West must verify it.

16)      Please call the TD immediately if you spot a possible error for a previously entered result on a traveller.

17)      Don’t spend time talking about a hand until you have finished all the boards in that round.  And if you do want to discuss a hand at the table, do it very quietly (otherwise people who haven’t yet played it might hear you).

Find a Partner

       A ‘Find a Partner’ service is available to members who find themselves in need of a partner on an occasional basis . This is by way of a WhatsApp Group administered by Ian Bergel who can add names to the group. His contact address is

        Email:   ian@ianbergelassociates.co.uk

Website

       Please check our website regularly for up to date information on all aspects of the club.  Weekly results, competition standings, any Monday evenings when the club will not meet and much more is listed here.  

       To find the website search for ‘Pannal Bridge Club’ or use the link;

       https://www.bridgewebs.com/pannal/

       Members will need to go through a registration process to obtain a User Id and password to gain access to the ‘Members Only’ area of the website.  Speak to any committee member for more information.

       Within the members only section you will find a full list of members with their contact details.

       Please respect the privacy of the information contained on the members list and do not provide the data to anyone else without the prior permission of the individual in question.

Club Competition

       The Webster Trophy is the club pair’s competition open to all members.  For the rules and standings check the website.

Communication

       The primary method of communication with members will be via email whenever possible.  Should any of the contact details you have provided change, please inform a member of the committee as soon as possible so that our records can be updated.

Thank you and enjoy your bridge.