Club Matters

At our recent meeting we discussed a number of items that are of interest and relevance to those who play mainly in clubs.

Doubling and Alerting

The L&E have had a number of comments about alerting of doubles since the last set of changes in August 2006. We decided to ask the Club Committee what it thought of the present arrangements and a number of possible changes. They consulted amongst the clubs and the message came back loud and clear that:

1. Further change would be unwelcome.
2. The current regulations are not perfect but the club committee would like an effort to be made to help educate players as to what they are.

The L&E accepted the recommendation to leave the regulation alone and will be producing some material to help in the coming months.

The Orange Book

It’s long and, in clubs where most players play a simple and similar system, it can be over complicated. The L&E have started work on what is being provisionally called the "Tangerine Book". This will be a drastically shortened book for clubs and club players and will be available by April 2010 (to coincide with the introduction of pay to play). This will give time for the Club Committee to be consulted on the draft content.

Rather than print large numbers of copies it will be available electronically. Those who want to see the full detail can continue to look at the Orange Book.

The Law

A new law book comes along approximately every 10 years. It’s a common misconception that the Laws are produced by the EBU. They aren’t. It is the World Bridge Federation that does this job and the game we play is regulated by these Laws. There is a small element of choice in the latest version so the EBU decided, for example, to permit players to ask their partner the question they used to ask: "No hearts, partner". It is legal to do that now but must be done in a neutral voice to avoid giving information to partner. A shocked tone indicates it was a touch unexpected, for example. The next set of laws will not be produced for another decade or so. I’ve been given a number of laminated cards which explain common laws (revokes, leads out of turn etc) to help club directors. These are now out of date but the L&E is looking at updating and producing them for clubs. Any opinions on the most valuable ones to be done first are welcome.