June 2019 - 32

For the Record
BY ROBB GORDON | ACBL National Recorder

Stretching the truth

I recently noticed an article on
Bridge Winners, the popular bridge
blog, that was of interest to me as
National Recorder. It was titled "10-19
Notrump."
For the entire history of contract
bridge, in all its forms, there have been
"asymmetrical" partnerships - where
one player has significantly more
experience and/or skill than the other.
Sometimes this involves two people
in a relationship or friendship, sometimes it is a teacher playing with a
student, and sometimes it is a sponsor
playing with a pro.
Law 72A states, "Duplicate bridge
tournaments should be played in strict
accordance with the Laws. The chief
object is to obtain a higher score than
other contestants whilst complying
with the lawful procedures and ethical
standards set out in these laws."
In the quest for a "higher score,"
players will sometimes take actions
that aren't normal, and this is OK if it

is done legally. For example, it is not
unreasonable for the better player to
sometimes prefer to play notrump
from their side rather than to allow
partner to play the theoretically better
major-suit contract.
When does such manipulation cross
the line into illegality?
Because of the high probability of
becoming declarer when one opens
the bidding with a natural notrump
bid, the better players are tempted to
stretch the definition of their notrump
agreements to the extent of extending
the range a point or two or three. There
is also temptation to bid notrump with
unusual distributions, including hands
with low singletons.
Current ACBL regulations do not
permit an opening 1NT range of more
than 5 HCP. Also, you are not allowed
to have an agreement to open 1NT with
fewer than 10 HCP (you are allowed to
miscount, but you need to be convincing!), nor with a low singleton.

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The committee invites members in good standing to nominate one person or pair for the
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To propose an Honorary Member of the Year candidate, email Kelley Trejo at kelley.
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Year.

32 Bridge Bulletin June 2019

These rules have become strict. If
you play 15-17 notrump openings, and
you decide to upgrade your nice 14
HCP hand occasionally, that's OK. But
if you play 13-17, you are already at
the maximum permitted range. If you
upgrade a 12 HCP hand or downgrade
an 18 HCP hand, you may be subject to
penalty and/or a score adjustment.
While these rules apply to 1NT opening bids, they don't apply to overcalls
or higher NT opening bids. However,
when you do things like this, or psych
in certain situations on a regular
basis with the same partner, you have
created an undisclosed partnership
agreement, which is against the rules
and could get you disciplined. This is
true regardless of whether you've ever
discussed it with partner. Just because
you never discussed it, you can't assume, nor can you prove, that partner
hasn't taken these habits into account
when deciding what to do.
The second post that caught my eye
involved a situation where the "pro"
held:
♠Q 10 x x ♥x x x ♦x x ♣A K Q x.
Partner opened 1♦, and the pro
decided to respond 1♥ (natural) for
some reason. Partner jumped to 3♥,
and now the pro bid 3NT. Partner,
holding a nice hand with a low singleton club, passed rather than going back
to 4♥! That suggests an agreement or
understanding from past experience in
which partner knows to let the pro play
3NT. This is illegal. You can't even get
away with it by Alerting, because then
it becomes a "psychic control," which
is not permitted.
◾

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June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2019