[euclidz]

Can anyone tell me the correct (EBU Acol) rule for the following incident?

Play reaches 9th trick when defender realises he has 3 cards in his hand and everybody else has 4 ((for reasons unknown)he has 10 cards on the table whilst others have only 9 on the table).

[pran]

euclidz, on 2015-December-26, 05:06, said:

Can anyone tell me the correct (EBU Acol) rule for the following incident?

Play reaches 9th trick when defender realises he has 3 cards in his hand and everybody else has 4 ((for reasons unknown)he has 10 cards on the table whilst others have only 9 on the table).

See Law 67B2

[euclidz]

Law 67b2

Thanks for the helpful reply - I've read through 67 and I'll study it in depth later. I had a feeling that a revoke might be involved. What I can't get my head around is the process i.e. the whole room waiting whilst the Director goes through the play of previous tricks to identify where the revoke occurred.

[barmar]

BTW, there's no such thing as "EBU Acol rules". Acol is a bidding system (and the bridge club for which it was named), the Laws don't depend on your bidding agreements.

[euclidz]

barmar, on 2015-December-26, 09:51, said:

BTW, there's no such thing as "EBU Acol rules". Acol is a bidding system (and the bridge club for which it was named), the Laws don't depend on your bidding agreements.

Thanks for that I don't know if the EBU laws apply anywhere else other than in the UK and to the Acol system. I know for example the EBU produces bidding rules/levels which appear to (?) be aimed at the Acol system

[Trinidad]

euclidz, on 2015-December-26, 10:04, said:

Thanks for that I don't know if the EBU laws apply anywhere else other than in the UK and to the Acol system. I know for example the EBU produces bidding rules/levels which appear to (?) be aimed at the Acol system

The situation is quite complicated, perhaps I can explain.

There are two different kinds of rules.
The rules of the game
The tactical rules of the pair (team rules)

If you compare the situation to soccer, the rules of the game say (to name a few examples) that:

• the aim of the game is to score more goals than the opponent
  
• you are not allowed to play the ball with your hand
  
• what consitutes a foul
  
• when a player is offside and that the consequence is an indirect free-kick to the opponents
  
• ...

In bridge, the rules of the game are found in the Laws, and they say, e.g.:

• That you are supposed to take as many tricks as you can
  
• That you are supposed to follow suit
  
• What to do when a player revokes
  
• ...

One of the laws says that you are supposed to disclose your tactical rules to the opponents.


In addition to the rules of the game, soccer has regulations. These regulations are not universal. They are made by the organisation responsible for the event. E.g.:

• World championship matches are played with 6 referees (the local soccer league considers 1 impartial referee enough when each team delivers 1 linesman)
  
• In certain matches "goal line technology" may (should/will) be used to determine whether a goal has been scored. In other cases, there is no goal line technology
  
• There are additional regulations for the stadiums, etc,

For bridge the organiser of the event also sets regulations, that are not universal, e,g.:

• Smoking rules
  
• System rules
  
• Alerting rules
  
• The use of bidding boxes and convention cards

Within the EBU, the organizer of an event (e.g. a club) can (as far as I know) have their own regulations, but in general, they will follow the EBU regulations.

Other than the rules of the game, there are the tactical team rules.
In soccer, those team rules could be:
We play a 4-4-2 system. One of the rules of the 4-4-2 system is: "when the opponent's left full back, participates in their offense, he will be guarded by the right forward".

If the right forward does not guard the opponent's left full back, there won't be a referee in the world who will blow the whistle. But the coach and the team mates of the right forward may be thoroughly angry at the right forward. (Whether that helps is an other matter alltogether.) He has violated the tactical rules in play. (Coaches speak of a player's "tasks".)

In bridge, there are tactical rules for the pair. Just like the 4-4-2 system in soccer, Acol is one well-known set of tactical rules:
When you play Acol:
- your 1NT opening promises 12-14 HCPs
- your 1 level opening promises four cards
- jump raises are invitational
- ...
There is not a TD in the world, who will blow the whistle when you open 1NT with 18 HCPs or when you open 1♠ on a doubleton. But you are not going to make your partner happy, if you don't follow the agreed tactics: You will land in the wrong denominition, at the wrong level, or both.

This all changes when your partner starts to realize that your 1NT opening is often 18 HCPs and he raises you to game on 7 HCP hands. In that case, you are effectively not playing Acol anymore. That is fine, you are allowed to adapt your system over time, but one of the bridge Laws says that you need to disclose your tactics to the opponents. So, you will have to tell them that you are playing Acol, but with a 17-19 1NT opening.

Rik

[RMB1]

Trinidad, on 2015-December-26, 11:15, said:

[snip]
... That is fine, you are allowed to adapt your system over time, but one of the bridge Laws says that you need to disclose your tactics to the opponents. So, you will have to tell them that you are playing Acol, but with a 17-19 1NT opening.

+1

This a big difference between bridge and (most)(other) sports.

In american football and rugby one member of the team can announce what tactics they are going to use at the next play and this announcement can be in code, so that the opponents don't know what "play they will run" (if I have my american football jargon right).

In bridge, if you have an agreement about what you do in a particular bidding or play situation, the opponents are entitled to know that agreement. And you certainly can't use a code announcement to use different agreements: "banana" "1 heart" shows hearts, but "apple" "1 heart" shows spades; nor putting your pen pointing towards partner and leading a card means I have a higher honour in this suit; nor leading a card with your left hand means this card is a singleton.

[euclidz]

Thanks for all the helpful replies