Snippets on the laws
One of our TD's, we have 3, told me he felt that our small, friendly club played kitchen bridge. With this comment in mind, I suggested we pick a topic and have a short talk on the appropriate law & then put a printout on the board for members to look at.
The first two were fine but the third was read out last week - topic Claims. The TD finished his talk by adding that, "if the claimer fails to say how he/she is playing their cards, the opposition is allowed to play the final unplayed cards". I told him that I thought he was wrong but said " no, you are wrong".
A retired TD often used this rule so I would like to know where this ruling came from. It is not in the 2017 law book.
Comments
Law 70 is fairly detailed on this topic. It's not correct that the opposition can play the cards if a complete line of play is not stated by the claimant when making the claim; the law says that "The Director shall not accept from claimer any successful line of play not embraced in the original clarification statement if there is an alternative normal* line of play that would be less successful." The note on "normal" says that "For the purposes of Laws 70 and 71, 'normal' includes play that would be careless or inferior for the class of player involved."
The usual interpretation is that declarer could do something careless but not something completely daft like leading low from hand and playing low from dummy, if holding obvious winners in the suit, for example. But "I would obviously find the squeeze play" will not be accepted, unless initially stated.
There is no doubt room for disagreement in some circumstances!
Best advice is to make a full statement of the line of play even if it seems obvious, and particularly if there are outstanding trumps.
You might think that, as per the above answer, when TDs are discussing something or indeed giving a ruling a law book might be consulted. Especially needed if "if the claimer fails to say how he/she is playing their cards, the opposition is allowed to play the final unplayed cards" is believed to be the law!😢
I think the origin of this misinformation is the rubber bridge laws of about 50 years ago.
Hi Johnathan
I believe Gordon has hit the right source.
On another note I find the opening comment interesting and just wondered why your TD felt the club was playing kitchen bridge? Also what were the other two laws you discussed and made available to the members? Did/have you had any feedback from the members, if so did it take you anywhere?