What/how much detail to disclose on an EBU system card?(What blank EBU card format should you use?)
My partner and I are trying to reduce the amount of detail /explanation on our system(s) card?
Our present card is crowded, full of detail and the size 9/10 font is difficult to read not just for us but for our opponents!
We were thinking of having a supplementary sheet/leaflet to accompany our new simplified system card.
Could you advise, particularly on the following pointers please?:
- What blank EBU card format should we use?
- What/how much detail should we disclose on an EBU systems card?
- Would words/phrases like Questem, Puppet Stayman, UCB, FSF, Lebensohl etc. suffice on their own, with full details on the
supplementary sheet? Or would they need some explanation on the system card?
Comments
This sounds like a good idea. I think players often forget that the system card is primarily to assist their opponents rather than being a complete repository of all their agreements, and if you keep in mind what is most useful to your opponents that will be a good guide.
You should find the answers to all of your questions in section 3 of the Blue Book. In particular
3 B 1(b) The EBU 20B system card is the standard EBU card.
3 C 1 The system card must give the meaning of all but the most well-known and unambiguous
agreements on it rather than just naming them. If the system card does not, a TD may deem
there to be misinformation resulting from the failure to give a clear and precise explanation
and this may lead to an adjusted score.
3 K 1 The section on the front of the EBU 20B marked ‘Other Aspects of System which opponents
should note’ should include brief details of any non-standard understandings such as canapé,
artificial suit responses to opening bids, special doubles at a high level, unusual overcalls (e.g.
‘Raptor’), or matters of style which are uncommon (e.g. very weak responses). Note that it is
sufficient to name an agreement in this section of the card as long as it is described in full
inside the card.
Many thanks Gordon. Comment and advice on how to proceed much appreciated.
I must confess that the 20 or so convention cards I have for different partners exist primarily to record our agreements to allow us to easily refresh our memory.
This fact has never caused a problem as the only aspect consulted by an opponent over many years (and this is reciprocated by me) is the leads, carding and discards. Nearly all bidding disclosure comes from annoucements, alerts and questions - a fact which might be driven by the level of completeness and accuracy usually present on CCs.
I would welcome a standard minimal card which provided just special opening bids and the carding and no more.
That is part of the motivation for what is on the front and back of the EBU 20B card.
I'm not so sure. The "aspects opponents should note" section ought to list any unusual openings against which one might wish to discuss a defence at the start of a round (albeit perhaps not a 2 or 3-board round in a pairs). I do refer to this on opponents' cards (although not always - a partner and I recently missed a game in a League match when we failed to discuss a defence to a 2 !c opening showing a weak two in diamonds or various strong hands, and when we were unlucky enough to find that it came up in the 6-board round, we found out the hard way that our (both perfectly reasonable) assumptions as to what immediate or delayed 2NT overcalls might mean were not the same.
The remedy, and perhaps also the reason it hasn't turned up for me, is that I do pre-announce strange openings (and sometimes more) to the opponents - playing a strange device and not warning the opponents of it turns this into a different game from the game I wish to play.