What's worth learning by heart?
I know we all learn the regulations surrounding a LOOT as so many different Laws have relevance.
I would be interested in knowing whether experienced directors have also found it useful to have a similar rote knowledge of other sections of the Law book?
If so, which parts?
I am not suggesting this as an alternative to (explicitly) consulting the Law book at table, but more as a head start to finding and applying the ruling.
Comments
Revokes.
Insufficient bids
I always look them up, as well as calls out of turn, because it's easy to miss some detail of them or confuse the two.
No need to memorise anything (other than OLOOT), I just have a 2 page sheet of A4 of the main situations which I have used for years and seems to cover about 95% of situations which actually happen in practice in a club setting. The book is always on hand as reference but it does take time to find the section sometimes.
I have a pdf version of the laws book with hyperlinks abound and a quick links menu at the start. Works perfectly on a tablet. Happy to share it with anyone who wants it.
I think the comments above have covered the main items to become familiar with.
But scattered around the Laws, there are many references to other common laws.
As an example the final sentence in Law 31A(b) it says: Laws 16C, 26B and 72C may apply. !!
I find it helpful to remember at least the Titles of some most commonly referred-to laws, so you don’t have to look them up each time they are mentioned, to see if they are relevant.
The Titles I remember are:-
Law 16: Authorized and Unauthorized Information (may apply).
Law 23: Comparable Call
Law 26: . . . Lead Restrictions
Law 72: . . . Potential Damage.
Hope this helps,
Kind regards Steve
Excellent points.
"I always look them up, as well as calls out of turn, because it's easy to miss some detail of them or confuse the two."
I encourage club directors to learn the first part of the ruling about calls out of rotation and insufficient bids, viz the right of the next player in turn to accept the call. While they are telling the players about this they can be hunting through the lawbook for the relevant section covering what happens if it's not accepted.
Of course, they mustn't permit the next player to choose before the whole situation has been explained.
That's exactly how I do it!
I find the flow charts are excellent for dealing with the common situations: We have a laminated set with the law books. It works really well to put the flow chart in the middle of the table and talk the player(s) through their options - it is then transparent to everyone at the table what is happening, rather than hidden in a secret book.
Would be helpful to change the male pronouns to neutral "they" - it's awkward trying to adjust "he" to "she" when reading through it for female players.
"They" is quite awkward. I just call them North, South etc. and don't use pronouns.
I do agree about remvoing gender bias from the material though.