[pdmunro]

Bridge player with damaged psyche heads for the Queensland Supreme Court: "denied natural justice"

[mrdct]

I couldn't get that link to work, but after a bit of googling I think I've found the relevant article here.

Cairns bridge club court action
Gavin King
Thursday, September 9, 2010
© The Cairns Post


The usually sedate sport of bridge is being taken all the way to the Supreme Court over allegations of score tampering.

One of the city's champion players is suing the Cairns Bridge Club over accusations he had tampered with scores.


[edited by uday, concerned about pasting full articles.]. Original full article here:

Original story

[Fluffy]

I read it all but I couldn't understand who cheated with the scores, and who was damaged.

[W Kovacs]

Fluffy, on Sep 9 2010, 08:33 AM, said:

I read it all but I couldn't understand who cheated with the scores, and who was damaged.

It sounds like it was Ken Miller, from what I read.

Here's what I got: the club suspected some tampering of scores had been going on. They hired a computer expert to show how easy scores could be tampered with. They also hired a second expert to find proof that external hacking had taken place.

When the results of both investigations turned up positive, this Ken Miller (the club champion) was shown the door. So Ken got mad and turned around to sue. The article doesn't mention whether any of the evidence pointed to Mr Miller's guilt, either conclusively or circumstantially. I'd imagine his scores were the ones tampered with.

[barmar]

I like this quote:

Quote

"I'm a grandmaster of bridge, I've sat on the Australian Bridge Federation board and represented the Northern Territory in bridge competitions about 13 times.

He'd hardly be the first player if this caliber accused of cheating. Need I mention the recent controversy over a past ACBL president?

[jdeegan]

Speaking as a Texan who has visited Cairns, the lovely gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, I can tell you that it is a nice relatively small town with all the usual conveniences associated with first world civilization. What is different is that its northernmost traffic light is the last one for the next 1000 miles. Perhaps, the unusual environment helped shape the participants' actions.

[PeterGill]

I would assume innocence until proven guilty.

Session scores from the club are available online, e.g.
http://www.cairnsbridgeclub.org.au/showRes...sults/2010/0215.

Being IMO the best player at the club in question (except IMO for the rare occasions when Trevor plays at the club), it is no surprise to me that Ken would win there a lot. That can create jealousy. I wonder what the outcome will be.
I live thousands of miles south of Cairns, by the way.

[ArtK78]

It seems, in the opinion of the membership of the Cairns Bridge Club, that Mr. Miller has already been found guilty. That finding is the only justification for termination of his membership in the club.

Mr. Miller is following the route previously tread by many who were found guilty of misconduct by duly empowered bridge organizations - file suit. His action is a civil action, not a criminal action, so it is not a matter of guilt or innocence. It is a matter of defamation, and whether the club was justified in the actions that it took.

I can only hope that the actions that the club took were based on the facts of the case, in which case the court should find for the club. If it is found that the club acted for reasons other than the facts of the case, the court should find for Mr. Miller.

[billw55]

I get the feeling that accusations of cheating often are made when the accusers already have a beef with the accused, about other things, whether they say so or not. Is this case one such? I wonder.