[badderzboy]

In the English Bridge Union,

The orange book which contains allowable systems / conventions etc states you cannot pysche a strong 2 opening or Game/force opening (6.1.3 I believe) .

Is this unique to EBU or applied elsewhere? (ACBl/WBF etc).


Steve

[FrancesHinden]

It applies in other places, e.g the ACBL.
It will not apply any more in the EBU from August this year.

[Chamaco]

badderzboy, on Jan 30 2006, 10:18 AM, said:

In the English Bridge Union,

The orange book which contains allowable systems / conventions etc states you cannot pysche a strong 2 opening or Game/force opening (6.1.3 I believe) .

Is this unique to EBU or applied elsewhere? (ACBl/WBF etc).


Steve

The same applied in Italy till 2005.

In 2006 the problem has been "solved" altogether by the FIGB : now, in low/midchart events, ANY VOLUNTARY PSYCHE, of whatever nature, is automatically punished, regardless of the board result...

[Gerben42]

That's a strange rule. Do they have regulations when it counts as a psyche?

If you open 2♣ on ♠AKQJxxxxxx ♥x ♦x ♣x and say "but I have 10 tricks" does that count? (I know in England there are rules on "rule of XX" for such bids now). Or if you open a 15 - 17 NT on a 14-count with 6♣322? What if it was a 13-count? Okay if it was a 4-count I'd think it's a psych...

Seems to me is to bar psyching of a certain bid is directly in violation of Law 40A. On the other hand if you rule that any auction leading to an undoubled contract by the side that did not open a strong bid was fielding the psych you're better placed.

[Free]

In Belgium it's also not allowed, but it stretches to all artificial strong openings (including precision 1♣ for example).

[Chamaco]

Gerben42, on Jan 30 2006, 10:32 AM, said:

That's a strange rule. Do they have regulations when it counts as a psyche?

If you open 2♣ on ♠AKQJxxxxxx ♥x ♦x ♣x and say "but I have 10 tricks" does that count? (I know in England there are rules on "rule of XX" for such bids now). Or if you open a 15 - 17 NT on a 14-count with 6♣322? What if it was a 13-count? Okay if it was a 4-count I'd think it's a psych...

They mean it for "abnormal bids": that means either deviating 3+ hcp from a specifically announced range (e.g. NT openings) or "abnormal" shape deviations.

From this viewpoint, they have become les restictive in terms of length of 2suiters: even if one has announced a 54 2-suiters, in 2006, if one has a 44, he will not be punished (unless this occurs repeatedly).
In 2005, he would have been automatically punished.

The rule is intended to avoid "genuine" psyches, such as bidding a suit that you do not have or psyching a control bid, or psyching a strong NT when you have a bust with a long suit to runout.

I do not agree with banning psyches, but this year, at least, they have left room for "psyches" that are actually more hand evaluation/deevaluation rather that genuine psyches.

[Rebound]

To me, that is contradictory to my understanding of a psyche. If it is close enough a call that judgement is required to determine if the hand contains the values shown, then, by definition, it can hardly be called a "gross misstatement." Similarly, if it is close enough that judgement needs to be applied to determine if it is a psyche, then I think that means it is not a psyche.

I think banning psyches of artificial strong openings serves the purpose for which it was intended. As long as others are permitted I don't see a problem.

Just mho.

[Gerben42]

Quote

banning psyches of artificial strong openings serves the purpose for which it was intended

So what was this purpose? To satisfy the masses who already misguidedly think that psyching is a federal offence?

If psyches are recorded as they should there is no problem with this. People who do this too often will be punished nevertheless.

[barmar]

I don't know for sure, but I suspect the purpose is similar to the common prohibitions against "purely destructive" systems and conventions.

[mikestar]

badderzboy, on Jan 30 2006, 10:18 AM, said:

In the English Bridge Union,

The orange book which contains allowable systems / conventions etc states you cannot pysche a strong 2 opening or Game/force opening (6.1.3 I believe) .

Is this unique to EBU or applied elsewhere? (ACBl/WBF etc).


Steve

In the ACBL, it is not allowed to psyche any conventional opening--even a Polish 1C which is natural most of the time, technically not even 1C which is standard but might be a doubleton. (The GCC defines a minor suit opening as natural if it promises 3+ cards.)


Is this a correct quote from the Orange Book? Even in the ACBL it is legal to psyche a natural strong two--attempting to restrict this violates the Laws. The sponsoring organizations have full power to regulate conventions, but an agreement as to required values is not a convention per the Laws.

[FrancesHinden]

Indeed, the current prohibition is only against artificial strong openings.

I believe the motivation behind the original ban was a worry over the level of undisclosed partnership agreements around. If partner 'always' makes a 2D neg/waiting response to 2C unless he has a good suit, then you can open 2C with a weak 2 in diamonds and pass the response with impunity. In fact, you can have an agreement to do so and nobody will ever be able to prove it.

[barmar]

Hmm, my regular partner and I recently added a version of Mexican 2♦ (2♦ = 18-20- balanced) to our system, which means we've lost the weak 2♦. As long as we properly alert and explain it, would it be reasonable to use 2♣-2♦ as a way to get there? We also play that 2♦ is the only positive response to a 2♣ opening (we use 2♥ for the balanced negative hand, and other bids show a bust with a long suit).

[barmar]

Well, I just found my own answer, that agreement doesn't seem to be allowed by the ACBL General Convention Chart. It says that 2C can be used as an artificial bid to show one of a) a strong hand, or a three-suiter with at least 10 HCP. So it can't be used to show a weak hand with diamonds.

So even if you disclose it, they don't want you using that sequence to get to 2♦.

[Gerben42]

This is like an evil combination. You cannot psych a strong art. 2♣ but you cannot play 2♣ as strong or weak2 in ♦... BTW in international tournaments and most European countries this combination is all of: allowed, frequent and recommendable.

Minus point: You lose on Precision when they overcall since responder has to assume the weak variation (which has a frequency of about 85% of all 2♣ openers), but:

Plus point: You gain when opponents cannot overcall on weak hands since overcalling against a weak 2 would show a strong hand.

Bonus point: You can continue to use 2♥ as a direct 2nd negative.