ORANGE BOOK 2006
The Handbook of EBU
Directives and Permitted Agreements is colloquially known as “The Orange
Book.” A major revision comes into
effect on 1st August 2006.
It is up to the Club to decide whether any or all of this should apply
at our meetings, but past experience is that clubs do conform, and players come
to expect this. Chiltern Edge will be
adopting the changes. This article
covers Announcing, Alerting, other
changes, asking and answering
questions, and when things go wrong.¨
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announcements
have been in use in some other countries, so they are not a completely untried
idea. They will apply in four
situations, and work as follows:-
1.
When you
open 1 no-trump partner will be expected to state the range, e.g. 12 - 14. The announcement is immediate - partner
does not wait until it is their turn.
Note that announcements do NOT apply to 2 no-trump openings or 1
no-trump overcalls.
2.
You open 1
no-trump and partner bids 2 clubs which is Stayman. You no longer alert, but instead say “Stayman” Stayman is defined as asking partner to bid
a four card major or to bid 2 diamonds to deny one. Variations of this will still be alerted. Again, this applies only to Stayman over an
opening 1 no-trump. If you play Stayman
over two no-trump openings, one no-trump overcalls, or one no-trump doubled,
these should continue to be alerted.
3.
The same applies with red suit
transfers. If over your opening one
no-trump partner bids two diamonds, promising at least five hearts, you should
say “hearts” and if instead they say two hearts
to show at least five spades, you should say
“spades” Players using two
spades as a transfer should continue to alert this as it can have different
meanings. Once again, if you use
transfers over calls other than an opening one no-trump these should continue
to be alerted.
4.
The last
announcement comes after an opening bid of two of a suit which is natural. If this is a strong two, as in Acol,
partner announces “strong and forcing” unless
you have agreed that with a completely worthless hand the opening bid may be
passed. In this case the announcement
is “strong and not forcing” If the bid is a weak two, then say simply “weak” -
nothing else. If opponents want to
know the range, they can ask. Finally
a few people use opening bids at the two level as an intermediate bid, which is
announced as “intermediate”
There may well be some
teething troubles while we get used to all this, but we cannot judge how well
it works until we have got used to it.
DO I NEED TO ALERT?
A call, even a pass, needs
to be alerted if:-
Bids
that are now covered by announcements are not alertable.
Doubles
apart, the definition of “natural” for alerting purposes is largely common
sense, namely:-
The problem with doubles
is dividing those where the natural meaning is “penalties” from those where the
natural meaning is “takeout” The new
rules for deciding are shown below.
What is “a potentially
unexpected meaning” which makes a call alertable? There is no easy answer, and the Orange Book is reduced to
publishing lists of examples that should be alerted, and others which should
not. The commoner ones are given in an
appendix to this article. Most players
who do not stick to simple systems get to know which of their agreements are
alertable.
CHANGES TO THE ALERTING RULES
Apart from
introducing Announcements, there are also three sets of changes to the rules
for alerting:-
1.
Short
minor suit openings. A natural opening
bid of 1 of a minor will no longer have to be alerted if it promises at least
three cards, but it will still be alertable if it may be on fewer. For example those playing five card majors
who may open their better minor with only three cards will no longer have to
alert
2.
No bids
above 3NT will be alertable except artificial opening bids, and lead-directing
doubles, such as the Lightner slam double.
3.
The
definitions as to when doubles are natural have been rewritten in an attempt to
simplify the position. If your
partner’s double is not natural, as defined below, you
should
alert it.
|
Opponents Call |
Meaning of their call |
Natural meaning of doubles is |
|
A suit at any level |
Natural |
Takeout |
|
A suit at any level |
Conventional |
Shows the suit doubled |
|
Opening 1 of a minor |
May be less than 3 card |
Takeout |
|
No trumps at any level |
Natural or conventional |
Penalty |
It
has been decided that Negative Doubles and Responsive Doubles are for takeout
and are no longer alertable. Certain doubles, such as competitive, co-operaqtive or
optional doubles have sprecial meanings and should be alerted. (added Aug 07)
(This is as
revised in Aug 2007)
Many people have been
playing strong two opening bids as showing eight playing tricks, and will open
a hand with eight playing tricks (for example an eight card suit headed by AKQJ
with no other strength) with a strong two bid. Such a holding is accepted as showing eight playing tricks, but
eight cards to the AKQ is not. To
qualify as a strong opening bid a hand must contain:-
8 playing tricks as above or
at least 16
high card points or
meet the rule of 25
( rule of xx means that
you add the number of cards in your two longest suits to your high card points
and the total must come to at least xx (In this case, 25)
ASKING QUESTIONS
A player is
entitled to ask about the meaning of an opponent’s call, either at his own turn
or at the end of the auction, and players should not be deterred from asking
whenever they are unclear or uncertain.
It is considered unethical to ask at ones turn if you know you are going
to pass anyway. Unless he has reason to
ask at his turn - in other words he may be thinking of bidding or doubling -
the player should always wait until the end of the auction. A defender on lead obviously will ask
before leading, and his partner should ask once his partner has placed his
opening lead face down on the table.
A player who
asks a question during the auction and then passes is of course within his
rights but a player who asks, then passes, and whose hand later shows he had no
reason for doing so, may be held to have mis-led the opponents and be penalised
if they have been damaged.
You can never
cause problems by asking at the end of the auction, and it is good practice to
do this except when you need to know at your turn to call.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS
Moving around
the table, there are three proper ways of answering an opponent’s question.
Ÿ
If you
have an agreement then you say what that agreement is and give the explanation
requested.
Ÿ
If you
don’t have an agreement it is perfectly in order to say so.
Ÿ
If you are
not sure, or have forgotten you may say “I don’t know” The Director will then send you away from
the table and ask your partner to explain his own call, so the opponents know
even if you don’t. The big no-no - and
we all do it - is to say “I am taking it as........ Or I think it
is....... Partner is not entitled to
know how you are interpreting his call (whether you are right or wrong), so try
to adopt good habits.
An opening bid of one of a
suit which may contain less than three cards.
Stayman or transfer bids
which are not announceable, such as over 2NT, a 1NT overcall or 1NT which has
been doubled.
Five card Stayman or any other variations from
standard
A rebid of 2 diamonds in
response to a Stayman enquiry which was not announceable.
A short suit trial bid
which may contain less than three cards. (long suit trial bids are not
alertable)
The first bid in a possible
canapé sequence (where the shorter suit is bid before the longer)
After an opening bid of
one of a suit:-
A pre-emptive raise to three (unless there has been an
intervening double)
A forcing raise
Opening one of a major
promising five cards
A natural 1NT opening
which has some distributional constraints, such as denying a four (or five)
card major or allowing a six card minor
A 2NT opening which may
contain a singleton
A natural opening bid of
4H or 4S where the partnership also plays South African Texas or something
similar.
A non-forcing overcall
which may contain only four cards.
A jump overcall
(apparently there is no “expected meaning” for these.
A pre-emptive raise to
three following a double.
A 2D bid after Stayman has
been announced.
The completion of a
transfer unless it shows or denies something specific
A long suit trial bid.
Negative or Responsive
doubles
You have agreed with this
partner that you will use a natural defence to opponents opening 1NT.
1.
You are South. East opens 1NT
(12-14) and you bid 2¨
Partner alerts, is asked, and explains that the bid shows nime cards in
spades and another suit. Do you:-
(a)
Correct the explanation
(b)
Call the Director
(c)
Do nothing
2.
You decide to do nothing. West passes and partner bids 2ª. This is passed to you. Your hand is
ª10 xx ©xx ¨AKJxx §Kxx Do you:-
(a)
Sigh and bid 3¨
(b)
Avoid the sigh but bid 3¨
(c)
Pass
3.
You pass, and West now bids 3§, which becomes
the contract. Partner puts his lead
face down on the table. Do you now
correct the explanation?
4.
If West had passed instead of bidding 3§, so that 2ª became the
contract, would that change your decision?
5.
Let us go back to the top. This time when partner alerts, you realise that you have in fact
agreed to play Astro, and it is you who have got it wrong. What do you do now?
Answers
One of the basic rules of Bridge is that partners may
communicate only by means of legal calls and plays. Any other information gained from partner is unauthorised and
may lead to the Director adjusting the score.
1.
Partner has gone wrong, but does not realise
this. If you correct the explanation
or call the Director, partner will be warned, and warned illegally, so at this
stage you must do nothing
2.
When the 2ª bid is passed
back to you, you must behave as though you had not heard the alert or the wrong
explanation, and that partner has a hand that would bid a natural 2ª over your
natural 2¨.
You would not persuade a Director that a 3¨ bid was
uninfluenced by what had happened, so you need to pass.
3.
Partner and you are defending, and partner is still
unaware that anything has gone wrong, and you must not draw his attention to
this. Therefore, once again you do
nothing. If opponents do not realise
what has happened, you explain when the hand has been played, and now the
Director may be called (assuming that opponents have not already got a top out
of this)
4.
Yes. Putting
your hand down as dummy will expose the position, so when your side is playing
the hand you should tell opponents before they make the opening lead.
5.
Opponents are entitled to a correct explanation of your
partnership agreements, and in the above situations they did not get this. With rare exceptions, you can bid what you
like, whether your hand justifies your bid or not, so long as partner has been
as mis-led as the opponents. If you
have made a mistaken bid and come out of it with a good score that is just the
rub of the green.