2017 Bridge Rule Updates

August brought changes to the Laws of Bridge which will directly affect us as players.....

Thanks to the Tauranga Bridge Club here is a short summary of the 2017 Law changes pertaining to players

Here are key points for some of the changes -

Law 7: Board location - This law has been amended slightly to reinforce the fact that boards must remain in the centre of the table correctly orientated during play.

Law 9: Dummy - Dummy may now attempt to prevent an irregularity by any player. Dummy must not, however, ask a Defender if they have revoked or draw attention to an irregularity which has occurred, until play concludes, except for correction of a mistaken explanation by partner (Declarer).

Law 23: Comparable Calls - This is a significant change in the Laws and introduces the concept of a Comparable Call. This is defined in the Laws as follows:

A call that replaces a withdrawn call is a comparable call, if it:
1.has the same or similar meaning as that attributed to the withdrawn call, or
2.defines a subset of the possible meanings attributable to the withdrawn call, or
3.has the same purpose (eg an asking bid or a relay) as that attributable to the withdrawn call

Law 66: Last played Trick - Players can now look at (but not expose) the card they played to their last trick, before they or their partner has played to the next trick.

Law 68: Claims & Conceding - A hand can now be played out following a claim but only if a member of the non-claiming or non-conceding side requests the hand to be played out AND all 4 players (including Dummy) agree. NB: If dummy is not at the table then they are deemed to have concurred.

Law 75: Partnership Agreements - It is now an infraction to state there is a partnership agreement when there isn’t one. This means stating an opinion as if it were an agreement, or stating “I am taking that as...”, is an infraction. Please just state that you have no agreement. This is a common error and may take players a while to stop doing this, so please try to take great care about this one.

These changes are further expanded on in these documents and files -

2017 Laws of Duplicate Bridge Guideline for players by New Zealand Bridge Chief Director Murray Wiggins

2017 Laws on NZ Bridges web site

ECats Bridge - A law by law breakdown showing the actual changes