I have heard that there were new rules introduced at the LA tournament. Does anyone have the details? I think that one of the rules concerned how far above the board the dice cups must be when the dice come out.

Hi Grant,

Folks went crazy with this over at BgOnline:

Rules Breakthrough in LA
http://www.bgonline.org/forums/webbb...es;read=142622

New Rules in LA--What is the verdict?
http://www.bgonline.org/forums/webbb...es;read=142923

One of the rules does require releasing the dice 4" above the board. When Michael Crane adopted this rule for his tournaments in the U.K., he changed it to a more reasonable 3". The idea is for both dice to leave the cup before either lands on the board.

In practice, such a rule is not often enforced, but if you face an opponent with egregiously bad dice technique, the fact that an unabiguous written standard exists means a tournament director has something more than just his "feeling" to fall back on when you ask him to rule.

A more significant change was the shift to "legal moves," something I support wholeheartedly.

Mike