CONTRACT BRIDGE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 290, 2 September 1933, Page 24

CONTRACT BRIDGE

f\ Weekly Talk with Players . 16. THE REVOKE

&y

“Hereward”

I suppose all of us revoke now and then, usually when only half attending because one hQlds no card that matters. The old penalties for revoke were ruthlessly severe; like several other rules originally taken over from whist, they were inspired by the dread of ingenious sharping in clubs. The new rules seem to have been framed with the following ends in view:.to reduce the occurrence of this vexatious accident as much as possible; to make the penalty—while severe enough—-less absurdly crushing; also to simplify the penalty, and to provide a uniform fine for a large number of inadvertent breaches of rule not'hitherto classified as revokes. . .

Revokes may occur in three ways: (1) Ordinarily, by failure to follow suit in the course of play, (2) Occasionally, owing to a card slipping on to the floor, or otherwise disappearing out of a. hand as dealt to the player. . ’ >

(3) By. a new rule, whenever a player, being able to comply with a rule requiring the play of some particular suit or Card, falls to comply.

, These three cases ' may all lead to established revokes, to. which the same penalty applies; but they differ in some respects, and are open to misunderstandings. The second case means that one player is found, at any time after the completion of the deal and before expiry of the time when a revoke may be claimed, to be a card (or cards) short; the missing card not being in one of the three other hands. If it can be shown that the missing card was not duly dealt to the player in question, or if it cannot be found at all, there is a fresh deal. Otherwise,' no matter wherq the card is' found, the player is- deemed, to have, held it throughout, and is liable accordingly.

, The third, case arises under a number of. rules requiring a player, as a penalty for some incorrection, to lead or play in some specified way, namely: (1) When an opponent is entitled, under any rule, to: demand or to prohibit a lead. ' <

. (2) When the declarer of the contract leads .from the wrong hand, or touches a card in dummy when the lead is from his own hand; in that case, unless an opponent covers, he may be required to. lead from the correct hand, and must then if able to do so lead a card of the same suit; failure tp do so is a revoke ; dummy may ask him whether he has none pf the suit, but there is no obligation oil the opponents to require him to lead according to rule, r , , • . . ' ■/

(3) Failure to comply if. able with any of the four penalties to which an opponent of the declarer is Hable if he plays prematurely (Rule 47).

1(4) Failure to comply if pble with any of the three penalties to which dummy, or an opponent of the declarer, is liable under Rule 52. (5) When a player has. played a revoking card and subsequently corrected the error, he may be required to play his ..highest or lowest card of the correct suit; failure to comply is a revoke.

These rules may be summed up as saying x that any player revokes , who falls to behave as. directed—provided he can do so without revoking-—when the opponents are entitled to exact the leading or playing of. any suit or card, or the losing or winning of a trick, or the non-leading of a suit; but it is important to point out that when the offender has been directed what to -do and fails, his only defence is Inability

to comply; the opponents are in no way obliged to ask him again to comply if he can; further, that in the not uncommon case where the declarer shows a card in attempting to lead from the wrong hand and is stopped, if he then leads another suit unnecessarily, his opponents are free to claim a revoke in due course without . drawing his attention to the irregularity. They are entitled to assume he knows the rule. The penalty for a revoke cannot be claimed after either the cut for the next hand has been made, or the rubber score agreed upon. But it may be claimed after the score for the hand has been agreed upon. On the other hand, no revoke can be claimed until it has been established. The establishment of a revoke results (in the'.first eleven tricks) as soon as the offender or his partner plays a card to the subsequent trick; except that a revoke made in execution ,of a penalty requirement becomes established as soon as the offender's partner has, played to the revoking card. Caveat socius is the maxim applicable here. A revoke made in the 12th .trick can never be established ; there is no penalty for it of any kind; blit the trick should b 4 replayed and the correct card substituted. In this case only, the offender’s partne: is bound to point but the revoke as' soon as seen. It s&uld therefore be Impossible for tile offender to gain an advantage by revoking in the 12th trick.. As this-is nowhere quite expressly stated in the rules, misapprehensions have,'arisen; but is quite plain that a player whose attCntibn is drawn to an unestablished revoke' must correct it;. r - ■ The penalty for an .established revoke; however made, is the transference of two tricks won .at'or after the trick in which the revoke occurred. For each repetition of the revoke one trick is-transferred, but no trick won prior to the first revoke can be transferred. If a revoke be corrected before establishment, an extra- card has been shown. In the 'declarer’s hand, the offending card can be taken up, and unless It has been covered there is no penalty. If the opponent on the left has covered, lie may require the highest or the lowest card of the correct suit to be’ placed; If it is; the declarer Who has to exact the penalty, he may elect to treat the card as exposed, or require the highest or the lowest card of the correct suit In? both cases failure-to comply would constitute a revoke. Dummy cannot revoke; and must not draw attention to an opponent’s reyoke. 'H<. has, not merely the right, but the duty, to ask his partner whether he cannot follow suit; and it is improper for him to look Intentionally at any player’s hand. If .he does so, he forfeits: his right, to .protect his partner against revoke; if after forfeiting his right in this manner he does question his partner and-does detect a. revoke, the offending card cannot be withdrawn; the revoke becomes established ipso facto. This is one of several reasons why it is an offence against bridge etiquette for dummy to walk round and Jvatch his partner play. But dummy is perfectly entitled to leave the eard table, provided he avoids looking at the hands. In that case, the duty of protecting the declarer against revoke falls on the opponents, and no revoke can be established unless dummy’s duty has been vicariously performed. Under , the . old rules, a revoking player , could'not .under any clrcum-. stances score game. This is perfectly possible now. A player who contracts, e.g. for thrbe no-trumps, then makes 5 tricks but is detected in an established revoke, loses only the 2 overtricks.