QUIZ 1:   4 August 2019

West won the lead at trick 7.
Here is trick 8 - (South is declarer)
W    N    E    S
CA   C2   C5   C3
At the end of the hand the TD penalises West 2 tricks for a "revoke" on trick 8.
No arguments. Accepted.

QUIZ: What do you think happened?

(Hint: think outside of the box)


At first glance it seems very strange that there was a revoke on trick 8, when everyone followed with a club. But all is not as it seems...


SOLUTION:

Let us backtrack to trick 6 - a spade was called for but East played the 7, then immediately afterwards "found" a spade. The TD is called and ruled that the 7 is now a major penalty card, and explains what the implications are (see Law 50D on the right).

Declarer won trick 6, and West wins trick 7. Now declarer, in the presence of the TD who is still hovering at the table, exercises his option to demand that West leads a heart in terms of Law50D2(a) but West smugly states "I have no hearts!" He can now play what he likes, and East can pick up the penalty card.

All is well until trick 12 when West does turn up with a heart - he claims it was hidden behind the diamonds - and the TD is recalled.


Ruling:

Since West did not comply with the order that he had to play a heart at trick 8, he has revoked. The revoke is established at trick 12, and the TD ascertains that -

  1. West (the revoker) won trick 8;
  2. and E-W won a subsequent trick as well (trick 9)


He therefore rules that there will be a 2-trick penalty.

The pertinent laws

Law 50D.   Disposition of Major Penalty Card

When a defender has a major penalty card, both the offender and his partner may be subject to
restriction, the offender whenever he is to play, the partner whenever he is to lead.

1. (a) Except as provided in (b) below, a major penalty card must be played at the first legal
opportunity, whether in leading, following suit, discarding or trumping. If a defender has
two or more penalty cards that can legally be played, declarer designates which is to be
played.
(b) The obligation to follow suit, or to comply with a lead or play restriction, takes
precedence over the obligation to play a major penalty card, but the penalty card must
still be left face up on the table and played at the next legal opportunity.

2. When a defender has the lead while his partner has a major penalty card, he may not lead
until declarer has stated which of the options below is selected (if the defender leads
prematurely, he is subject to rectification under Law 49). Declarer may choose:
(a) to require the defender to lead the suit of the penalty card, or to prohibit13 him from
leading that suit for as long as he retains the lead (for two or more penalty cards, see Law
51); if declarer exercises either of these options, the card is no longer a penalty card and
is picked up.
(b) not to require or prohibit a lead, in which case the defender may lead any card and the
penalty card remains on the table as a penalty card14. If this option is selected Law 50D
continues to apply for as long as the penalty card remains.

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LAW 64 - PROCEDURE AFTER ESTABLISHMENT OF A REVOKE

A. Automatic Trick Adjustment

When a revoke is established:
1. and the trick on which the revoke occurred was won by the offending player, at the end of
the play the trick on which the revoke occurred is transferred to the non-offending side
together with one of any subsequent tricks won by the offending side.

If you have any comments or questions regarding this ruling, please write in!
sdirector48 [at] gmail.com

Correct solutions were received from Jeanette (Jay) Malherbe, Helen Kagan and Rob Stephens. Well done, all!




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