Law 45C2 – Compulsory Play of Card

[jules101]

Law 45C2 – Compulsory Play of Card

 

Declarer must play a card from his hand if it is:

 

a] held face up, touching or nearly touching the table; or

 

b] maintained in such a position as to indicate that it has been played.

 

 

 

Could more experienced directors elaborate on [a] and .

[paulg]

It was at the Macallum Invitational Pairs in London, quite a few years ago, that I saw one of the EBU's best directors, Jim Proctor, in action for [a]. Jim was always a bit fussy and pedantic, but his knowledge of the laws was excellent and he was well respected (even if his requirement to have the table cloths in alignment was the butt of some jokes).

 

Anyhow, Lauria, playing with Versace, is declaring a contract and his RHO plays an expectedly high card on a lead from dummy. Lauria plays his card and then notices it does not beat RHO's, so pulls it back into his hand. Jim is called.

 

Jim now spent five minutes trying to get Lauria to show where his card was played, relative to the table. Eventually the assessment is that it did not touch the table, but was held approximately 1.2945 inches above it. Jim ruled that the card was indeed played. Versace spent the entire time chuckling, as he knew that Lauria would never be allowed to take the card back :)

[pran]

It was at the Macallum Invitational Pairs in London, quite a few years ago, that I saw one of the EBU's best directors, Jim Proctor, in action for [a]. Jim was always a bit fussy and pedantic, but his knowledge of the laws was excellent and he was well respected (even if his requirement to have the table cloths in alignment was the butt of some jokes).

 

Anyhow, Lauria, playing with Versace, is declaring a contract and his RHO plays an expectedly high card on a lead from dummy. Lauria plays his card and then notices it does not beat RHO's, so pulls it back into his hand. Jim is called.

 

Jim now spent five minutes trying to get Lauria to show where his card was played, relative to the table. Eventually the assessment is that it did not touch the table, but was held approximately 1.2945 inches above it. Jim ruled that the card was indeed played. Versace spent the entire time chuckling, as he knew that Lauria would never be allowed to take the card back :)

 

Does Lauria have a reputation for playing a card he allegedly did not intend to play?

 

I remember a "play" from dummy in a BB final some years ago . . . . .

[bluejak]

[a] is the basic rule. A declarer takes a card from his hand and moves it towards the table. If it gets nowhere near the table, or is held face down, or gets close to or touching the table but is immediately pulled back, it is not played and may be changed. If it is held above the table without being pulled back then it is played: if it put on the table or held on the table it is played.

 

is to cover special circumstances: when they arrive you will know them. The oft quoted example is a player who wished to make a point by playing a card he was not expected to have: he took it out of his hand and held it against his forehead facing outwards. It was deemed to have been played under .

[jules101]

I was looking for the wording "visible to all" but this doesn't appear in this rule.

 

What about when:

 

• 
   
  
• declarer calls for card from dummy;
   
  
• his RHO plays a card;
   
  
• declarer holds his card horizontal, face up, approx 4 inches above table (visible to all players and dummy), but then realises his card doesn't beat LHOs.
   
  [For info the next hand to play has already shown out on the previous round, and the contract is NT, so it doesn't matter what they play!]
   
  
• declarer retracts his (non winning) card and plays a higher card.
  

 

 

Was declarer's first card played or not?

 

 

Does it make any difference if both defenders (and dummy) could see the card?

[bluejak]

Visible to all is not part of the Law so whether everyone could see the card is irrelevant. It is just a judgement for the TD whether four inches counts as "near". In my opinion it does, so I think it is played, but it is borderline so others might easily think otherwise.

[barmar]

The laws are different for declarer than defenders. For defenders, "possibly visible to partner" is the standard because of UI issues. But there's no UI problem from declarer exposing cards prematurely, so the law requires a more deliberate action, and allows him to change his mind if the card doesn't make it most of the way to the table.

[pran]

dropped