Mechanical Error

[UdcaDenny]

This is a neverending topic at my club. Can I please have some examples of mechanical errors that gives a player the right to change a played card. In my club a player is allowed to take back an obvious wrong played card even after dummy or declarer already have followed suit. That means he is not holding it or regretting same second he noticed the mistake. So when can an already played card be changed. I have talked about this a year ago but never got some examples to show my clubmembers so please welcome with some clarifications what is a mechanical error and what is not.

[RMB1]

I think this forum is about directing events on BBO.

This post is about directing F2F bridge and should be in one of the IBLF forums.

[wank]

there are no examples, because you can't change any cards once they're physically played. this is a rule which your club has invented.

[barmar]

I think this forum is about directing events on BBO.

This post is about directing F2F bridge and should be in one of the IBLF forums.

I've moved it.

[pran]

there are no examples, because you can't change any cards once they're physically played. this is a rule which your club has invented.

I suspect that he is confusing card played and call made (with a bid card).

[barmar]

There's a law that allows you to correct a bid that was made inadvertently, which is generally interpreted to mean mechanical errors when using bidding boxes.

 

There's no similar law for correcting misplayed cards. If a defender accidentally exposes a card, rather than deliberately playing it, the card becomes a penalty card. If it's an honor, it's a major penalty card (it has to be played at the first legal opportunity, and declarer gets lead options if the offender's parter gets the lead before then). If it's a non-honor, it's a minor penalty card, and just has to be played before any other non-honor in the same suit.

 

The reason the rules are different for inadvertent bids versus plays is that accidentally pulling the wrong bidding card doesn't pass any useful information to your partner. But accidentally playing a wrong card still lets your partner know that you have that card, which could significantly affect the defense.

[weejonnie]

There are two exception - if a player plays a card because he was told by an opponent (incorrectly) that it was his turn or he is misinformed at the time as to the meaning of plays made and this is corrected then he can change the card (no other card must have been played and, for an opening lead, dummy mustn't have come down.)

 

Example

 

LHO leads AK of a suit (of which dummy has 2 cards) and RHO plays the 2 and 3. Declarer asks "Does that signal an even or odd number" and, being told 'odd', ruffs low. Before RHO plays a card LHO says "Oops - sorry we play upside down - it shows an even number." Declarer can now take the ruff back and replace it with another card - e.g. ruff high or discard.

 

(When called for an OLOOT, I always ask the player if they had been told it was their turn to lead.)

[Vampyr]

The reason the rules are different for inadvertent bids versus plays is that accidentally pulling the wrong bidding card doesn't pass any useful information to your partner. But accidentally playing a wrong card still lets your partner know that you have that card, which could significantly affect the defense.

 

Do you think this is the reason? If it were, you would think that declarer were allowed to change her card, but she is not.

[pran]

There are two exception - if a player plays a card because he was told by an opponent (incorrectly) that it was his turn or he is misinformed at the time as to the meaning of plays made and this is corrected then he can change the card (no other card must have been played and, for an opening lead, dummy mustn't have come down.) [...]

True, but in those cases the play was not inadvertent

[Vampyr]

OP, the best way to remember this is simply that a played card cannot be retracted unless there has been an irregularity.

[barmar]

Do you think this is the reason? If it were, you would think that declarer were allowed to change her card, but she is not.

I was wondering about that, and I suspect they just decided to keep it simple and use consistent rules. In general, we want players to pay attention to what they're playing, so we don't make it easy for them to change their mind.

 

Note that the rule for when a card must be played is different for declarer and defenders. If a defender exposes a card in a way that his partner could see it, it must be played (or becomes a penalty card in cases where it's not a legal play or was exposed accidentally). But if declarer exposes a card but doesn't actually play it, he can take it back -- there are no penalty cards for declarer. This is presumably part of that same reasoning.