[blml] Interesting question - HELPed [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[richard.hills at immi.gov.au]

Manuela Mandache asked:

>>South is declarer in 4S. At trick 4, he calls Sx from dummy,
>>East follows Sx, he plays SQ, and West discards C4. Declarer
>>plays CA, West pulls C8 from his hand, moves it towards the
>>table (everybody sees it, but it's not actually played),
>>then withdraws it saying, "Sorry, was that Spades the
>>previous trick? I have some Spades..."
>>
>>Is the revoke established?

John Probst duh:

>Duh, a card IS played by placing it face up in front of you.
>Never mind what the laws say, this is what they mean. So,
>while you're waving cards around you're creating penalty
>cards for sure, but you haven't played them yet. How do we
>play bridge?   john

Richard Hills un-duh:

"Never mind what the laws say, this is what they mean"???

A Director should not give a ruling according to what that
Director thinks the Laws _should_ say which is contrary to
what the Laws actually _do_ say.

:-(

On the other hand, the Laws do clearly say that a penalty card
is not yet a played card.  Law 45C1 uses the future tense of
"must be played to the current trick", not the present tense
of "plays" nor the past tense of "has been played".

Ergo, John's main point is correct.  Law 63A1 uses the present
tense "plays", so Law 63A1 is not relevant to Manuela's
problem.  However, John used the phrase "haven't played them
yet", and John's "yet" is a future tense word.

Law 63A2 (A Member of Offending Side Indicates a Lead or Play):

"A revoke becomes established: when the offender or his partner
names or otherwise designates a card to be played to the
following trick."

Richard Hills un-duh:

It seems to me that since Law 63A2 uses the future tense "to
be played" this Law is relevant to Manuela's problem.  That is,
even though a card may not "yet" (future tense) have been
played, the naming or designation of that card _to be played_
establishes a revoke.


Best wishes

Richard James Hills, amicus curiae
National Training Branch, DIAC
02 6223 9052

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