Revokes

It is amazing how many players think they know the law and don't bother calling the Tournament Director because 'there is no point.'

One situation that falls into this category is the revoke. After all everyone knows that the penalty is two tricks unless the offender doesn't win the revoke trick and doesn't win any further tricks in the suit in which he originally revoked.

Simple really, or is that the whole story?

1. North is in 6NT and East takes the first two tricks. Later in the hand East revokes successively in each of the four suits, but from trick three onwards, declarer takes all the tricks.

When the Tournament Director is called at the end of the hand, what result should he award?

At first sight East has revoked in "one trick penalty fashion" in four suits so there should be four one-trick penalties imposed. That would mean 6NT making fifteen tricks! This certainly seems wrong as it seems logical that you should be limited to thirteen tricks at most, a situation that many players would assert was correct in this situation.

However, they would be wrong, because any tricks won before the revoke are unchanged. Then the penalty is applied to the remaining tricks by transferring tricks from the offending side to the non-offending side — that is, if there are any available to be transferred! So the score stands, the moral being that, if you are going to revoke when defending, make sure you do so after you have defeated the contract.

    2.    North is declarer in 4 [. He draws trumps (so he thinks) but East, accidentally of course, forgets to follow and holds on to his last trump. Declarer runs out of trumps himself and then goes to cash his long side suit, at which point East wakes up, ruffs and then cashes five tricks in his long suit. Declarer is powerless to stop him. The Tournament Director is called and awards a two trick penalty even though this gives East-West a net gain of four tricks.

But then that is all he can do — isn't it?

Fortunately the law is not quite that much of an ass. The revoke law gives the Tournament Director the power to restore equity when the penalty still leaves the offending side gaining tricks.

    3.    The dummy is spread and unwittingly one card is hidden behind another. Later on in the play the card is revealed after it should legally have been played in following to a previous trick. Declarer asserts, "Dummy can't revoke!" and the rest agree.

If they had called the Tournament Director, what do you think he would have done?

Of course dummy can revoke! That is what he did on this occasion, it is just that there is no penalty for it.

However, just as in Question 2, it is the Director's duty to restore equity in a revoke situation, even when there is no laid down penalty.