July 2007 - 38

Ruling the Game

Mike Flader
Associate National
Tournament Director
rulings@acbl.org

Opener bid 1NT and his left‑
hand opponent passed. Opener's
partner bid 3, which opener An‑
nounced as "transfer."
Opener's RHO passed, but then
opener stated that 3 was not a
transfer. Opener then passed, end‑
ing the auction.
1. Should opener's RHO be given
the opportunity to change his
call, per Law 21B.1. (Call Based
on Misinformation from an Op‑
ponent; Change of Call)?
2. Is opener required to respond to
what was originally Announced
as a transfer? Is it a violation of
any law for opener to pass after
Announcing that partner's bid
was a transfer? Is opener re‑
quired by any law to bid hearts,
or is opener within his legal
rights to make any call?
3. Are any penalties or adjust‑
ments called for?
1. According to Law 21B.1., which
you quoted in your letter, opener's
RHO has the option to change the
call he made if it is likely that he
38

would have made a different call
had he received the correct information in a timely manner.
2. Opener is obliged to fully disclose
their agreements, but per Law
40 (Partnership Understandings)
he may also make any legal call
as long as his partnership agreements are fully disclosed to his
opponents in accordance with
the regulations of the sponsoring
organization.
3. The director should have been
called at the time of the irregularity. If the player waits until the
auction or perhaps until the play
is concluded to call the director, he may lose his right to an
adjustment. Law 9B (Procedure
Following an Irregularity) explains RHO's obligations to call
for the director.

got out of hand. According to Law
46B (Incomplete or Erroneous Call of
Card from Dummy), "If declarer calls
a card that is not in dummy, the call
is void and declarer may designate
any legal card." There is also Law
45D (Card Played: Card Misplayed
by Dummy) that stipulates that when
dummy places in the played position
a card that declarer did not name, the
card must be withdrawn if attention
is drawn to it before each side has
played to the next trick. A defender
is permitted to withdraw without
penalty a card played after the error,
and if declarer's RHO changes his
play, the declarer may withdrawn any
card he had subsequently played to
the trick.
So if the facts are as stated in your
letter, the director's ruling appears to
be consistent with these laws.

At a recent regional Swiss teams,
these were the last four cards in
dummy in a notrump contract:

At a recent sectional tourna‑
ment, a player used his BlackBerry
throughout the game. I believe that
if using cell phones is inappropri‑
ate, so is using a BlackBerry or any
other similar device, so I asked him
to please stop. He asked if it was
bothering me, and when I replied
yes, he laughed. When I called the
director, the player insisted he was
just checking sports scores. The
director left without taking any
action.
I think his use of the electronic
device capable of sending or receiv‑
ing e‑mails should be unacceptable.
May I have clarification about this
situation?

5 3 2

3

Declarer said, "Lead the two of
hearts." His partner stared at him
blankly, so declarer raised his voice
and said, "I said the two of hearts!"
Once again she looked stunned, so
he yelled, "I said the two of hearts!"
Confused, she led the 3. My
partner played the 8 and declar‑
er played the K. His partner said,
"No hearts?" He responded quite
loudly, "I said the two of hearts!"
We called for the director. The
ruling was that he could lead the
2, if that was what he meant -
which he did. My partner played
the 4 and declarer played the
10 (not the king). Was this really
how this situation was supposed to
evolve?
Perhaps the director should have
been called by someone before this

The use of such a device is inappropriate unless the sponsoring
organization chooses to implement
their own standards in relation to
electronic communication devices.
Such devices would be prohibited
per the ACBL General Conditions of
Contest (available on our web site). r
Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2007
