[Coelacanth]

A general question inspired by a specific situation that happened in the club last night.

Law 42 defines dummy's rights, and 42B1 specifically prohibits dummy from enqiring about a defender's possible revoke.

Law 81 define's the Director's role, and 81C3 specifically empowers him to "rectify an error or irregularity of which he becomes aware in any manner".

South played in a ♥ partscore. At trick 11, he led a ♣ from hand and trumped it in dummy. East overtrumped.

I was North, the dummy on this hand. I was pretty sure from the earlier play that East still had a ♣ in her hand. (She did, as it happens). The other three players, including the revoker, were oblivious to this fact.

I was also the (playing, obviously) director. When East overtrumped, I was "aware of an irregularity".

Is there a general rule of thumb to cover this kind of situation? Would you do anything differently if this happened at trick 3 instead of trick 11?

[RMB1]

Coelacanth, on 2011-April-18, 08:53, said:

Law 81 define's the Director's role, and 81C3 specifically empowers him to "rectify an error or irregularity of which he becomes aware in any manner".

When a playing director is dummy, they should wait until the play is over before attempting any rectification. Law 81C3 does not say "immediately".

[mycroft]

What Robin said, plus: "pretty sure" != "sure". If you've never miscounted in your life, even when watching the cricket match on the tube while you're dummy, okay. Otherwise...

Follow your responsibilities as dummy (and keep mum until the end of the hand), when you will be sure (or can ask to check, if there's a claim) about the revoke. Then apply the Law. If you were 100% certain (i.e. you couldn't have miscounted, because here's the card that could have been played to the revoke), then it's already established, and you're going to get them to play the rest of the hand anyway were you called, so following 42 works there, as well.

[McBruce]

It really should be permissible and spelled out in Law 42 for dummy to ask the players not to mix their cards when the end of play is imminent. Sometimes players are so quick to get on with the net hand that by the time dummy enquires, nothing can be determined.