Evening star., 1928-12-04
BRIDGE TALKS
The Revoke and the Penalty.
BY MRS. JOHN MUNcE, JR.


To revoke is to renounce and to fail
to correct the error in time to avoid
penalties. To renounce. is to fail to
follow with card of the suit led when
you have one or more cards of that suit
in your hand. A renounce is a serious
mistake, but if it be corrected in time,
the penalty for it is not as severe as
when the correction Is not made in time
and the renounce becomes a revoke
The card played in error is treated as
an exposed" card and is kept face up
on the table. The declarer also mas
the right to call for the highest or low
est card OF the suit led, from the hand
of the player renouncing.
A player who renounces may with
draw the improperly played card and
substitute a card of the suit led pro-
vided he does SO within the time limita-
ton that the laws provide. That lim-
itation expires when the renouncing
player or his partner leads or plays to
the succeeding trick.
When the declarer has made the re-
nounce, his opportunity to correct it
and save himself from a revoke expires
when he leads or plays a card to the
next trick, either from his own hand or
from dummy. Before the code of 1926
became effective the turning and quit
occurred established the revoke, but
now the renouncing player has an ex-
tended time. A trick may be turned
and quilted and yet any player may eX-
anime it, provided neither he nor his
partner has played to the following
trick. One of his adversarieS may have
LED to the next trick, but nevertheless
he may examine the quilted trick and
correct his error by substituting card
of the suit led to that trick. However,
the moment that the renouncing player
or his partner leads or plays to the sue
ceeding trick, the statute of limitations
has run out, the renounce becomes
revoke and cannot be corrected.
While this comparatively new pen
atty for revoke was adopted in 1926,
1t is still unfamiliar to many players
and 1t Is surprising to know how few
people seem to know how to score when
a revoke is made. This new penalty
has proved to be so simple that there
is little chance that it will ever be
changed for auction bridge.
The penalty for q revoke, whether
made by declarer or one of his adver-
SarieS, is two tricks. The penalty can
be claimed at any time after the re-
woke has been established, and before
the cut for the new deal; or If the re-
woke occur during the last hand of
the rubber, two tricks are taken from
the tricks of the revoking side and add
ed to the tricks of the other side, be-
fore the score has been agreed upon,
and the tricks Of each side are then
counted and scored, just as if no re-
woke had taken place.
When the declarer revokeS and the
adversaries take two tricks, they are
not allowed to score them below the
line toward game, they merely become
two adverse tricks, counting just as
If taken in play; in other words are
treated as set tricks and count in the
tricks may enable the adversaries to
defeat the declarer and score for
"under-t tricks" or to score for little"
or big slams" if they thus acquire
total of IL or 13 tricks; but these
counts are scored above "the line"
If the adversarieS revoke, the two
tricks taken from them and given
to the declarer, count below the line
for him, just as If he had won them in
actual play. A few examples may help
to make this clear.
A declarer bids three and makes
four odd (total of 10) tricks, but re-
vokes; the adversaries take two tricks,
leaving the declarer only total of
clSIlG lLWO OQuJ, uc ID uONIl OLC
and the adversaries score SO for one
under-trick Goo if he was doubled
200 if redoubledO. r
The declarer. bids two hearts and |
makes two, but the adversaries revoke; |
he takes two tricks from them, making |
his total four odd, and goes game.
Declarer bids one odd, but wins only |
five tricks; the adversaries revoke. He |
takes two of their tricks, which gives |
him seven, or one-odd, which is his |
contract.
The declarer bids five. and the
declaration is doubled and redoubled. |
He makes four and the adversaries re-
voke The two penalty tricks give a |
total of 12 tricks, and he counts six-odd |
below the line at redoubled value. |
Above the line he counts so for
small slam," bonus of 100 for max
ing a redoubled contract and 100 for
the one trick over.
For each revoke after the first in the
same hand the penalty is one trick in
stead Of two.
When the adversaries have not enough
tricks to pay the penalty, the declarer
takes all they have. and there is no
further penalty. If they have no tricks
there is no penalty, but in that case
the revoke could not have helped its
maker People have been known to
make revokes that would be helpful to
them, but you can see how seldom they
can get away with it when the rules are
played.