Evening star., 1945-03-25
By Frank B. Lord

One Of the agonizing moments
experienced by q dummy Is to be
obliged to remain silent when the
declarer leads from the wrong hand
The dummy may call the attention
Of the declarer to his failure to fol-
low suit by asking il he has none OF
the suit led. but under the rules he
may not tell him that he is leading
from the wrong hand.
Having had such dummy expert
ence repeatedly, Mrs. ]. B. H. writes,
asking what the penalty is If q
dummy corrects declarer in this
particular.
The penalty is the same as II one
Of the defenders had noted the error.
The rule provides that If declarer
leads out Of turn from either hand,
either defender may call attention
to the irregularity, but only the de-
fender on the left Of the hand from
which the declarer has led out of
turn may decide whether or not 1t
should be corrected, and the de-
clarer may not Withdraw the lead
until the left-hand defender requires
a lead in turn. The left-hand de-
fender may treat the lead out of
turn as a correct lead, and must
treat it as such If, before he has re-
quired a lead in turn, either de-
fender deliberately or inadvertently
plays. II declarer is required to
correct his lead out Of turn, the card
wrongly led is replaced in the hand
to which 1t belongs, and If it Is the
defenders turn to lead, there is no
penalty; il the declarer has led from
the wrong hand he must, IL he can,
lead a card of the same suit from
the correct hand.
II dummy, before declarer has
played, voluntarily directs his at
tention to the current trick in any
way, the left-hand defender may re-
quire declarer to play his highest or
lowest in the suit led or, subject to
his duty to follow suit, to play a
card of another specified suit.
Leading from the wrong hand
often causes the declarer the loss of
trick, which may well mean a set
and perhaps the loss of the rubber.
Occasionally it makes no difference,
but that is no excuse. 1t is a bad
practice, and dummy suffers when
unable to correct it without pen
atty.
The master point game directed
by Mrs. D. E. Stephan was played
at the Euclid Street Studio on Mon
day afternoon. There were IS ia
bles. The leaders were: North and
South, Miss Kathleen McNutt and
Ralph Webber, first; Mrs. Doris
Vosburg and Mrs. Lucille Gibson,
second; Mrs. Rose Robbins and
Mrs. Mildred Rossan, third; East
and West, Mrs. Catherine Cotter
and James G. Stone, first; Mrs. Ag-
mes Young and Mrs. Dora Schwartz,
second, and Mrs. Helen Evans and
Mrs. Frances Brough, third. The
next master point game at the same
place will occur on April 16.
The annual meeting of the Wom-
ems Auxiliary Of the Washington
Bridge League was held last night
at the Euclid Street Studio. After
the business meeting was concluded
there was duplicate play for the
trophy offered by Mrs. Jack Bennett.
Only members of the auxiliary par
ticipated.
The Saturday night game at the
Capital City Chess Club resulted as
follows: North and South, Mr.. and
Mrs. Tom Hamlin, first; A. j. Stone
and Mrs. Wessal Stewart, second;
Miller Roberts and Ralph Webber,
third; East and West, Mr.. and Mrs.
j. D. Boyd, first; Mr.. and Mrs.
w. s. Athey, second, and Mr.. and
Mrs. l.. T. Alden, third.
The duplicate game Of the Ma
tional Press Club players which was
scheduled for last Monday night was
postponed because Of other activ-
tiles Of the club at that time. It
will be played April 2.
Alvin Roth, local expert and win
ner Of various national champion
ship matches, is the only Washing
ton player listed on the roster Of
the American Contract Bridge
League in its recent announcement
as a life master. There are AZ Others
all of whom have at different times
won 300 or more master points, 30
of them in national competition.
Several of the veteran life members
have more than 1900 master points
to their credit. Mr.. Roth's rise to
this distinction was rapid, and was
made in contest with the best play
ers in the country. He Is now serv-
ing with the armed forces abroad,
and while he sometimes reports a
game with his comrades, he has not
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