Bridge Laws

When the 1926 bridge laws went into effect last week, they were issued from Manhattan by a council of 14 composed of ten New Yorkers, one Virginian, one Connecticutian, one Milwaukeean, one Bostonian. The organizations represented were but three: the Whist Club of New York, the American Whist League (Manhattan), the Knickerbocker Whist Club of New York. Books were published to celebrate the going into effect of the laws, two of them (Work's and Whitehead's) written by members of the bridge legislature.

Bridge addicts must now be aware that, under the new code:

P: The bidding is now legally termed "the auction"; the four players, as Declarer, Dummy, Senior (left of Declarer) and Junior; the hand, as everything that takes place between the cut and the completion or concedure of the last trick.

P:The etiquet of cutting is: Dealer places cards before the player on his right, who lifts off a top portion of the pack, placing it toward Dealer, who places the lower portion on top.

P: If any player, except Dealer, touch a card during the deal and thereby cause a card to be faced, making a new deal compulsory, the side opposed to the offender may add 50 points to its honor score." (Brand new.)

P:Having bid out of turn, a bidder is not penalized if he makes his bid sufficient before the error is noticed and before another bidder has bid. But the sufficient bid must be in the same suit (or in No Trump if that was the insufficient bid). If the error is noticed and called before being corrected, and before another bid has been made, the offender must make his bid sufficient and his partner is barred from the auction. But in this case, the insufficient bid may be made sufficient in any suit or in No Trump.

P:Seven odd tricks is the highest legal bid. The penalties for bidding eight or more: the offender and his partner are barred from the auction; either opponent may 1) demand a new deal; 2) require the declaration to be played at seven, doubled or undoubted, by the offending side; or 3) direct that the auction revert to the last legitimate declaration "and be continued by his side from that point."

P: A card exposed during the auction must be left exposed; if it is a ten or higher, its holder's partner is barred from the auction. (The old code was indiscriminate.)

P: Should Declarer lead from Dummy when it is his own lead, or vice versa, he must, if detected before an adversary has played, lead from the proper hand in the same suit if the proper hand contains that suit (to cover illegitimate efforts at finesse).

P: A quitted (picked up) trick may be demanded for examination by a player whose side has not led or played to the following trick. (Brand new.)

P: Honor values: simple honors in all suits and No Trump--30; four honors divided, in all suits and No Trump--40; five suit honors divided 2 and 3--50; four suit honors in one hand--80; five suit honors divided 4 and 1--90; all honors in one hand--100. One or two honors held by a side are not counted. (Brand new, but in wide vogue before the new code was officially published.)

P: Renunciation of suit (i. e., unwarranted refusal) becomes a revoke only when the renouncing player or his partner leads or plays to the next trick, in or out of turn; or when the renouncer's side claims the remaining trick or tricks. If Dummy has left the table, there is no revoke by Declarer unless an adversary calls the renounce to his attention in time to enable him to correct it. (Dummy has not "left the table" if he is watching Declarer play the hand.)

P: Revoke penalties: two tricks for the first revoke; one for each subsequent revoke--the tricks to be taken literally from the offending side's trick-collection at the end of the hand and to be counted in the adversaries' score, for themselves or against the contract, exactly as if taken in play. The offending side may then score the legal reward for its remaining tricks as if it had not revoked. The penalty may be exacted only in actual tricks from the offending side, and not "on paper" in case the offending side's tricks are insufficient.

P: "Offenses against the ethics and etiquet of the game are unpardonable, as they are not subject to prescribed penalties." (Examples: playing a card ostentatiously to draw a partner's attention; deceitful hesitation; Dummy leaving his seat to watch Declarer's play.)