Sneak Preview
After the first board in a 3-board round, the cards have been returned to the pockets and scoring is being confirmed. A player reaches across to examine partner's hand but instead picks up the hand from the next board in the same round and starts looking at it. They are stopped and return the hand to the pocket.
If I read the rules correctly, there's no infraction arising from reviewing partner's hand on the board just played as opponents are still sat there and their permission doesn't need to be sought - Law 7C
1) Has the next hand started? Does Law 7B1 say not, or say that it has started with an error?
Assuming the problem is immediately reported, then rotating the board 180' is described as the best solution.
2) What would you do if the problem hand was partly fanned publicly rather than being viewed privately. UI? Penalty Cards? 60/40 as it's unplayable?
3) What would you do if instead the hand was returned and both parties on the offending side then viewed the correct hands? (i.e. only one party has now seen more than just their own hand.) UI? Penalty Cards?
PP for not calling the Director?
4) And now the really dumb question - Law 16A1d explicitly states that info from a partner's future hand seen before you view your own hand on that board is authorised unless a rule says otherwise. Where do I find that prohibition? Clearly I can't be allowed a deliberate sneak preview ...
(If the TD from that night is reading, I'm 100% happy with how it was handled on the night, but as a new TD I'm curious on the wider implications, particularly (4) which has been bugging me.)
Comments
Great questions Mark
To clear up point 4.....
Have a look at 16D1 'When a player accidentally receives extraneous information about a board he is playing or has yet to play, as by looking at the wrong hand'...
then 16D2 'If the Director considers that the information would likely interfere with normal play he may, before any call has been made:.....'
and then look at 16D2d 'award an adjusted score (for team play see Law 86B).'
Peter Bushby Suffolk
Yes there is: Law 7B3: "no player may touch any cards other than his own..."
Of course if partner takes them out to show you (which s/he may) and pulls them from the wrong board, then Law 17A the auction period for the next board has started for that side.
Agreed, with a warning to the player.
It depends on what is shown, but most likely unplayable.
Unplayable plus warnings / PP.
It's 16D. This does not say the information is authorised, it is extraneous, sitting in a sort of limbo between UI and AI. You can't use it, but the LA rules of 16B1 do not apply.
The director will only allow play to commence if s/he believes the board can still be played (the EI is insignificant) and may still adjust the result later (Law 16D2C).
This is extraneous information: you aren't supposed to have it, but it doesn't come from your partner.
There's no obligation to take counter-suggested actions, like there would be with unauthorised information, but the Director has to try to restore equity. (Rotating the board 180° would be possible if the problem were caught quickly enough; in other cases, this would likely involve a score adjustment or an artificial score.)