Card played (or not) from Dummy
A sleepless night prompted my brain to consider these two situations:
1) Dummy is on lead. Declarer points to the heart suit and says 4. There is also the C4 in dummy. Has the H4 been played?
Under Law 45C4a, "A card is played if a player names or otherwise designates it as the card he proposes to play". "Otherwise designates" seems a broad category and might include this.
Or is this an "Incomplete or Invalid Designation"? (Law 46B). It's clearly not a Proper Form (46A), and Law 46B does not cover "pointing", so 46B3b applies: "declarer must play a card from dummy of the designated rank if he can legally do so; but if there are two or more such cards that can be legally played declarer must designate which is intended."
Of course Dummy is going to play the H4 - is this Dummy indicating a card?
I am tempted to say that "declarer’s different intention is incontrovertible" would apply to an attempt to play anything other than H4, BUT...
What if the clubs and hearts are next to each other? How accurate does the pointing have to be?
2) Declarer is S. W leads D2, Dummy hears declarer call "eight" and so plays D8, E plays DK, Declarer then goes "no, I said Ace".
Can it be changed? If so, can E withdraw his DK, and if so is it a penalty card?
Comments
Your second question requires a straightforward application of Law 45D1.
For the first case, naming the rank and pointing to the suit is clearly a designation. If a problem arises because it was not clear where the player was pointing (I had a partner who used to do that a lot) then the player either needs to be asked to clarify or you as TD need to judge the situation.
Thanks, Gordon. Feel a bit silly having missed 45D1!
Law 45D1 is noteworthy. If the card misplayed by dummy is the lead to the trick then this law allows the withdrawal of five (apparently) played cards: the four cards to this trick and first card played to the next trick.