Dummy

kato

Declarers won a trick in her hand and asks Dummy to play a Singleton from Dummy, Dummy says “from your hand”. Declarer then has a little think and is about to play a card from their hand, however the opponent to the left of Dummy now covers the Singleton in Dummy. Is this allowed after Dummy has already pointed out that Declarer should be playing from their hand and not Dummy’s?

And which Law would this be covered in?

Robin_BarkerTD

The card from dummy has been played by declarer naming it. It is a lead out of turn and can be accepted, and is accepted if the next hand plays. (Law 55)

Dummy's "from your hand" is not permitted - it is drawing attention to an irregularity that has happened, which dummy is not allowed to do. Dummy should put the card in the played position - it is up to the other players to notice that the play is from the wrong hand.

ais523

I think the conclusion we came to last time this was discussed is that dummy can interrupt declarer in the process of trying to lead from the wrong hand, but once declarer has actually played a card (from hand or by naming it), dummy has missed their chance to stop the irregularity. So in this case, Dummy's LHO is within their rights to accept the card as played.

kato

Thank you. I couldn’t find this as a direct infringement of the Rules, Laws or Ethics so presumed there was no issue - someone else had an issue though and that was Declarers Left Hand opponent.

Tag

The defender next in rotation from declarer's lead from the wrong hand has deciding voice if the two defenders disagree on whether to accept the lead.

Abbeybear

@ais523 said:
I think the conclusion we came to last time this was discussed is that dummy can interrupt declarer in the process of trying to lead from the wrong hand, but once declarer has actually played a card (from hand or by naming it), dummy has missed their chance to stop the irregularity. So in this case, Dummy's LHO is within their rights to accept the card as played.

That follows clearly from the distinction between attempting to prevent an irregularity (which is within dummy's rights) and drawing attention to an irregularity which has already occurred (which is not).

Dummy is more likely to be in time when declarer is in dummy but tries to lead from his own hand.

weejonnie

There is something in the commentary of the laws that mentions this, albeit obiter.

Law 9A3 – Prevention of an Irregularity

The Laws allow any player to try to prevent another player from committing an infraction or
irregularity. Once an irregularity has occurred, it can no longer be prevented from happening. A
common example is dummy stating that declarer has led from the wrong hand. Before declarer
leads from the wrong hand, dummy may try to prevent him from doing so; once declarer has
done so, this irregularity can no longer be prevented. Dummy cannot be the first to point out an
irregularity or to summon the Director before attention has been legally drawn to the irregularity
by another player.