S c o t t i s h B r i d g e U n i o n

Laws and Ethics Forum:    April 2010



Minor Penalty Cards

In the club the other night North inadvertently played the seven of clubs instead of following suit with a diamond. ‘That’s a minor penalty card’ he said confidently – but he was wrong. The fact that the card was not an honour card does not make it a minor penalty card.

This is just one of many myths about penalty cards.
The definition of a Penalty Card in the 2007 Laws is “A card subject to disposition under Law 50”.

The first point to note is that declarer cannot have a penalty card:

Law 48 – Exposure of Declarer’s Cards
A    Declarer Exposes a Card
Declarer is not subject to restriction for exposing a card, and no card of declarer’s or dummy’s hand ever becomes a penalty card. Declarer is not required to play any card dropped accidentally.

The next point is that if a Defender exposes a card in any way other then legally following suit that card does become a penalty card.

Law 49 – Exposure of a Defender’s Cards
Except in the normal course of play or application of law, when a defender’s card is in a position in which his partner could possibly see its face, or when a defender names a card as being in his hand, each such card becomes a penalty card.
(This does not apply in the case of claims or concessions.)

Law 50B explains the difference between a Major and Minor Penalty card:
“A single card below the rank of honour exposed unintentionally (as in playing two cards to a trick, or in dropping a card accidentally) becomes a minor penalty card. Any card of honour rank, or any card exposed through deliberate play (for example in leading out of turn, or in revoking and then correcting), becomes a major penalty card; when one defender has two or more penalty cards all such cards become major penalty cards.”

So while only a card below honour rank can be a minor penalty card, most small cards are nonetheless major penalty cards: a minor penalty card is extremely rare.

The disposition of a penalty card is covered in Law 50

Law 50A:  A penalty card must be left face up on the table immediately before the player to whom it belongs, until a rectification had been selected.

Law 50D: When a defender has a major penalty card both the offender and his partner may be subject to restriction, the offender whenever he is to play, the partner whenever he is to lead.
1.  (a)   A major penalty card must be played at the first legal opportunity, whether in leading, following suit, discarding or trumping.
2.   When a defender has the lead, and his partner has a major penalty card, he may not lead until declarer has stated which of the options below is selected:
he may require or prohibit a lead of the suit of the penalty card (in which case the card ceases to be a penalty card and is picked up);
or leave the card as a penalty card, in which case partner may lead any card.

Law 50C covers the disposition of a Minor Penalty Card, which is much less stringent.  You must follow suit with it as soon as you can, and may not play a different small card from the same suit until the penalty card is played, but you may play an honour card instead.

However, as we have hopefully made clear, this will not happen very often!