[S2000magic]

Having recently started playing at a local club after an hiatus of some 17 years, I have noticed an interesting trend, and wanted to know if it's within the rules.

Many declarers when ostensibly asking dummy to follow suit with the smallest card available, will say, simply, "Play!"

I don't want to be a jailhouse lawyer by insisting that the declarer designate specifically which card to play - I'm new at the club, after all - but I wonder if the imperative "Play!" might violate the rules requiring declarer to specify the cards played by dummy.

(Of course, there was also the gentleman who would, as dummy, play the cards without declarer asking him to do anything; I understand that that partnership has since disbanded.)

Thanks!

[billw55]

As far as I know, "play" is near universal slang for "play the lowest". I have no problem with it.

Of course, playing cards without declarer saying anything is an infraction.

[Bbradley62]

S2000magic, on 2011-December-02, 11:54, said:

Many declarers when ostensibly asking dummy to follow suit with the smallest card available, will say, simply, "Play!"

I haven't been at a club/tournament table in over a decade, but this sounds 100% standard to me.

Law 46B2 said:

If declarer designates a suit but not a rank he is deemed to have called the lowest card of the suit indicated.

Since dummy must follow suit unless he is void, the suit is automatically designated.

[aguahombre]

It helps us determine, when playing against strangers at a tournament, what their level is.

It also gives the ones who use it the chance to say "the ACE" after dummy's LHO has already followed with a card which would have won the trick. We learn to wait for a card to be detached from dummy and clearly played after being burned on that.

[blackshoe]

"Play" is becoming common around here because, I think, it was started by a guy who is pretty good (I'd call him advanced now, but intermediate when he started doing this a few years ago) and pretty popular. When he does it, he means "play low". I haven't seen any problems such as agua describes (yet), certainly not by the player who started the trend, who is very ethical. Still, I don't like it.

The first time I heard "play", it sounded to me more like "play anything" than "play low". It still sounds that way, but I've learned that declarers don't mean it that way. Since the modern way seems to be to follow Humpty Dumpty ("words mean what I want them to mean, neither more nor less") I suppose we have to live with it.

Note that Law 46B does not describe correct procedure. It describes what to do when declarer fails to follow the correct procedure (described in Law 45B and Law 46A.

[S2000magic]

blackshoe, on 2011-December-02, 17:58, said:

The first time I heard "play", it sounded to me more like "play anything" than "play low".

To my ear, it also sounds a bit rude (as if declarer can't be bothered with explaining his desires fully to his partner). Frankly, it sounds worst when it's perpetrated by people whom I know to be - otherwise - the soul of politeness.

I have a similar aversion to such phrases as, "Go up!" Is that easier, cooler, or whateverer than saying, "Ace, please"?

[BunnyGo]

S2000magic, on 2011-December-02, 18:34, said:

I have a similar aversion to such phrases as, "Go up!" Is that easier, cooler, or whateverer than saying, "Ace, please"?

In this specific case, I try to say anything except "Ace" or "Ace, please" etc. because of the enunciating issue with "eight". I'll say "Big" or "Up" or even just motion vehemently up with my thumb, but I find all of those easier to understand than "Ace".

[Bbradley62]

S2000magic, on 2011-December-02, 18:34, said:

To my ear, it also sounds a bit rude (as if declarer can't be bothered with explaining his desires fully to his partner). Frankly, it sounds worst when it's perpetrated by people whom I know to be - otherwise - the soul of politeness.

I have a similar aversion to such phrases as, "Go up!" Is that easier, cooler, or whateverer than saying, "Ace, please"?

Do the gentlemen at your club wear jackets and ties to the game? And the ladies wear pearls? And everyone sips tea with their pinkies extended? If not, please get a grip.

[aguahombre]

I prefer, "Up your Ace."

[S2000magic]

Bbradley62, on 2011-December-02, 18:49, said:

Do the gentlemen at your club wear jackets and ties to the game? And the ladies wear pearls? And everyone sips tea with their pinkies extended? If not, please get a grip.

I'll give it a shot.

[S2000magic]

BunnyGo, on 2011-December-02, 18:42, said:

In this specific case, I try to say anything except "Ace" or "Ace, please" etc. because of the enunciating issue with "eight". I'll say "Big" or "Up" or even just motion vehemently up with my thumb, but I find all of those easier to understand than "Ace".

Not unlike someone with, say, a Bostonian accent choosing to say "No bid" instead of "Pass" because of the chance that "Pass" will sound too much like "Heart".

[Vampyr]

blackshoe, on 2011-December-02, 17:58, said:

The first time I heard "play", it sounded to me more like "play anything" than "play low". It still sounds that way, but I've learned that declarers don't mean it that way.

It also just sounds weird, and doesn't make sense as a way of calling a card. Of course dummy is going to "play" something, because it is his turn; the question is which card. Also it's not easier or quicker than "low".

[aguahombre]

If I partner one of those people, I will say, "Sorry, I can't; I am dummy. You folks are the players." But, it won't happen unless it is an Indy.

[barmar]

This basically comes down to whether you consider "play" to fall into 46B1c ("If he calls 'low', or words of like meaning") or 46B5 ("declarer indicates a play without designating either a suit or a rank").

In my experience, as most others here have confirmed, the intent of declarer is practically always 46B1c. So based on how common this practice is, I think we can conclude that this is a "word of like meaning" to "low". Also, this practice is generally only used when dummy is following suit (can anyone recall a counterexample?), so the suit is designated implicitly, even though it isn't explicitly named.

[bluejak]

Much as I dislike the practice, my experience in both England and the USA is that "play" is generally understood to mean "play the smallest card of the suit led".

[mycroft]

I don't know who it was - probably John Probst - who pointed out to me the A-8 issue. Since then I've used the person's suggestion, if both are in dummy:

"top spade" or "eight-spot". I've only once had a problem with it - and that was a dummy who couldn't parse "eight-spot" because he wasn't expecting it.

[barmar]

I think I've noticed that my regular partner says "play" (or "play it") when it's a singleton.

[bluejak]

I always say "top" to play the top card of any suit. Thus I never say "ace" so it cannot be confused with "eight".

[Trinidad]

In our club, it is common to ask for 'a small spade' when the only spade in dummy is the ace. I guess that someone with some sense of humor did it once, at the right moment, a long time ago. Now, virtually everybody does it, every single time they have the opportunity.

Maybe I should tell dummy to "rise" sometime when he has a singleton deuce. Or, then again, maybe I shouldn't because everybody will start doing it.

Rik

[blackshoe]

Generally, I specify the rank and denomination of the card I want. One of my regular partners has picked up the habit. Yay!