Director, Please!
A regular series for Tournament Players

'UNDERLAPPING'

Mike Swanson

Ken Wheeler writes: 'A member of our local club when dummy insists on placing his hand on the table in a way which can only be described as 'underlapping.' 

(At this stage I expect an illustration from my artistic editor! - M.S.)

Always Ready To Oblige! - ED.

'As a result, apart from the card at the top of each pile, the remaining cards display only the bottom portion with the 9 displaying as a 6. Can the defenders insist that the dummy is displayed in the normal manner?'

Most definitely they can.

Law 41D states: 'After the opening lead is faced, dummy spreads his hand in front of him on the table, face up, sorted into suits, the cards in order of rank, in columns pointing lengthwise towards declarer, with trumps to dummy's right.'

There is no doubt in my mind that the dummy in question is pointed away from declarer and therefore the dummy is breaching the law. 

However, another interesting point is that the law does not state in which order of rank (ascending or descending) the cards should be sorted. When directing an international event I was called to the table because the defenders objected to the dummy having the 2 at the top and the Ace at the bottom. Declarer and dummy insisted that this was normal practice in their country (I can't remember which country it was) and indeed the law seems to permit this.

The one sort of arrangement of dummy that really annoys me is when the cards are thrown to the table so that most of them are pointing at 45° - a practice prevalent amongst players who think they are better than they are!

I have to say I put up with it, as I am an easy-going soul but, if I were being pedantic, I could certainly insist on the dummy being tidied up.