[Ethel]

Declarer in 3NT contract. Declarer wins trick. Declarer leads card from hand and immediately picks it up and explained it was played by mistake. Card replaced in hand and play continued. LHO had not played to the lead.

Law?

Does law 45 para 4 sub d apply? "a player may, without penalty, change an inadvertent designation if he does so without pause for thought.....

The original (incorrect) card was tabled as a major penalty card, I believe after a little discussion.

Rational given: "I felt that I pulled the wrong card by mechanical error (it was adjacent to the correct one) and could correct this as LHO had not played to the trick".

Please your thoughts and reasons.
Thank you

[RMB1]

My thoughts? *******s

Inadvertent designation does not apply to cards played, only to cards named.
Mechanical error does not apply to cards played deliberately, only dropped.
Declarer does not have penalty cards.

If the card was removed from declarer's hand and placed on the table and released, it is played. If declarer attempts to substitute another card that card is replaced in declarer's hand and the original card is the card played to the trick.

[blackshoe]

The relevant law is

Law 45C2 said:

Declarer must play a card from his hand if it is
(a) held face up, touching or nearly touching the table; or
(b) maintained in such a position as to indicate that it has been played.

Law 45C4(b) said:

Until his partner has played a card, a player may change an unintended designation if he does so without pause for thought. if an opponent has, in turn, played a card that was legal before the change in designation, that opponent may withdraw the card so played, return it to his hand, and substitute another (see Laws 47d and 16d1).

applies only to designations as, for example, when calling for a card from dummy, or naming a card in hand but not yet played. It does not apply to cards actually played, as in this case.

Players are, by law, prohibited from making their own rulings at the table, and this is why: declarer cannot have penalty cards.

Law 48A said:

Declarer is not subject to restriction for exposing a card (but see Law 45c2), and no card of declarer’s or dummy’s hand ever becomes a penalty card.

The rationale given in the OP is incorrect, for the reasons stated above.

If the TD becomes aware of this situation within the correction period, he should investigate the circumstances and the outcome. It may be that an adjusted score, or a procedural penalty, is appropriate.

[McBruce]

I think the cat was let out of the bag when declarer said "I felt that I pulled the wrong card due to mechanical error." The handy "mechanical error" excuse is overused as it is -- we cannot extend it so much that it becomes a matter of opinion or self-judgment!

[blackshoe]

I think the rationale given was that the player believed that because he'd pulled the card by "mechanical error" he could change it. Perhaps he was remembering Law 25A, which unfortunately for him doesn't apply to the play of the cards.