LAW 17 - THE AUCTION PERIOD

A. Auction Period Starts

The auction period on a deal begins for a side when either partner withdraws his cards from the board.

B. The First Call

The player designated by the board as dealer makes the first call.

C. Successive Calls

The player to dealer's left makes the second call, and thereafter each player calls in turn in a clockwise rotation.

D. Cards from Wrong Board

1. A call is cancelled if it is made by a player on cards that he has picked up from a wrong board.

2. After looking at the correct hand the offender calls again and the auction continues normally from that point. If offender's LHO has called over the cancelled call the Director shall award artificial adjusted scores when offender's substituted call differs from his cancelled call (offender's LHO must repeat the previous call) or if the offender's partner has subsequently called over the cancelled call.

3. If the offender subsequently repeats his call on the board from which he mistakenly drew his cards the Director may allow that board to be played normally, but the Director shall award artificial adjusted scores when offender's call differs from his original cancelled call.

4. A procedural penalty (Law 90) may be assessed in addition to rectifications under 2 and 3 above.

E. End of Auction Period

1. The auction and the auction period end as Law 22 provides.

2. When a call has been followed by three passes the auction does not end if one of those passes was out of rotation, depriving a player of his right to call at that turn. When this occurs the auction reverts to the player who missed his turn, all subsequent passes are cancelled and the auction proceeds normally. Law 16D applies to the cancelled calls, any player who has passed out of rotation being an offender.

   For example, a substituted call differs if its meaning is much different or if it is psychic.

Law 16 - AUTHORIZED AND UNAUTHORIZED INFORMATION

Law 18 - BIDS