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Intrick-taking card games, a revoke (orrenege, /rɪˈneɪɡ/or/rɪˈniːɡ/) is a violation of the rules regarding the play of tricks serious enough to render the round invalid. A revoke is a violation ranked in seriousness somewhat below overt cheating, and is considered a minor offense when unintentional.
Trick-taking games normally have several rules regarding which cards may and may not be played to a trick. For example, most games require a player to follow suit or play in the suit led, if possible. Rules of this sort are sometimes called "honor rules", because there is no way to detect a violation at the moment of its commission. However, the irregularity will normally be discovered later, and there are usually strict penalties for revokes.
Some "honor rules" in different trick-taking games include the following:
Penalties for revokes vary:
A common penalty for a revoke is to give the player a penalty equal to the most severely negative outcome of the round possible. For example, in a game of Hearts, the worst possible score achievable in a round is 25 points, so the offending player would receive 25 points in penalty for a revoke.
Therefore, a revoke rarely has a strategic advantage, except in kingmaker scenarios.
When hands are concealed, a player can revoke without the error or cheating being caught immediately. For example, if a player does not play a spade to a trick where spades were led, other players will simply assume that player has no spades and note the fact in future play decisions. However, most trick-taking games play a hand until exhaustion, and attentive players will soon notice the violation when a spade is played to a subsequent trick.
