[Note: I’ve pulled this article out of my archives. This goes back to around the year 2000.]
What’s the lowest card that you have led on the first round of a suit that has won the trick? (That is, winning the 5 after it goes 2, 3, 4 doesn’t count) Here’s my entry:
Playing at the Thursday club, I held: ♠ A-K-Q-10-7-4 ♥ 4-3 ♦ K-J-5 ♣ 9-4, with the auction:
| West |
North |
East |
South
Mark |
|
1 ♥ |
Dbl |
1 ♠ |
| Pass |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
| Pass |
3 ♣ |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
*Matchpoint whore
|
The whole hand was:
|
| ♠ |
9 2 |
| ♥ |
K Q 10 8 2 |
| ♦ |
Q |
| ♣ |
A Q J 8 3 |
|
|
| ♠ |
5 3 |
| ♥ |
9 6 |
| ♦ |
10 9 8 7 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
6 2 |
|
� |
| ♠ |
J 8 6 |
| ♥ |
A J 7 5 |
| ♦ |
A 6 |
| ♣ |
K 10 7 5 |
|
|
| ♠ |
A K Q 10 7 4 |
| ♥ |
4 3 |
| ♦ |
K J 5 |
| ♣ |
9 4 |
|
|
Don’t ask me where the double came from. As 50 Cent says, you’re “In Da Club”. So, the lead was a diamond to the A, and a diamond back, which I won with the king. I decided to work on clubs first with a finesse of the queen losing to the king. East now returned the S. As I ran the spades, West discarded both of her hearts. So, this was the position after the last spade was led:
That’s right…I threw away all of the dummy’s hearts. I know that East had made a takeout double, but the ease with which West discarded her hearts convinced me that East had the length. So, when the ♦ J was played, East threw her ♥ A. Finally, heart was led for the very first time, and the ♥ 4 was a winner on power. Of course, I could have led the 3 for purposes of making a better story, but that would be cheating in a way since the 3 is a winner only because you posess the 4. Maybe next time, West will have 3 hearts and throw them all away and I will have the singleton duece…