The Lowest First Round Winner

[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:
♠ —
♥ —
♦ —
♣ A J 8 3
♠ —
♥ —
♦ 10 9 8
♣ 6
�
♠ —
♥ A
♦ —
♣ 10 7 5
♠ —
♥ 4 3
♦ J
♣ 9
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…

 

 

 

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