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Deal of the Week
In the absence of a hand analysis this week, here’s an interesting story from Dorothy Hayden Truscott’s book, Bid Better Play Better. As far as I can tell the first printing was in 1986. In Chapter 1, “The World of Bridge,” Mrs. Truscott writes about the history of the game and its origins and evolution into a game eventually called Whist. She goes on to say that Edmond Hoyle “wrote the first book devoted to the game…” and that he “…established the tradition of law and order in card-play and the expression ‘according to Hoyle’ became part of the English language.”
“Perhaps the most famous hand in the entire history of bridge is the one said to have been dealt over two hundred years ago in the gaming rooms at Bath, England, to the Duke of Cumberland.
NORTH
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1098765432
AQ108
WEST------------------------EAST
AKQ--------------------------J109876
AKQJ------------------------.109876
AK----------------------------.QJ
KJ97-------------------------.--
SOUTH
5432
5432
--
65432
“The Duke held the West hand in the diagram and incredible though it may appear, he never took a single trick.
“Clubs were trumps and the Duke had the opening lead. In an effort to draw trumps as quickly as possible he led the seven of clubs. North won with the eight and led a diamond which South ruffed. South returned a trump covered by the nine and ten. Another diamond ruff put South in again to lead his last trump. North won drew the Duke’s last trump and claimed the balance with his seven established diamond winners.
“On this hand the Duke lost twenty thousand pounds, the equivalent today of over a million dollars. Of course the Duke was swindled. This hand was used by hustlers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to take advantage of the betting habits of the day. The actual cards can be found in one of Hoyle’s editions published long before the Duke’s disaster.”
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