Player A – K♥, Q♠, J♣, J♦, 10♦, 8♥, 7♥, 7♣, 6♦, 2♣, A♣
Player B – K♣, K♦, 10♠, 9♦, 9♣, 6♥, 5♣, 5♦, 2♥, A♥
Conditions: This hand is being played as the opening hand and the knock card is the J♦.
General Comments: Player A is predominantly a defensive type of player, while Player B is basically an aggressive type of player.
Play of the Hand:
Player A – While having a discard choice of either the A♣ or the K♥, he releases the A♣ as being definitely safer since it can be used only one way.
Player B – While realizing that the A♣ is an important card in playing for a ten-point knock, he would rather, at this stage of the game, have his pick from the deck. He draws the 6♣ from the deck, which adds tremendously to his offensive possibilities. He throws back the A♥ rather than the 10♠, not because he feels his opponent may use the 10♠, but when playing against a defensive payer it is a good idea to have him hold as many cards as possible to protect against his value cards.
Player A – Obtains the 3♣ from the deck and throws the 2♣ for the same reason he threw the Ace.
Player B – Draws the 5♠ from the stock, which gives him a meld. He now has the type of hand in which it appears necessary to buy nine melded in order to knock. He therefore throws the 2♥.
Player A – Going to the deck, he pulls the 5♥. He realizes that up to this point only low cards have been thrown and is hesitant about throwing any of his high cards. He will now play relatively safe since he has no other cards in his hand that are limited to one-way uses. He has not yet gotten to a point of throwing only dead cards. Therefore, in breaking from a pair, his preference is to throw the 7♣ rather than the J♣ since, following the rule of 14, it is more likely that his opponent would be holding the King and Queen rather than middle cards such as a 7. His discard is the 7♣.
Player B – The pick of his discard would give him a meld, but not an additional meld. It merely gives him an option of changing his three 5’s into a 5♣, 6♣, 7♣. The additional opportunity offered by this card is not warranted in this case against his pick from the deck. If, however, his second 6 were matched to one of his 5’s, it would be proper fro him to pick the 7♣ since this would increase the offensive value of his combination greatly. He picks the 8♣ from the deck which he now discards, since the 7♣ has already been played.
Player A – Draws the K♠ and throws the safe 7♥, since he knows that this can be followed with a reasonably safe 8♥.
Player B – Pulls the 3♠ and discards it.
Player A – Going to the deck, he selects the 4♣ and discards the completely dead 3♣.
Player B – Picks the 2♠ and discards it.
Player A – Draws the 6♠ from the deck and now discards the reasonably safe 8♥ which can only be used one way, with the 9♥ and the 10♥.
Player B – Obtains the 10♣ from the deck, which enhances tremendously the offensive value of his hand. He certainly does not want to break the two 9 and the two 10 combinations with the 9♣, 10♣ matching each other, so he must decide between breaking either his Kings or his 6’s. What is most likely to be needed by his opponent? What is most likely to bring him back the cards that he needs? His opponent has discarded middle cards after bottom cards and, as he is the kind of player who plays predominantly safe, it would appear that these cards were thrown because of some specific protection. The basic protection against 7’s and 8’s would be 6’s and 9’s. For this reason alone, it is more likely that the King would be the safer of the pairs to break. Furthermore, since his opponent has been throwing middle cards, it is more likely that he will throw cards in the same area such as 6’s and 9’s before he would start breaking new cards from the top. For these reasons he discards the K♣.
Player A – Takes this discard and breaks his safest holding which is the J♣.
Player B – Takes the J♣ discard and notes that his opponent is holding Kings. He has a choice of throwing the 10♠ or the 10♦ or throwing in the fourth King. Ordinarily it would be proper to throw the 10♠ at this point, but when playing against a strictly defensive player there is an advantage in forcing him to open his hand or to break certain combinations which could be developed into melds. Against this type of player it would be proper at this time to throw in the fourth King. This play also provides the opportunity to match the 9♦, 10♠ with another card of the same level that, together with the club run, could form a tremendous offensive combination.
Player A – Does not take the K♦ because he has no safe card to discard. He goes to the deck and picks the 4♥. This card allows him to throw the 4♣, which is as safe as the 4♥ since it can be used by his opponent only for 4’s.
Player B – Picks the 8♠, which he discards.
Player A – Buys the 4♠ from the deck and discards the card as dead.
Player B – Pulls the A♦, which he discards.
Player A – Going to the deck, he buys the J♠. He no knows that his opponent is holding a club run and not Jacks. Although the J♠ is a dead card at this point, it does have large offensive values as well as possibly providing the K♣ in a layoff. He retains this card and throws the 4♥.
Player B – Picks the J♥ and discards it as not having any offensive value.
Player A – Takes the J♥ discard and inadvertently creates the impression to Player B that it is being used for a heart run. The discards available to Player A at this time are the Q♠, 10♦, 5♥, or his two 6’s. Since he knows that his opponent has a high club run, he surely has the 10♣ tied up and my have the Q♣ tied up as well. But the Q♠ could be used with Queens at the top of a club run, whereas the 10♦ could only be used with the 9♦ and the 8♦. His logical choice then is to discard the 10♦.
Player B – Considers that with his present holdings there are only two cards in the deck that could put him down which are the two missing 6’s. Knowing that he is playing against a defensive player, he is not likely at this stage to get a 6 from him. If he picks the 10♦ and breaks his 6’s he will have five possibilities of buying cards for a knock. Those possibilities are the 10♥, 9♥, 9♠, 8♣, and J♦. Even though he gives his opponent credit for holding the 9♥, 10♥, J♥ meld, Player B will still have three ways against the two doubtful ones he has now. It therefore pays him to take the 10♦ and throw the 6♣.
Player A – Takes the 6♣ discard, and knocks with 5 points and wins.
Note: Each of the plays made up to this point was the proper pay based on the viewpoint of the player involved and resulted in a win for the defense. However, this is not the usual result in this type of hand.