Player A – K♠, K♦, K♣, 10♦, 10♣, 10♥, Q♥, 9♥, 7♥, 5♥, 2♥
Player B – 7♣, 6♣, 5♣, J♦, 9♣. 8♠, 7♦, 6♥, 3♦, A♦
Conditions: The knock is the 6♣. Both players are on all games so they are automatically playing double. The scores are in the general area of 70 to 100 points in each game so that neither player is really vulnerable, nor are they concerned with counts. Each player is concerned primarily with winning his hand with as many points as possible,
Play of the Hand:
Player A – With six melded cards, he obviously will play with the hope of buying the 6♥ or 8♥ and knocking on the first or second card, expecting to reap a tremendous count. In playing along these lines he will discard the Q♥ which is completely useless to him. There is no other card in his hand that is actually safer without giving up one of his major chances to go down immediately.
Player B – Picks from the deck the J♠. The safest and most useless card in his hand at this point is the 7♦, since he has a seven tied up in a run. He discards this card.
Player A – Playing for a quick knock, he takes the 7♦ because it doubles his chances of buying nine melded, giving him four ways instead of two. The pick indicates to his opponent that he either has sevens or a diamond run around the seven. The discard of the 2♥ at this time, even if it helps his opponent, would reduce him so little that it is insignificant. He therefore discards the 2♥.
Player B – Obtains the Q♦ from the stock. This Queen of course gives him two extra ways to buy a second meld, since he does not know that his opponent is holding Kings and Tens. He has no use for the 9♣, 8♠, or 6♥ but the 6♥ is definitely the safer of any of these cards since does have a six tied up. He discards it.
Player A – Picks up the discard and not being able to knock at his point, he discards the 7♦.
Player B – Going to the deck, he picks the 5♦. This card gives him one extra opportunity for a meld with the 3♦. It is a safer card than any other in his hand, with the exception of the Q♦, but knowing that his opponent has been seemingly collecting middle cards, by his pick of the seven, he discards the Q♦, which is a dead card.
Player A – Picks from the deck the 9♠ and discards the 9♥, which is the safer of the two nines since it can only be used for nines, whereas the 9♠ can be used for either nines or spades.
Player B – Draws the 4♠ from the deck and discards the 9♣.
Player A – Going to the deck, he pulls the 3♥. He now for the first time is able to knock. Based on the play and the type of hand, he must decide whether he will gain more points by knocking now and getting an almost sure win, or by playing for gin or an underknock. He does have the opportunity of throwing the relatively safe 9♠, since nines have already been played and the nine could only be used for spades. He will retain a knock card so that, if he does draw a wild card on his next pick and decides to knock, he has no problem. He therefore discards the 9♠.
Player B – Picks the 8♣ from the deck. With the eight in his hand now in a sequence and the 9♠ already thrown, his best discard is the 8♠.
Player A – Pulls the A♥ from the deck. Discarding the 3♥ could not reduce his opponent a great deal if he took it since it could only be for threes. Thus, he throws the 3♥, retaining the A♥ for a guaranteed underknock.
Player B – Going to the deck, he buys the 6♦. Since the 7♦ is gone, his opponent has picked the 6♥, and he has the 6♣ in a run, he knows that his opponent either has a heart run or is speculating. It is rather unlikely that his opponent would have taken one speculative card, the 7♦, and immediately take another speculative card to throw the first one back. Therefore, knowing that the 6♥ is for a heart run, he discards the dead 6♦.
Player A – Picks the K♥ from the deck and gins his hand. He wins 33 points, plus gin with all the extra bonus boxes.
Note: If Player B had decided to break his pair of Jacks and discard an individual Jack at the time he could have thrown it, rather than the relatively safer 7♦ and 6♥, the hand might still be playing and his losses would be somewhat less. However, we cannot go by the results of each hand. By playing all hands in the proper manner, we will certainly achieve the best results in the long run. This hand was properly played. Unfortunately for Player B, by playing it properly he suffered a loss in this instance.