| The Duke of Cumberland's Hand |
This is one of the most famous hands in card play history.
It was said that the Duke (of Cumberland),son of George III King of England was dealt the following hand
at whist :- ♠ AKQ ♥AKQ3 ♦AK ♣ KJ97
The last card dealt and exposed to denote the trump suit was a ♣ .
The Duke,sitting at the left of the dealer, opened with the ♣7.
He was following a sound plan,removing the trumps to avoid his high cards in the side suits being ruffed.
Once the lead was made,the Duke's opponents then asserted that he would not be able to make a single trick.
This naturally incensed the Duke who offered a hefty wager to the contrary.
The full deal,with the Duke sitting South was :-
South ♠AKQ ♥AKQ3 ♦AK ♣KJ97
West ♠-♥ -♦ 1098765432 ♣AQ108
North ♠J109876 ♥ 109876♦ QJ ♣-
East ♠5432 ♥5432♦ - ♣65432
The ♣7 lead was taken with the 8 and West led a ♦ which was ruffed by East who returned a low trump.
The Duke's 9 was taken by the 10 and another ♦ was led and ruffed. East again returned a trump and the Duke's
last two trumps were taken by West who then reeled off all his remaining diamonds for a 13 trick defeat.
This display of virtuousity (if it was that) by the Duke's opponents allegedly cost him £20,000
One can wonder why the Duke,a seasoned whist player,did not speculate as to why his opponents could predict the outcome.(remember that no hand is exposed in whist)
A more plausible version of this legendary episode suggested that
the South hand was given to the Duke,who knew it was manufactured and ventured to bet in the face of that knowledge.
The hand was re-enacted in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979) , with Bond making 7♣ XX , against Hugo Drax
Thanks to PhilG007 - BBO
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