Colin Porch's favourite hand!
That’s an easy choice. This hand, played sometime in the early 1970’s in London, will always remain in my mind:-
At rubber bridge, and being game and 30 down, I dealt
as South and opened 1
Not everybody’s idea of an opening hand, I agree, but things
were getting desperate. West overcalled 4
and partner chipped in with 4
This was passed to West, who doubled, and partner, appreciating
that she rarely made a doubled contract, decided that 4
might be a better spot after all. Back to West, who doubled again,
and this became the final contract. The
K
was led, and I mentally started to prepare my apologies to partner.
Winning the Ace, I decided that I had to get something going, and
advanced the
10.
East pounced on this with his Ace, and, seeing West discard a club,
continued with a second diamond, West ruffing with the
Q.
The
Q
came next, East completed his echo with the
6 ,
and I ruffed. When I continued with a spade to the Ace, dropping
West’s King, the whole distribution was clear, and I attempted
to claim my contract. This was NOT accepted, so play continued:
A spade was played back, finessing against East’s 10, then
A (to remove East’s exit card), was followed by the last spade
to East’s 10, whilst dummy threw a heart. The forced diamond
return gave a free finesse, dummy again throwing a heart, and West
found herself squeezed in hearts and clubs when the last diamond
winner was cashed!