Nick S: Slam is around 50-50 although you may lose a ruff in the major you don’t play in. With W holding HQ105, no slam had play. Our oppos bid 1NT – 2H – 2S - 3H – 4S – 6S.

Jeremy: Our opponents didn’t even sniff at slam. They bid 1NT - 2C (Stayman) - 2D - 3D (extended Stayman) - 3H - 4H. And I thought transfers had rendered the method obsolete ...

Steve N. South must have KS. We bid

Keith didn’t cue HA at any point since he knew I had a stiff/void club and downgraded his KQx. I guess this is reasonable as I had not been able to show more than 9 major suit cards. Now from my point of view I knew we were off the CA so we had to pick up both majors for no loser.

Paul: We bid similarly 1N-2H-2S-3H-3S-4D-(X)-4H-5C-5S-6S. 3S is stronger than 4S, and once my hand cues the HA, slam looks a very good prospect (and even grand may be cold).

4.

Nick S: we bid 1D – 4H and I got S8 lead. I went up with SA and led trumps. South won and led another spade to dummy’s K. I thought of leading CJ from dummy but opted for the more obvious approach of drawing trumps and leading a diamond from hand. South hopped up with DA and switched to C10. After a fair bit of thought (why?), North went up with the Ace, felling my King.

This was the key point. If North had returned a club reasonably smoothly, I’d have ruffed and taken the diamond finesse. But North went into the tank again. It looks as though he can’t lead SQ (it would establish the J) and he can’t lead a D into dummy’s KJ (again, 10 obvious tricks) so it has to be a club. Only if he has CQ does he have any sort of problem.

Eventually he led a small club. What would you do? The D finesse is clearly well above 50/50 but letting the club run now seems very good odds as well. I flipped a mental coin and discarded on the club. One off when South had both minor suit queens. Not an easy one to go off in but I managed it!

Steve N. That seems unlucky, I don’t see any way to get it right. I had an interesting defensive problem on the North hand. Keith led the C10 against 4H and I won the ace. Now what? As it happens I need to switch to a diamond. This is OK whenever Keith has the DA and two trump tricks or DA and HA. At the table I decided to be more passive and switched to a trump but I think this is wrong as it requires declarer to misguess something to go off, e.g. if he has DATx. However, Keith won HA and played DA and another and declarer misguessed.

Paul: We were slightly fortunate here. As it started 1N-P-2D-? I doubled this for the lead. And on a diamond lead and return, declarer has no chance.

Jeremy: Over my 1NT, partner began with 2D (transfer) and South doubled. I passed (neutral, maybe partner can play there, even
redoubled), North bid 2S and East’s 4H closed the auction. A spade was led, and there was no further defence. On this bidding, the diamond finesse was always going to be a heavy favourite. But credit to Nick’s opponents for creating a losing option.

Nick: Well, not really – that’s my point! North was either being devious or slow-thinking in defending this way, presumably the latter. If he’d played quicker/better, I’d’ve made it.

5.

Nick S: we had a clear run to 4H (1S – 2H – 4C (Splinter) – 4H – Pass and Goldsmith got a club lead. He found a reasonable line to concede a spade, a diamond and a club. He ruffed the club lead, overtook H10 and ruffed another club. A bit stuck in dummy, he tried SK. South won and persevered with clubs. Goldsmith ruffed the 4^th round with the 9 but trumps broke 4-1 and he was one off. He claimed that if he’d ruffed with the 3 he’d have been OK but looking at it now I’m less sure. Whether or not he draws all the trumps, he still has to lose a trick to DA and North has another club to lead while W has none left to ruff with.

He was unlucky on the 4-1 trump break but is any other line better? SK at trick 2? Say S wins and returns a club. Ruff with HA, play SQ and DQ. If North ducks you have 10 tricks on the cross-ruff. If he takes his Ace, he can’t do any damage as the cards lie, so it makes. Spades lie kindly for this approach but is it better overall?

Jeremy: Our auction went 1S (2C) 2H (3C) 4H. We play our 2-over-1 response as 10+, and my experience so far is that it pays to keep it honest. But every rule has its exceptions ... North’s 3C strikes me as feeble. Surely 4C is nearer the mark, and 5C is better than 3C.

North led a club, and I ruffed, and I did continue with the spade king at trick two. I’ll leave it to others to analyse the percentages; it just felt like the right way to keep control of the hand.

Steve N. This was our first board and another misdefence by me. They bid 1S - 1NT - 2D - 2H - 3H - 4H. Apparently this showed 2 spades. I led my trump and declarer won in hand and played a spade to the queen. Keith knew that I needed DA and that I had to duck it early on and wasn’t sure how to make this easy for me. Unfortunately he switched to D6 and this didn’t work well as I took my ace. 

Paul: They played SK at trick 2 against us. I won and returned a trump. At the table declarer won in hand, ruffed a club, SQ, S ruff, and tried to draw trumps. Hearts 4-1 meant he lost control. He does slightly better (after SQ) to try a diamond to the King. If Alex ducks, he has his entry to hand to draw trumps. If it loses, then we can cash one
club, and force him, but his diamond tricks are set-up. (i.e. he lost control because he forced himself).

9.

Nick S: North opened 1D and I overcalled with 1S. South doubled and North displayed an alert card somewhat hesitantly. Goldsmith passed, as did North. I asked what the double meant and was told it was penalties! I toyed with the idea of rescuing myself to 2H (!) but settled for playing in 1S*.

Dummy was not a pleasant sight. If MG had bid 2C, NS would probably have finished in 4H -1 but, having no inkling that double was penalties (and assuming that 2C would be forcing), he had no idea he needed to rescue. Somehow I managed to get out for two off (-500) but it was still a dreadful score. Just our luck to come up against the only pair this side of Alpha Centauri not playing Sputnik doubles! If it goes 1D – 1S – P – P – D – P – P - ?? West can routinely rescue.

Perhaps we were a bit hard done by. My understanding of the rules is that (even these days) Sputnik doubles get alerted and penalty doubles don’t. North should not have alerted the double. As we were both anticipating an alert (well, you do, don’t you?), this silence would surely have elicited the obvious question from West. At least we’d have had a chance that way.

Steve N. The double should not be alerted if the partnership agreement is that it is for penalties. What you must do at this point is immediately call the director. If Mike has made a call based on misinformation then
providing you have not yet made a call, Mike can change his call even though an opponent has called in the meantime (Law 21B). If you don’t call the director then you may lose some of your rights, in particular Mike cannot have his bid back, but you may lose out even more.

This actually happened at Brighton and is documented in one of the Brighton appeals on the EBU website. The reason is because Law 9B says you must call the director whenever an irregularity occurs. Law 21B often comes up but not many people are aware of it. It also applies if just before the opening lead is made, it becomes clear that there was a mis-explanation. Providing the opening lead is not faced, the final passer can have his final pass back.

Nick S: Ah well, since we won 20-0, it’s only our own figures which suffer, but I’ll try to remember all this for next time!

Paul: Yes, I thought penalty doubles were not alerted, and as such you would have had
a strong case for a ruling. We bid to 4H; which goes off if you guess trumps incorrectly.

Jeremy: Our auction too began (1D) 1S (double), the double being described as "just showing general values". I didn’t like to take any chances, and bid 2C. We definitely play this as non-forcing, and partner won’t mess about with the majors without good reason.

12.

Nick S: Northants may have been scattering their favours to the four winds elsewhere but it didn’t feel like that for me here. MG opened 2C and we wandered up to 3NT. South led D3 (4^th) and, in pretty even tempo, North contributed the 10. I could scarcely do anything other than play the K. North took his CA and they cashed their four D tricks. One off. I wonder how many other NS pairs found such a good defence?

Paul: We did not. I think it is very tough! Perhaps, given the clubs in the dummy it
is correct - it depends whether partner having DQJxxx is more likely than DKJ7x.

Jeremy: We too got to 3NT by E, but we were lucky, and North took the DA at trick one. Although Nick did run into fine defence, I think that any competent North ought to get this right, holding the CA with that dummy visible.

Nick was doubly unlucky. If South had been playing 5th-best leads, taking the DK would have been playing for one off, and so Nick might well have come to the winning conclusion. (Er, yes! ed.)

13.

Nick S: North opened 1D and I overcalled 2C. Pass from S; what should Goldsmith call with 8 spades to the KQ? He bid 4S and I have to say I agree. Anything else is a bit pusillanimous opposite a vulnerable overcall. In 4S, after two diamonds and a heart switch, the heart loser went on the 2^nd club. South then hopped in with SA but, instead of trying for a trump promotion with a further club, led a heart, so MG claimed. Would he have got it right on a club switch? – we’ll never know. An uninspired defence, I agree.

Jeremy: Same auction, I too jumped to 4S. North cashed two diamonds, and kindly continued the suit. Now I could afford to cross to CA to lead dummy’s trump, to cater for a possible singleton Ace with South.

14.

Nick S: I opened a Precision 2C as dealer and South bid 3D. What should MG call? Pass, 3NT or 4C? Pass is weedy while 3NT will need a lot. With DA9xx, the diamonds are unlikely to be runnable so maybe 3NT is best. As the cards lie, it’s hard to see any way it will go down.

But MG bid a respectable 4C and I found some excuse for raising to five. Ten tricks and ten tricks only.

Jeremy: East opened 1C, South bid 3D, and I had a decision. Following the adage, I went for the big pay-off and tried 3NT.

Fortune smiled down benignly, and nine tricks on our combined 19 HCP couldn’t be prevented. I think North’s pass, with the best hand at the table, was quite disciplined.

Paul: They bid 1C-(3D)-3N. And with the extremely fortunate lie of the cards, there
is no defence.

Steve N. East forgot to open the bidding so Keith bid 3D. Now East forgot to protect. Keith made up 1.

15.

Nick S: Our turn for a little largess. I got to the obvious 3NT and South found a heart lead. North did well not to play the K so the 9 won in dummy. I played a spade to the 2, Q and 6 (normal count!) and a 2^nd spade to 8, J and 4.

What next? With two spades in the bag, I could turn to diamonds but that spoils the entries and they may be 4-1. No, the spades seem likely to be 3-3 so I pushed on with a 3^rd round. North knocked out CK and all seemed lost. I conceded another spade and a 2^nd club came back. But South had discarded a D on the 3^rd or 4^th spade, establishing the suit for no loser! Phew!

Steve N. They played in 4S which Lynne managed to make on good play. However against us he lost 2 trumps, HK and a diamond.

Paul: I led a club. Declarer won to play S to the Q, S to the K and A (perhaps ducking is better). We continued clubs. Declarer won the third round and tried DAK and
exited a club:

I won the club, and I can do no better than cash DQ and play a heart, hoping for a mis-guess. However, there is not really a guess, as if I have HK and Alex HJ then I can decline to cash DQ and exit and declarer would go off. Anyway declarer guessed correctly.  

17.

Jeremy: Game is essentially on the spade finesse, so at teams you want to bid it, I guess (if it makes, you gain six imps, if not you lose five).

I was unimpressed with West’s hand, and raised 1H only to 2H. Am I just plain wrong? ("Ten points and two tens!" cried the walrus.) In a close match, I might have bid 3H, but we were 100 imps up by this stage, so I thought I could afford to back my judgment against the field.

Give East Axx / AKxxx / xx / Kxx or any number of similar hands, and 4H ranges from odds-against to no-play, and even 3H is in jeopardy. I suppose the counter-argument is that East might have a decent hand not worth a game try?

If 3H is correct, how much worse would the hand have to be before 2H is better?

Nick: 4H may well not need the spade finesse. After CK lead, I eventually managed to establish a club in dummy for my 10^th trick. My view is that the West hand is only worth a raise to 2H in Precision (too few controls) but probably more in Acol. I think we were prepared to play in 2H but South reopened and we scrambled up to 4H after all.

18.

Nick S: I opened a strong club with my 16 count. MG had to bid 1NT (8-13 bal) which meant that 3NT was played the "wrong" way up. North duly led D3 and the finesse lost. DA was knocked out and there were only 7 tricks to run. One off when diamonds prove to be 5-3. 3NT from my hand looks as though it’s pretty unbreakable as the cards lie. Bah!

Paul: Yes they right-sided 3N against us. I led a spade to K and A, and a diamond
came back. We cleared the diamonds but declarer now has 9 tricks (5H, 2S, 2 aces).

Jeremy: We played in 4H, losing just one trick in each side suit.

Steve N. West decided to bid 1NT rather than 2C over 1H which seems pretty
peculiar when he wasn’t playing 2/1. This wrong-sided things nicely.

21.

Nick S: North’s 1NT was passed round to MG who doubled and there we played. Naturally, I led S2 and I feel declarer should have done better. Another spade towards the J94 and we’re really struggling. But he played a heart instead to the J and A. MG now led a cunning small D and I was allowed to win with the 10. I found the club exit which went to pard’s K. DK was ducked and the next D taken. CQ was cashed.

Now at last declarer led a spade and I let dummy’s 9 win. With entries shot to pieces, he tried a heart to the 8 and my 10. It was easy to cash HK and exit to dummy’s CA, claiming the last two tricks in spades. Two off was +500.

Steve N. How on earth did Mike find a small diamond!! Surely he knows declarer has the ace.

At the time I thought I had done reasonably well to get out for one off but looking again I should have made it. They started with a low spade which I ran round to the Q and ace. Then I ran the 7 of spades which I knew would win using the rule of 11, East pitched a heart. At this point I can play a heart to the 9 and make 2 heart tricks with most heart
distributions but stupidly I played a heart to the jack.

East won and started playing top diamonds so I won the second round (West pitching a spade) and played another spade. West won and switched to a club which I ducked and a second club came back. Now I had to hope for the remaining hearts to be 1-1, a situation I could have avoided earlier on.

Jeremy: I too doubled North’s 1NT, but South rescued into 2H (H+S), and played there. This looks to have chances, but finished one down. +100.

Paul: I bid Stayman over 1NT and oppos bid to 3C. A rather uninspired line resulted in one off.

25.

Nick S: after 1C – 1D, I contented myself with a modest 2D (NF). What should MG respond? Pass, 2NT, 3C? All possible. 3NT? No, you still haven’t got it. MG bid 2H! With 20 points, 3-card support and a singleton, I was starting to get interested but I settled for a very cautious 4H, tabling dummy apologetically. MG said he felt I had done enough!

4H looks horrendous so full marks to pard for getting it home. I can’t remember the precise sequence of play but the key element, early on, was when the 3^rd club winner was led from dummy and South declined to ruff, on the basis that it would be ruffing with a natural trump trick. Little did he know that partner also had three hearts! I think MG got three clubs, a spade, two red aces and four further tricks on the cross-ruff.

Jeremy: We bid 2D (multi) - 2H - 3D (big hand with D) - 3S - 3NT. South led HQ (which held) and continued the suit, and David duly collected nine tricks.

Steve N. They bid 1D - 1H - 3C - 4C - 4H - 5C going off two. The East hand is very tough to bid in standard methods so they were a bit unlucky.

Paul: They had similar problems: 1D-1H-3C-5C(!). Now the 1363 hand tried to get back to hearts, and they ended in 6C-4!

26.

Nick S: what you need to remember here is that oppos were still raw and bleeding from their experience on the previous board. Out for the last ounce of blood, we bid 1S – 2C – 2NT –3NT – Pass. Hideous, I agree. South led H4 so I won in hand, crossed to DA and led a spade to the 9, 10 and Q. South obligingly led another H to my Ace.

Still it looks hopeless but I crossed to DK and led a 2^nd spade. N played the J and I the King. South, keen to help in every way possible took his Ace and persevered with a 3^rd heart. S8 was now a master and I still had DQ as an entry to the last two tiny spades. Nine tricks! What can I say?

Jeremy: We played in 2S, losing the five obvious tricks. +110.

29.

Nick S: A tough one for NS to bid accurately. Our oppos bid 1D – 1S – 2D – 3NT – Pass. Not very precise! We led hearts but with the diamonds falling kindly there were 10 easy tricks.

Assuming the heart lead, 3NT needs diamonds 2-1 with the K onside (well under 50%) although, if E shows out on the 1^st D, you’d have some play in the black suits. 5D is a far safer game. 6D or even 7D can make as the cards lie.

Jeremy: As West, I too led a heart against South’s 3NT. Declarer’s next move was a brazen finesse of CQ. When the diamonds behaved as well, the run of the minors squeezed East hopelessly in three suits, and declarer finished with 13 tricks.

Steve N. It’s not obvious what to rebid on the South hand though. 3NT does not seem completely unreasonable. Keith played in 3NT after East had made a takeout double. He had a low heart lead and East wasn’t sure whether this could be from the ten or guaranteed a higher honour. Unfortunately Keith decided to play him for an honour and now tried to drop the king of diamonds in the doubler’s hand.

Paul: I thought this was interesting. 1D-1S-2S-2N-3D-?

Partner has shown 6+D and 3S. What now? As I was unsure of the best place to play I just bid 3H (in theory, values). When Alex could bid 3N it did not look like we would have a decent heart stop, and 6D looks at best 50%, so I just bid 5D.

30.

Nick S: Oh dear, not my best effort. The very last board of the day and a bit of a lapse of concentration. I was in 4S and South led C9. I won in hand and led a trump to the K and Ace. What next?

As you will know by now, our oppos in this set were quite capable of all sorts. The C9 lead suggested a shortage so maybe he has 2-2 in the blacks? Faulty thinking, I know, but I led SQ at trick 3 to check the trump position. When the 4-1 split was confirmed, I cashed HA and started on the clubs. If they’d been 4-4 or 5-3, I’d have been OK but North was able to ruff in with the 10 on the 3^rd round. I’ve discarded one diamond but now discarding a heart seemed to give me the best chance. North did very well to cash SJ and lead a low diamond to put me to the test. With little to go on, I eventually played low, losing to S’s doubleton Q. One off.

Easy to see in retrospect but if I decline to cash QS and simply play on clubs, East can ruff as low or as high as he likes but I still have an obvious route to 10 tricks as the cards lie. A sorry finish.

Jeremy: I enjoyed this hand. Last time I showed two suits with a 4-4-4-1, partner misread my shape and took me past 3NT, so this time I tried the other route: 1D - 1H - 3NT and we missed the major suit fit.

North led S3 to the K and Ace, and I decided to try for two diamond tricks. First I ran DJ to South’s Q. Back came a club, and I won in
hand to take another diamond finesse, losing to South’s nine. So much for that plan.

Naturally South tried another club, fearing from my bidding that I held Ax in hearts. I returned a diamond to North’s Ace (he would have done better to duck) and North exited with a diamond, leaving this ending:

When I cashed my clubs, dummy could spare a heart and a spade, but North had to let go two hearts (or I would next have ducked a spade). I could then cash the heart Ace and lead a spade to the nine (taking care to unblock), and North was endplayed. Phew! +600. (mmm, nice one, ed.)  

Paul: We led DA and a diamond, which ended any of declarer’s problems.

32.

Nick S: Not easy for EW to stay in anything makeable. MG opened 1C and N, at green, could hardly resist coming in with 2S. I passed (0-4 HCP most distributions) and MG had a tricky call. Fortunately for us, he chose to pass it out.

I led D7 to MG’s Queen. He tried 3 rounds of hearts and declarer ruffed the 3^rd. A club to dummy, spade finesse, two more top spades still leads to only 7 tricks as long as we keep him out of dummy. I don’t think a club to the Ace and a club discarded on a heart is any better. Anyway, he tried SAK from hand instead, saving his club entry for a rainy day. I signalled my interest in ruffing and MG took the 3^rd spade with the Q, to lead DA and a 3^rd D for a ruff. One off.

Paul: A lot easier in Precision, if you know partner is 0-4. In Acol, there looks
little option but to double 2S (after say 1D-2S-P-P-?), and now you are going off in
100s regardless of what you bid.

Steve N. We defended 1NT after West opened 1D, I overcalled 1S and West rebid 1NT. I led a club to declarer’s king. He crossed to dummy with a heart and played a diamond to the ten and my jack. I played another club and Keith won and switched to a spade. I cashed three spades. Keith encouraged hearts knowing that was a safe switch so I played another heart. Declarer cashed his last heart and played a low diamond. I won and threw dummy in with a spade to concede two clubs to Keith for two off and declarer making no diamond tricks at all.