Procter (N)/Claridge were 1¨ - 2§ - 3§ - 3NT - Pass. 3NT seems an odd bid. The Fearnheads went 1© (Paul) - 3§ - 3¨ - 3NT - 4§ - 4© - 5§. The final 5§ bid is described as showing "extras" but Alex was unwilling to move on. I don’t have the Talbots’ sequence.

2. With Claridge/Williams and the Fearnheads making 140 in 3©, we were quite pleased to collect 500 from 4©*:

Declarer was now stuck in hand, unable to reach the diamond winners in dummy. When I got in with ©K, we were able to take our hard-won spade trick.

Hayes/Price also took 4© two off undoubled. Lonsdale/McPhee got 4© one off but with four pluses, the ‘A’ team picked up 18 IMPs. The Talbots did not compete beyond 2§ (losing 110) and the ‘B’ team gained just 1 IMP.

It wasn’t a great one for Italian asking bids. I opened 1§ with the East cards. Goldsmith (who has already passed) responded 1ª. 2© asked and 3§ showed support with 0-3 controls. 3¨ was epsilon and Goldsmith showed 3rd round control. I could have asked about the spades but our system did not allow us an easy way of discovering that West’s hearts were AQxx rather than, say, Qxx. Perhaps 5© is my best call; 4© was decidedly feeble.

Lonsdale opened the big hand 2§ (Acol!). South overcalled 2ª and when McPhee passed, North raised to 3ª. Lonsdale doubled for t/o and McPhee left in. This was only worth 500 at this vulnerability. One can see why McPhee left it in but if East has zero points in spades, there are only 23 points remaining to be distributed between the other three suits. Maybe a 4ª or a 5© call would have been better at this point?

4. NS have 22 points but nowhere much to go - they could not even make 1NT at our table with the minor suit finesses both working although it made at four other tables. The Fearnheads opened 1NT and their oppos then proceeded to bid wildly to 4© on their 18-count. Even without doubling, the Fearnheads still took 300.

Elsewhere 1NT made anything from four tricks (against Hayes/Price) to nine (against Webley/Nicholas). Nicholas comments: "garbage defence: I put ©K under the Ace!"

6. Four minuses for the ‘A’ team and I have to take all of the blame for 3NT creeping home at our table. A club lead was a bad start, ducking ©K didn’t help and we never got all our lovely spade tricks. Oh dear. The only other contract-makers were the Fearnheads in 2NT.

8. 4© was touch and go:

I opened 1§ and South overcalled 1NT showing diamonds and spades. Goldsmith doubled (5-8 or so) and North upped the ante to 3¨. With 19 points I can hardly pass but I didn’t fancy a double and in the end I tried 3©, duly raised to four by Goldsmith.

South led ¨Q and I ducked in dummy (twice), ruffing the second round. What’s best? An immediate club towards the Queen might have been best as the cards lie but I felt that I had better chances if I cashed ©A first. My club lead at trick four was ruffed and I had to ruff the diamond return.

Lonsdale may be asking me for Acol lessons soon. The 1§ opening was fair enough but when partner responded 2§, he jumped to 3NT. After ¨Q lead, this did not play terribly well, even with the majors well placed!

Hayes also opened 1§ and South found a seriously light Michaels 2§. West bid 3§ and North put his head on the block with a leap to 4ª. Hayes should surely double that but she preferred 5§ and was herself doubled. I believe this had a chance to go one light but Hayes misled (or was misled?) and went three off instead (–500).

Elsewhere, 4© was generally played from the "wrong" hand. The club lead was ruffed, a diamond was returned and another club ruffed. Another diamond leaves declarer stranded in hand. The Talbots were unlucky that East was declarer and I’m not sure whether they had a chance to beat it.

South opened 2© (weak) and Goldsmith doubled. Stuck for a bid, I tried 2ª, Goldsmith tried 3ª and I converted to 3NT, not fancying the 3-3 fit overmuch.

South led ©3 and, if I guess right, I’m in with an excellent chance. But I let it run to North’s King. ª10 was returned and I held up ªA until the 3rd round. ¨K went to North’s Ace and a spade was cashed before he exited in clubs. Dummy had been squeezed out of a club winner so I eventually lost a diamond as well - a very unpleasant two off.

If Goldsmith had called 2NT originally, as most Wests did (or would do), we would probably have scored 120, the result at the other three ‘A’ team tables. The Talbots again had the misfortune that it was North who was on lead and, after ©K was led, 630 was recorded. 18 IMPs out in all.

10. 6ª was made at five tables:

The bidding at our table went 1© - 1ª - 4§ (Splinter!) - (pause) 4ª - 4NT - 5§ - 6ª. Naturally, I led ¨A and declarer had little difficulty. Since West holds ªK8 and ©K1084, there’s a bit of work to do on (say) a club lead but there are plenty of entries to set the hearts up and nobody went off.

The one Oxon pair to miss out were Claridge/ Williams. They bid 2© - 2ª - 3ª - 4ª - Pass. Granted, North has an extra point or two but with ªK and either ¨A or §K, there’s likely to be play for a grand slam, never mind a small one, so I don’t see how Williams can pass.

But they were more than baled out by McPhee/Lonsdale whose oppos managed to bid to the non-making 4©. Webley/Nicholas had similar good fortune. So 30 IMPs in.

11. 4ª made exactly 10 tricks at six tables. Goldsmith was lucky enough to get doubled in 4ª, possibly because we’d played them out of order and he’d just made a dog’s breakfast of 6© on 12. But he played this one a lot better and even managed to get a doubled overtrick. A good recovery.

As West, he opened 1©. I responded 2§ and he has enough to reverse to 2ª in Precision. I bid 3¨ (FSF) and his 3© confirmed a 6-card suit at least. I tried 4NT and 5§ showed ªA and ©AK. I’d like to bid the grand at this point but I only know of twelve likely tricks and it may be awkward if partner doesn’t have ©10 which I can’t find out about. So I settled for 6©.

North made the obvious lead of §J. Looking at all four hands, it’s clear that the cards couldn’t lie better for declarer. The grand would have been an easy make and 6© would appear to be absolutely unputdownable. So how did Goldsmith manage to drop the ball?

His first mistake (I think) was to go up with §A at trick one. Finessing the Queen looks better to me. Even if the finesse loses, it’s only really swapping a club loser for a diamond loser and ruffing diamonds may well be safer later on.

Anyway, he won §A, cashed ªK and ruffed a club. His next big mistake was not to cash ªA at this point before ruffing a spade. If so, ªQ would have come down and there would have been no further worries. Instead he ruffed a spade high without cashing ªA. Crossing back with a trump, he ruffed another spade high (the Queen dropping).

Slam made five times but we weren’t the only ones to excel. Lonsdale/McPhee started 1© - 2§ and then South found a double!!! This was passed round to McPhee (W) who redoubled, hardly the most descriptive bid. Lonsdale bid 2© (NF?), South bid 2ª (!!!) and McPhee came out of the bushes at last with a 4© call. "Hard to bid slam with oppos bidding," they opined. It’s certainly one of the most surreal auctions I’ve ever come across but how can Lonsdale pass 4©? The ‘A’ team lost 25 IMPs and, you’d have to say, deservedly so.

14. Five pairs went off in 4ª as there were four losers off the top that weren’t particularly hard to find. The defence has at last two bites at the cherry. 4ª made once, against the Talbots, but I don’t have details. Procter/Claridge’s oppos stayed below game while Claridge/Williams competed to 4©, played there and lost –150.

16. West with a flat 14 opened 1NT at every (?) table. Since East has a flat 2-count and they’re at red, they are vulnerable to a big hit. But the Fearnheads and the Talbots were the only ones to net the big prizes (1100 and 800 in 2©* and 2¨*, both 4-3 fits. I was relieved to lose only 200 in 2© but the other five EWs got out relatively cheaply. Claridge/Williams went off in 3NT while Lonsdale/McPhee beat 3NT by no less then three tricks.

17. Another nearly flat one, EW’s 3NT being pretty untouchable. But the Fearnheads managed to buy the contract in 2ª* and go only one off, thereby gaining 9 IMPs.

19. NS have exactly ten tricks so the only question was whether they called game or not. The odds seem to be rather better than 50/50 and three of the five game-makers were from Oxon, only Procter/Claridge missing out. Claridge, with ªJ1082 ©K95 ¨AQ874 §A, opened 1¨ and then raised 1ª to 2ª. That was passed out and I’d say the hand is worth rather more than a 2ª raise but I do have hindsight on my side.

Goldsmith opened 1§ and rebid 1NT (17-19) over my 1¨. I felt I was too good to bale out to 3§ and we had what I thought was the ideal bid available - 3§, invitational, showing a good 6 card suit. With a minimum and a small doubleton club, Goldsmith has absolutely no choice (in theory) but to pass. But no, he bid 3NT. Admittedly, if ©K had been right, this might have had chances but as it was he subsided to four off for –400. More serene smiles as we pulled out 21.

Still, other pairs bid it just as badly. The Talbots and Claridge/Williams (in 4ª) also picked up +400 and Procter/Claridge settled for 300.

21. There was some spectacularly bad bidding by EW on this hand too. After South’s weak two, we bid freely up to 3NT, went five off and gained 9 IMPs when it turned out NS could make 4ª all along, as indeed Procter/Claridge had done. The Fearnheads also made game, as did Webley/Nicholas’s oppos.

Claridge/Williams also took 250 from the cunning save in 3NT while Hayes/Price were the only pair to beat 4ª. Declarer "misled" again apparently but it can’t have been easy to go down.

22. Lots of 420s and 450s round the room but Claridge/Williams stretched to 5ª and were unlucky when both spade honours were wrong. We for one had 4ª there for the beating:

I led ©J against 4ª and declarer eliminated clubs before taking a spade finesse. Rather than cash a heart winner, I exited with ¨8. Declarer won in dummy and tried another spade finesse. All over, surely, as I played my second diamond, leaving declarer stranded in dummy. A heart was led, Goldsmith hopped up with ©Q and gave me my diamond ruff ... er, no, actually he led another heart and declarer gratefully claimed the rest.

Was declarer wrong to take the second spade finesse? Arguable, but Goldsmith has no excuse. The ¨10 was the one diamond he couldn’t see. I would not lead ¨8 from 1086 and declarer would never have led hearts from dummy if he had two tricks to lose in the suit. A big chance squandered. Serenely on ...

24. EW have only 24 points but five cashable clubs and a relatively easy 3NT as long as it was played by West. Five 430s and one 400 but two Oxon pairs missed out on the game. Webley/Nicholas stopped in 2¨ while Lonsdale/McPhee went off in 3NT, observing that it’s always off on a heart lead. And, what’s more, I think they’re right.

5§ only goes off if North underleads ªAKQ at trick one. Back in the real world, the point is surely that West must bid on a 1-4-2-6 shape with a healthy 8 points in his two suits. They are the easy ones. It’s when you’ve only got a 5-card suit that it’s harder to judge. 80% of the time, game will be on for one side or the other. If South has ¨K, NS will probably make 4ª and 5§ will be off. Even if this is the 20% when nobody can make game, there is every chance at this vulnerability that NS will take out insurance in 5ª. Indeed 5ª* – 2 is the par contract at pairs or teams.

The Fearnheads alone registered –300, a fair result in theory, the worst by a long way in practice. It was 4ª - 1 at six tables. I’m not impressed. Wests are obviously wimps.

Game all, and this time it’s South who opens 1ª and West who doubles. North ups the ante to a mere 3ª. What should East do? In practice I doubled (responsive) but it doesn’t look a great bid now. The seven points are poorly placed and you only have three hearts. Still, marginal, I’d say.

Back to West. What should he do over 3ª*? Pass at pairs, maybe, but at this vulnerability at teams I don’t think there’s a case for passing. 4§ again seems pretty mandatory and might indeed have scraped home as the cards lie. But Goldsmith is not too keen on bidding clubs and he passed this one out. With South holding AQ in both majors, there was no defence to 3ª* and we had to discard carefully to prevent 730 turning into 930. No other pair scored more than 140.

The only other auction that was remotely similar was when Price doubled South’s opening 1ª but North at his table did not deem his 4-3-5-1 two-count worth any sort of bid at this stage and the bidding eventually subsided in 2ª. One or two other Wests preferred a 2§ overcall although I think Goldsmith was right to double. Contracts made at all eight tables.

27. Six NSs scored between +140 and +200 but 3NT and 4ª were both making as the cards lie. That was good news for Claridge/Williams (+450) and bad for Lonsdale/McPhee (–430) although a small club lead might have saved their bacon.

Goldsmith (W) opened 1ª, I responded 2©. He ignored his void and rebid 3§. I tried 3© (NF). Pass looks right to me on the West cards but Goldsmith found a 3ª bid from somewhere and with my diamond guard I removed to 3NT. South led ªQ and dummy was not a pretty sight.

Winning ªA, what do you do next? Against top-notch opponents, I’d say you have little choice but to finesse ¨8. A 25% shot but, when it works (as here), there’s time and entries to set up the hearts.

Not feeling quite so desperate, I contented myself with a finesse of ¨J. When I led ©K, North went up with the Ace and, after much thought, pushed another heart through! Now ten tricks was easy even without the club finesse.

Most EWs overbid and 3NT went off at three tables by up to three tricks. Nicholas’s 4© was one off. Indeed, it takes a spade lead to defeat it, I believe.

29 650 to EW in 4ª.

I opened 1©, jump shift from Goldsmith, 3NT (= minimum, flattish) from me, 4§ sets the suit and invites cues. 4© - 4ª - 4NT - 5§ and fortunately neither of us was prepared to go on without a diamond control. North has ¨AKx so the slam has no chance (or so I thought!).

Webley chose to respond 2§ with the West cards. Nicholas rebid 2© and it was straight into Blackwood, after which there was no way of stopping below 6§. But North failed to cash his top diamonds (!) and that was +920.

Other EWs did not get away with off-key sequences. Hayes/Price bid 1© - 3§ - 3© - 3ª - 4© - Pass. Two off. It was the 3§ bid which was wrong, apparently, and it looks as though the 3ª bid was interpreted as agreeing hearts but Hayes’s 3© rebid is surely also questionable.

Lonsdale/McPhee were –50 in 6§ but I don’t have the auction. Procter/Claridge’s oppos subsided in 5ª which was a lucky make and the Talbots’ oppos were the only other pair to play in 5§.

32. A fiddly 4© to finish:

Indeed Oxon gained 42 IMPs in all! Lonsdale/McPhee’s oppos went on to 4ª and conceded 800 therein. Hayes/Price settled for 300 from 2ª*. The hand was passed out at the Fearnheads’ table. The Talbots were 2ª – 1. Claridge/Williams did well to get 200 from 4© and there was a club part score at the eighth table. Nice finish. A good comeback for the ‘A’ team and a very interesting afternoon’s bridge against sporting opponents.