It felt like there weren't many, but when we look more closely ...

B3 : a respectable 6C (either clubs 2-2 or diamond finesse)  but only two people even found the suit. I don't know what to say about East-West whose four declarers were in hearts and msised their 5-4 spade fit.  It wasn't competition which stifled North-South.

B9 : a balanced 18-count opposite two aces was bid to 6D three times and 6N twice.  I cannot think why.

B10 : declarer has four finesses to take and more, but it all lies nicely and 7/12 made 12 tricks and 1/2 made 13 tricks.  Not a slam to bid.

B13 : excellent, impregnable 6D only bid by 1/12, while 1/12 got to 7D-1.  Some opposition bidding here but only to 3S at the most.

B15 : good prospects here with 6N cold on one of two finesses but they are both wrong.  Commisserations to the one pair who bid 6N, and a bit to the pair who bid 7D, which is the winner just as often as 3N is the winner.

So if we ignore B9 & B10, there were 2/36 occurrences of the right slam on the three good slam hands, and 2/36 who bid too high on those, plus 5/12 who overbid to a hopeless slam.

Not a lot of slams, but still potential for a lot of gains from the few which were there.

Only 7 relevant hands out of 33 .....

B2 : excellent 6C bid by no-one, but EW bouncing in hearts may have made it difficult.

B21 : a cold 6D reached by 1/4, and 6S isn't a bad place, but 3/4 did not bid slam.  Again competition is an issue.

B24 : missing two aces but this ws bid at 2/4 tables.

B25 : an acceptable but so-so slam here in 6C or 6D (needs roughtly 2/3 minor suit finesses working).  Bid to the impossible 6H by 1/10 pairs, but 4/10 in partscore and 5/10 in game.

B28 : excellent 6S or 6N, bid by 1/10 tables.

B30 : odds against slam which ought to go down, bid at 1/4 tables and somehow it made.

B31 : you can make 6C but both bidding it and making are unrealistic.

TOTAL (ignoring B25 and B31) OF COULD HAVE BID MORE WAS 22/24,     SHOULD HAVE BID LESS WAS  4/18 INSTANCES.

we have 12 tables in Midlands League and 7 tables in Ace of Clubs.

B2 : hopeless slam but was bid by 6/12 and 2/7 tables.

B3 : highest make is 2D but 3/12 and 2/7 got to slam : least said the better!

B4 : excellent 6H or 6D but impeded by spade preempts, but by 2/12 and 1/7 only.

B5 : grand needs hearts 3-2 and finding DQ, so too much but tried by 2/12 : small slam bid by 6/12 and 1/7 : 10 pairs stopped in game.

B9 : no makeable game but 2/12 and 2/7 bid the slam.

B18 : excellent 6C or 6D there but 1/1 bid than and 1/12 in 6S and 1/17 in 6N : remainder in game, but to be fair first hand has a weak 2H opener and partner has a jump raise so bidding the slam is difficult.

B19 : favourable lies allows 7H and 6S and 6N to make : nobody bid above game.

B25 : missing two aces but 1/12 bid the slam and went off

B27 : nobody can make game but (not unreasonably) 5/12 bid a slam and all went off.

THAT TOTALS UP TO (ignoring B19 and B27) : 42/57 instances of not bidding enough, 10/50 instances of bidding too much.

WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ?

LOOKING AT SLAM HANDS FROM MONDAY

B1 : a very good layout and a good guess allows a very poor 6D to make : let's ignore this one.

B3 : one pair bid to a no play slam which resulted in a 6S-x sacrifice and a top for them : 1/7 bid too much.

B7 : a decent slam here, being cold in 6S if the trumps are 2-2 and making quite often with singleton queen.  Very few values (21 hcp) but a void plus two running suits and potential competition in the bidding - all makes it too difficult : 0/7 bid this.

B8 : slam needs diamonds behaving well (Q onside, no extreme breaks), and it is not far off a 50% slam : bid by 0/7 tables.

B11 : excellent 6C slam but scuppered on the 4-0 trump break and the spades lying as they are : could have opposition bidding but I suspect that was only at 4/7 tables : slam bid by 0/7.

B13 : one table in hopeless 6D-2 and not doubled so presumably not a sacrifice : too much bidding by 1/7.

B14 : slam making in two suits given very favourable breaks : poor odds : bid by 0/7.

B15 : one pair massively overbid to 6N-3 but 6C would make with good breaks and a finesse (say a 10% slam) : too much bidding by 1/7.

B18 : given a 1S opener by East, then 6D by North is rather good odds, but impossible to bid : bid by 0/7.

B19 : with only a 20 hcp between then, 6H is a 65% contract for North-South, with perfectly fitting cards : bid by 0/7.

And if you had asked me before I looked at the hand records, I'd have said we had no slams on Monday!

WE HAD 9 RELEVANT HANDS, WITH 3 INSTANCES OF OVERBIDDING TO SILLY SLAMS, AND 0 INSTANCES OF BIDDING THE 5 DECENT SLAMS.  WHAT DOES THAT TELL US?

B4 : just a reminder that when you have to play a suit of KQ654-void with no trumps to help, small away from KQ three times is best and gets rewarded like on B4 when there is A2 alone in one hand.

B12 : we missed this point altogether - so ideas please - while everyone bid the easy 6♣, nobody found the 6♦ sacrifice which is likely to cost only 500 in practice, and that means a whole bundle of imps.

LOOKING AT THE SLAM HANDS FROM MONDAY

B4 : on a non heart lead slam is 75% and needs just the spade finesse if a heart lead : bid by 1/14

B5 : 6♣ or 6♦ depends just on one minor behaving, so excellent slam : bid by 3/14

B13 : excellent 6♥ with 7♥ almost just on a finesse : bid by 2/14

B20 : here 6♠ depends on little more than playing spades for one loser (76% says SUITPLAY) : bid by 2/14

B23 : slam needs ♥K and ♦K sitting right and hearts 3-2 (and ♣A onside if played by South), so too much to ask : bid by 0/14

B25 : slam is tight but can be made : a lot to ask : bid by 0/14

B26 : excellent grand (13 top tricks) but slam missed by 3/14 and 7/14 only bid the small slam

B28 : excellent 6♦ needs just the heart or diamond finesse : bid by 0/14.

I MAKE THAT 72 CHANCES TO BID MORE AND 1 TIME TO BID LESS.

WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT OUR SLAM BIDDING?