Here's a fascinating hand from the SBU Peebles Autumn Congress, as reported by Babs Matthews.
It is Teams and North/South are vulnerable.

The bidding at our table went

At another table it went

At yet another it went

Which of the above auctions do you think you and your favourite partner would have followed?
Can you see the most improbable game that can be made by North/South? Click "Show Answer" and then see if you can make that game.

This was hand 7 played at Grange on Tuesday 16 August and reported by Jill Rushton. It is fairly routine but does illustrate an important principle of defence.
The contract was 1NT by East.
The lead was ♦4 at every table, which is obviously from a 4-card suit.
The contract was allowed to make at 4 tables (once with 1 overtrick and once with 2 overtricks), but it should be defeated.

North played A and declarer the 10. What should North return?

This hand illustrates the problem of responding in a competitive auction.
Sitting East I had a problem after Tim, sitting West, had opened 1♥ and North overcalled 2♣.  I had 5 spades but I didn't have the 10+ points necessary to bid the one round forcing 2♠ . Instead I made a negative double which only promised at least 4 spades. South now bids 3♣ and West has a real dilemma of how to show his strength and keep the options open for game in hearts, spades or NT.  West's 3♥ bid ended the auction missing the spade game.
Philip's answer to West's dilemma was a second negative double (technically known as a "responsive double"). This cannot be for penalties (with any suitable hand for a penalty double West would bid 3N).  It must show extra values, 5 hearts (East does not know you have more than 4), 3 spades (with 4 West bids 4♠) and denies two club stops so not suitable for 3N. East  would have bid 3♠ to show his fifth spade and deny three hearts allowing  the correct contract to be reached.
Richard Brazier
Feel free to add comments or questions about this Hand of the Week.

This deal illustrates the difficulty of bidding minor suit slams and was too difficult for Tuesday players, none of whom got beyond game, although all but one made 13 tricks.
At two tables I was watching the bidding went 1♣ - 3♣! - 5♣. East is, of course, much too strong for a limit bid but West could still have risked 4NT as it is unlikely partner has only one ace.
I have thought of six ways to get to 7♣, most of which also lead to 7NT.

This is the simplest bidding:

¹ Respsonder's jump shift showing 16+ points, good diamonds and (after subsequent club support) a slam try in opener's suit
² Three aces in Blackwood or Keycard Blackwood. With Roman Keycard Blackwood, the response to 4NT is 5♣.

Playing inverted minors and Roman Keycard Blackwood (neither available on Tuesdays) the bidding is nice and simple:

¹ Agreeing clubs and forcing
² If 5NT asks for specific kings, the 6♦ response enables West to count 13 tricks and bid 7NT. (Note that if East denies the ♦K then West can count 13 tricks in 7♣)
Philip Wraight

Feel free to add comments or questions about this Hand of the Week.

At our table there was the above unopposed auction to 3NT (no checkback by East). Our team mates bid better to 4♥ which is destined to go one off - they were the only pair in the room to bid and make the heart game.
On lead, Sally ruled out both majors. As the auction suggested a safe rather than attacking lead she settled on ♣J rather than ♦3. Any other lead makes it relatively easy for West to make the contract. I felt I could not spare any card but the 6. In spite of this "discouraging" signal, when West, not unreasonably, ducked she continued with ♣9 after overcoming her surprise at still being on lead. A low card again from dummy and I played the ♣10 in tempo, mainly because I was worried that West would duck again if I played ♣8 and Sally would be endplayed. However it had the additional advantage that when West won the ♣A he assumed Sally had ♣8. He not unreasonably played a heart to the ♥K, and discovered the bad break. He could still have recovered with a spade to the ♠10 but not totally unreasonably played ♠K which Sally took with the ♠A. It was not clear to Sally to return a spade now but she did well to avoid a diamond lead and played a safe heart. Declarer could now see the way to 8 tricks - a spade, four hearts (losing one)  two diamonds (losing one) and a club. Assuming North had ♣8 the 9th trick could be safely established in clubs  so declarer played ♣7. When Sally showed out, I had two club tricks and a diamond return led to one down.
Philip Wraight

Only one pair bid to the correct grand slam on board 22 from Thursday 17 March.
One pair got to the wrong grand slam (7♠) but made it on an unfortunate (i.e. poor) lead.

The bidding shown is one route to the top contract of 7♥ 

1. 2♦ is game forcing (playing Benji Acol). Open 2♣ if playing Acol.
2. 2♥ shows nothing positive to say. (2♦ if the opening bid was 2♣)
3. 2♠ shows a 5+ card suit
4. 3♣ is natural, waiting to hear more about partner’s hand
5. 3♥ is a second suit
6. 4♥ (pleased to have found a better spot)
7. 4NT Roman Key Card Blackwood
8. 5♦ - 1 key card (which has to be ♣A)
9. 7♥ (can count 13 tricks)

Instructive points:

Looking at the North hand it is tempting to assume that you will be playing in spades.
But remember that a 4-4 usually plays better, since the long suit can be used for discards or (as here) for setting up a suit for no losers. So it is usually correct to show 2 suits rather than just 1 - don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

It is rarely correct to use Blackwood when you have a void. North used it to find out if South had the ♣A (to be able to discard the losing diamond). If the answer was “no, I don’t have any aces” then North would have asked for specific kings. If South shows ♣K then North would sign off in 6♥. If South shows ♦K (or both kings) then North bids 7♥

Note that 7♥ is a very good contract. Trumps and spades need to break no worse than 4-1

In fact you can make 7♥ on some 5-0 breaks. If East holds the following hand, you still make 7♥ 

♠ 6
♥ 10 6 4 3 2
♦ 10 6 4 3
♣ K 9 8

Advanced points.

We use 5NT to ask for specific kings. Remember that there are only 3 kings to worry about, since the king of trumps is one of the 5 key cards. With one king, you bid that suit. With two kings, you bid the suit where you don’t have a king.

When North/South bid to the much poorer contract of 7♠, East made the unfortunate lead of a trump. Whilst it is usually safe against a grand slam, you should worry when it is a singleton, as it can easily pick up an important card. Here, any other lead is likely to defeat the slam.

Mike Rothwell