West with a void in Spades is just good enough to double South's 1 Spade opening bid and despite East/West bidding Hearts (or Clubs if East bids 3 Clubs instead of 2 Hearts) South should end up in 4 Spades.

West should lead a Heart, taken with North's Ace, then 5 of Clubs to the Ace, Jack of Clubs ruffed with 7 Spades and Spade King led. West shows out of trumps so 10 Spades led covered by Queen, taken with the Ace. Return to North with King of Hearts and lead Jack of Diamonds but East should resist ruffing which would shorten his trumps and discard a Club. West will cash Ace & Queen of Diamonds and give East a Diamond ruff with the 8 of Spades, East can then cash his master Jack of Spades setting the contract by 1 trick.

On the night the board was played 14 times with game with game making by N/S 7 times.

Tip; Beware shortening your trumps in defence.

North will open 1 Club, South replying 1 Heart. North bids 2 Diamonds, a reverse, and South jumps to 3 Hearts showing 6 in that suit. North will sign off in 3NT which South may, or may not, reasonably convert to 4 Hearts.

Because both Queen of Clubs and Queen of Hearts are well placed for declarer, and the Hearts split 3:3 and also when Ace, King and Queen of Diamonds are cashed the Knave falls making the 10 of Diamonds good North/ South will make 1 Spade, 6 Hearts, 4 Diamonds and 3 Clubs a total of 14 tricks!!! All this good fortune in placement of the opponents cards is against the odds. The slam should not be bid.

On the night the Board was played 14 times and 1 pair bid and made 7NT (lucky). Another 6 Heats + 1, and all others made between 9 and 13 tricks in No Trumps or Hearts. You are slightly worried in No Trumps with King of Spades lead, but all finesses work.

After South with 18 points has opened 1 Diamond, the middle of touching in rank suits, should North Bid or Pass? On this balanced hand with 2 four card majors and 5 points I would always advise a bid of 1 Heart and Pass whatever South rebids. If South rebids 1 Spade you have a 4:4 fit, if South bids 1NT or 2NT the contract has a good chance of making, if South rebids 2 Clubs correct to 2 Diamonds, he must have 5 Diamonds or if South just rebids his Diamonds you can just Pass.

After your 1 Heart bid South will jump to 3 or 4 Hearts and on careful play you should only loose 1 Heart and 2 Club tricks, a total of 10 tricks.

On the night the Board was played 14 times, the 6 pairs in Hearts made 9 or 10 tricks. The other 8 pairs were in Diamonds or Clubs making 8 to 10 tricks. Those in the Heart contract scored best as 4 of a minor only scores 130 whereas 3 Hearts or 3 Hearts + 1 scores 140 or 170.

West ith a balanced 14 will open 1 NT. North with 16 points will double intending to lead a Club, East with only 3 points will rescue with 2 Dimonds and now South with his excellent 6 card Spade suit but has only 7 points knows North to have at least 16 points, and at least 2 Spades. South should sense they might have a vulnerable game will end the auction with a jump to 4 Spades.

West on lead cannot sensibly lead away from his 3 Kings so should lead Ace and another Spade. South draws the last 2 Spades discarding 2 Clubs from dummy. South now plays a Club to North's Queen, the finesse works, well West did open 1NT, plays Ace of Clubs discarding a Diamond and ruffs a Club. South now plays a Heart to the Queen, again the finesse holds and cashes Ace of Hearts and Ace of Diamonds South them claims his last trump making 10 tricks, Ace & Queen of Hearts, Ace Diamonds, Ace & Queen of Clubs and 5 Spades.

On the night the Board was played 14 times with a variety of contracts and scores. Game in Spades made 4 times went off once, and part score in Spades making 9 or 10 tricks was bid 6 times. 3NT made once by North/South.

After East has opened 1 Diamond South should resist the temptation of overcalling 1 Heart when vulnerable on such a lousy suit. West will bid 1 Spade despite the quality of that suit. East will show his solid suit by bidding 3 Diamonds and West will close the auction with 3NT.

North will lead Jack of Spades to East's King, Souths Ace takes the trick and South will return a Spade to East's winning Queen. Declarer will now run his 6 Diamond tricks, has already taken 1 Spade and has Ace and King of Hearts to make a minimum of 9 tricks.

On the night the Board was played 10 times. 5 pairs made game in No Trumps, 1 pair bid and made 5 Diamonds and the other 4 pairs made a part score in Diamonds.

West has an excellent 2 Spade opener, East has an Ace & a King so can bid positive with 3 Hearts, West shows his second suit, Diamonds, East bids 4NT for Aces and finds all 3 missing Aces so can now bid 6 Diamonds.

Because of the distribution of the cards 13 tricks will make in Diamonds, Spades or No Trumps with West's 10 of Hearts being discarded on East's Ace of Clubs.

On the night the Board was played 10 times but only 3 pairs bid the slam, 2 in NT and 1 in Spades. 5 pairs bid game in Spades and 2 pairs played in a part score.

East/West may well make 9 tricks in hearts if South leads Queen of Spades ( North overcalled 2 Spades) loosing 1 Spade, 1 Diamond and 2 Clubs. However should South lead his Ace of Clubs first, showing the King, North should encourage by playing his 10, South then plays King of Clubs and a third Club for North to ruff. East/West are now held to 8 tricks.

If North/South play in a Spade contract they will also make 8 tricks, 5 Spades, Ace of Diamondsa & Ace and King of Clubs.

On the night the Board was played 10 times, East/West made 3 Hearts once and 2 Hearts twice, North/South made 2 Spades twice. Several times East/West played in No Trumps which always failed!

Once East knows that West has opened with at least 5 Clubs and 4 Hearts, East can raise to game in Hearts. An opening hand opposite an opening hand should always be in a game contract. North on lead should lead a trump the second suit bid by both opener and responder as this may well help to cut down cross ruffs during the play. However West will draw trumps in 3 rounds, make all 6 Clubs discarding the 4 Diamonds in dummy, then lead a Spade towards the King, best ducked by North, lead 2 of Spades from dummy to Queen and taken by North's Ace. Whatever North leads now West will take the last 2 tricks by cross ruffing making a total of 12 tricks. This can only be kept to 11 tricks if North/South take their 2 Aces at tricks one and two, an unlikely defence especially as these 2 Aces are in separate hands.

On the night the Board was played 10 times with 4 Hearts being bid only 3 times. A Heart part score made twice. 3 Pairs bid part score in Clubs making 11 tricks and the final 2 pairs played in 3NT making 9 & 11 tricks respectively. 4 Hearts + 2 for 480 was the best score.