West has a straightforward overcall of 1S after South opens 1H - tellyour partner what to lead if the opponents buy the contract. North with a double stop in spades & 13HCP goes to game in No Trumps. West leads the 7S (top of doubleton in partners suit) East knows that South has the A & JS & MUST play the 10 to force out one of Souths stops at the earliest opportunity. Then when West gets the lead with the KH he has another spade to lead & the second stop is driven out whilst East still has the AH as an entry to cash 3 winning spades. If the KS is played to trick 1 South ducks (rule of 7) & now west has no spade to lead when he gets in with the KH. It is essential to drive out known stoppers at the earliest opportunity.

On the night all pairs bar one made 9 or more tricks in no trumps although two pairs died in a pusillanimous one NT! If you take on board the principle of defence shown in this hand you will defeat many a contract that otherwise will make.

On the rule of 20 North has an opening bid of 1C. East should overcall 1H NOT a preempt of 3H. Counting losers East has 7 & if partner is trickless will go down 3. Being vulnerable this costs 800 when doubled against a mere 400 odd if N S can make a game. Even not vul the cost is 500 too much. South can make 3NT provided the JC is led at trick 2 as the 10C is pinned on the second round of clubs.

On the night four pairs concededbetween 100 & 400 in high heart contracts but none were doubled! South has an automatic penalty double of 3H. He has 3 quick tricks & his partner has opened! Against a heart contract N S should take three Ace Kings & the Ace of trumps to teach East not to be foolhardy! Remember to use that little red card in the bidding box.

South will naturally open 1 Heart and West should bid 2NT (unusual) showing at least 5:5 in Clubs & Diamonds. 4 Diamonds now by North, a splinter bid strongly agrees Hearts as the trump suit and shows a maximum of 1 Diamond, does this help South assess his hand. Top cards in diamonds by South would not be of much use but with 4 poor diamonds and no Clubs South can now see only 1 loser in the minor suits. After East's raise to 5 Clubs, North's points must be in Hearts and Spades so 6 Hearts looks a good contract.

On the night the board was played 10 times and everyone made 12 tricks losing just 1 Diamond. Nobody bid the slam!

This hand was dealt at random and was not set!

The bidding can be very varied and the illustration I give is what happened at my table. (Rob) I think West should open 1Diamond, not 5 Diamonds as this latter bid will probably be passed out. Over 1 Diamond a brave (often foolish) North might consider bidding 6 Diamonds asking his partner to bid either 6 Hearts or 6 Spades. After 1 Diamond by West a bid of 2NT, unusual, would show both majors at least 5:5 and after 3 Clubs by East, South would bid game in Hearts or Spades. After West has gone 5 or 6 Clubs anything could happen!

In fact North/South can make 13 tricks in either major so long as West is on lead, if North is declarer in 7 Hearts a Spade lead from East will give West a ruff at trick 1. East/West can always make 12 tricks in either Clubs or Diamonds, and will make 13 if a Heart is not led.

On the night the hand was played 10 times, 6 North/South's made 13 tricks in Hearts but only 1 pair bid a small slam. 2 minor small slams were bid by East/West 3 out of the 4 pairs making 13 tricks so only 1 North/South led a Heart.

the biddingcan take any number of turns. West might well open a thin 1H, a weak 2H (My favoute) or pass. North must preempt & I think the correct bid, no matter what West does, is 5 Diamonds. The rule of 500 says the bid is 4D (going two down doubled conceding 500 if partner is trickless) However if partner is trickless the opponents have cetainly got a slam so make life as awkward as possible for them by bidding 5. If South passes West, despite having 8 playing tricks, must not bid 2D. An Acol 2 bid promises defensive strngth as well as 8 tricks & North has no defence. If the preempt is at the 5 level it is difficult to reach the grand but a smallslam should be reached via 5D, 6D pass, 6H. The bid of 5NT without going through Blackwood is known as the Grand Slam force & asks partner to bid seven if holding two of the three top trump honours.

On the night 3 pairs bid 6H making 7 & 1 pair bid & made 6S. How did one pair only make 12 tricks in 4H? There are 5 spade tricks, 6 hearts & 2 aces.

West with 8 playing tricks & 4 quick tricks has an acol 2 opening.(Compare this hand with North's in board 24 & note the difference) East with 4 quick tricks must make a positive response & should bid his 5 card heart suit - not his 4 card club suit. West must immediately agree hearts and Blackwood makes the small slam easy. Roman Key Card Blackwood makes the grand easy as East will find that West has both A & K hearts. The play should be routine. The lead is taken whichever suit is led. AS, spade ruff, AH, spade ruffed high, qh & heart to K draws the last trump * the grand is made with 5H, 4S, 3C &AD. RKCB is an easy convention to learn & is much more useful than simple Blackwood. If wanted I will prepare a sheet exlaining the convention.

On the night only 2 slams were bid - both in the wrong contact of 6NT with one going off (deservedly!) Only one pair played in hearts - all the rest were in 4S except for one pair in a paltry 3S. Bidding the 5 card heart suit & immediately agreeing hearts holdin A,K,x is mandatory

South's double shows a hand too strong for an initial overcall of any kind. The rebid of $S showed a hand close to making game on its own. On the lead of the 7H it looks as though there are 4 losers - 1H, 1D & 2 clubs. However on the bidding East must have the AC so two club leads from dummy will limit the losers to one (East should not rise with the A on the first lead from dummy - Aces are meant to kill Kings!) Problem - there appears to be only one entry to dummy. The solution lies in a first round finesse of th 8 Spades! East has shon at least 6 hearts by his bidding & so is likely to be short in spades. in fact the apparently risky play is actually 4 t0 1 on to succeed.& enable the contract to make.

On the night 4S made three times & failed four times with a feeble 3S making three times. Did the successful players find the right play or did East err in the defence by rising with AC?

South has a normal double of the preempt - once again don't let a preempt rob you. West should not bid 4S. Do not raise with a weak hand unless you have defence to a slam. If 4S is bid A values bid of double by north enables the slam to be bid directly. Over 3NT by North I think 4C (slam try) should be bid but a pass is not a great crime.

On the night the best score for N - S was 500 against 4Sx followed by 460 in 3NT &420 in 5Clubs. One pair was allowed to play in 5S undoubled - Don't be afraid of appling the chopper. The doble card is much underused in our club.