The day after I posted this Alan told me one from Prescot. Ax on table Kxx in hand this suit is the opening lead and declarer promptly cashes A & K and ruffs the remaining x. Later another x materialises in dummy so the truth was Axx on table and Kxx in hand and declarer has disposed of a loser by unnatural means. Should the TD give this trick to the defence? Well perhaps but its not automatic I'd have to study the whole hand maybe declarer has another way to dispose of his loser and the unnatural ruff didn't effect the result.

I expect readers of these pages will be familiar with the John and Julie soap by Mike Swanson in English Bridge so with some trepidation I'm borrowing the characters. 

John persuades Julie to try the variable 1NT 12-14  non vul and 15-17 vul. The long suffering Julie much against her better judgement agrees to give it a go. Unluckily on Bd13 the vulnerable Julie is dealt a scrappy 15 count. Ironically in the normal way playing weak NT she might have been inclined to to downgrade on the basis of the dreadful intermediates and open 1NT 12-14 but here she decides she must humour John and open the strong 1NT with her 15 points. Seconds later she is struggling to keep her face straight as John announces 12-14. He's dreaming about the switch he missed in the defence of the last hand and forgot all about his cherished variable NT. With 44 in majors Julie responds 2 to John's Stayman inquiry and faces a dilemma when John rebids 2NT showing an 11-12 count with 4 s. An invitational hand opposite a weak NT. Obviously everyone will be in game and equally obviously she can not bid the game because with a minimum hand for her strong 1NT bid she must decline the invitation. In these circumstances if she bids and makes 4 the director will be round adjusting to 3+1 before you could say 'John's done it again'. 

With the known  fit its fine for Julie to bid 3 now and before the opponents play a card she explains her hand has 15-17 points rather than the announced 12-14 with a sigh and a roll of the eyes. The happy ending comes about because with a nasty break there are only 9 tricks available and so 3 = is an absolute top as everyone in 4 is down. If the opponents complain that John's misinformation has cost them heavily the director will be sympathetic but remind them that its a game of cards and they got unlucky this time.

This one's from Prescot: Partner opens 1NT and op overcalls 2. Not noticing the overcall responder places 2 on the table. When the underbid is not accepted the TD ascertains that playing full transfers the 2 bid was intended as a transfer to . The player can now bid 3 [or indeed 4 or 5] and the auction proceeds without any penalty. The player is also within his rights to PASS or make any legal bid but in that case partner is silenced for the rest of the auction.