My choice for October was Board 3 from the Wednesday Duplicate on the 12th.

At our table South opened 1S, West passed and North responded with a splinter bid of 4C, which showed a raise to at least 4S with a singleton or void club.  East doubled (showing a good club suit) and South bid 4S.  West should now have bid 5C, but chose to pass, as did North and East.  Although West was expected to lead a club because of partner's double, there was good reason to lead Ace of diamonds first in case North held a club void.   This turned out to be the case, so when partner encouraged the diamond lead, West led another, holding the contract to 11 tricks.

There are numerous possibilities as to how the auction might go on this deal.  If South opens 4S and that is passed round to East, an unusual 4NT bid would do justice to East's hand.  Similarly, if South opens 1S and North responds 2 or 3 hearts, again 4NT would be East's bid.  In either event it is hard for East/ West to reach the minor suit slam, unless they are pushed there by the opponents.

It looks like some pairs did bid the slam in a minor, as two North/ South pairs were in 6S, both going one off.

With these highly distributional deals it is often difficult to judge whose hand it is, i.e. which pair can make the highest level contract.  Sometimes, even if it is the opponent's hand, it is worth bidding one more to sacrifice or hope to push the opponents beyond the limit.