The following hand was board 9 of the Bridgedays event in Strathmore Golf Centre in March 2025.

It shows how listening to the opponents’ bidding can help Declarer to make a contract that would normally be defeated.

Dealer North:  East/West Vulnerable

Contract 6D by East

South leads the 7♣ 

Declarer can count 2 spade tricks, 1 heart trick, 7 diamonds and one club, i.e. 11 top tricks.

Without any information about North/South hands, declarer would cash the Spade Ace and draw trumps and take a Spade finesse hoping that South has the S Q

On this board, the spade finesse loses and declarer would be defeated in the slam.

There was one pair, regular Spoons players Jean Pitchfork and Anne Patrick were  the only pair to bid and make the slam.

At every table, North opens 1 club, then East can make a preemptive overcall of 3 diamonds and West can ask for Aces (or Keycards) and bid

6 D

Declarer can now analyse the hand in this manner:

East has 7 points, West has 20 points, so a combined point count of 27, leaving only 13 points for North South.

North opened the bidding with 1C, and should have at least 12 points. So, South has a maximum of one point, and cannot hold the spade Queen.

Declarer can win the opening lead and draw trumps and play S A and S K in the hope that North started with a doubleton SQ x. 

North’s hand was:

♠ Q 5

♥ K Q 7 2

♦ 9

♣ K Q J 9 5 2

When the ♠Q  fell on the 2nd round of Spades, declarer has 13 tricks!