I had prayed for boring hands and been rewarded with suitably pedestrian deals on day 2, but for the last 3 rounds of the SPNOT Qualifying event, we were back where the wild things are ... hands with 7-4 distributions were endemic, there were a couple of 7-5 shapes, and even another 8-card suit. Voids abounded. My aces got ruffed and it was all very uncomfortable.

This hand was exciting (round 8, board 11):

At our table, South passed, West bid 1S, and I overcalled 2S. We play Ghestem so this showed hearts and clubs, at least 5/5, either weak or strong but not intermediate. South took an advance save in 5C and West rebid 5D! Now East came to life and bid 6D!! While most of the field (28 pairs) played in spades, usually at the 4-level, in our match this was a flat board -- the same final contract and the same result at the other table, believe it or not!

With a 9-card spade fit including all 3 top honours, plus an outside AJT and AKQxx, you'd want to be in 4S, wouldn't you? Well, maybe not. This is another one of those 7-4 hands (round 9, board 20):

Four rounds of clubs by North leads to an over-ruff by South for the setting trick, and 32 pairs made only 9 tricks in a spade contract. Another 10 pairs made their game, and fortunately our teammates were among them. Fortunately, because our West opponent produced a devilish 3S opening that showed an unspecified solid 7-card suit, and East converted this to 3NT. South quite reasonably led a heart rather than a club, and declarer claimed 13 tricks shortly thereafter!

Match 8 also included 2 boards in which South held AQ in a suit in which North held 7 cards to the KJT. One of these hands leads to a 4H contract (bidding the cold slam seems more or less impossible) but the other was quite a story at our table (board 10):

East dealt and bid a spade, South overcalled 2H and West, for reasons he acknowledged might have been flawed (!) doubled this, ostensibly showing both minors. Would you bid 3D as North? I didn't, East rebid 2NT and everyone passed. South unsurprisingly then led a heart (the queen, which is a good lead) but declarer claimed 9 tricks when the ♠QJ dropped doubleton. Theoretically we could take the first 8 tricks ourselves .... some days this game is just too hard for me!!*!