Poor Lady Milne! She gave her name to a rather nice trophy for the home international ladies' series, only to see the likes of this week's Poor Bridge of the Week being perpetrated.

If the definition of good poor bridge is a player who should know better doing something they wish they hadn't, then you really couldn't ask for more. Poorbridge.com reporters Michael Clark and Phil Smith were on hand at the venue and witnessed international players doing things from which a dozen articles could have emerged, but for now we'll limit ourselves to this three-hand bumper edition containing what we think are the best of them.

Here's an awkward hand to kick off with from the first evening of the event. You're dealer and see:

Not at all a pleasant decision to make since it's teams and you really don't want to concede a doubled partscore into game. Nevertheless, nothing else looks particularly attractive and in the England v Wales match, both Norths did well to pass and collect +100. On one of the tables in the Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland match, though, this bidding problem wasn't quite so tough. This was the full deal:

In the Open Room, South decided to bid 3 instead of doubling when 2 came round to her, prompting North into making an aggressive 3NT bid (hey, it's teams and the clubs might run). This drifted one off for +100 to Ireland.

The choice between 3 and double isn't exactly clear-cut, but how about the choice between 4 and double? What, you ask? Did West jump too high on her 6322 shape? No, 2 was also bid there but East, rather unusually, decided she was suitable for a preemptive raise to 3 on her defensive 10 count with two card support. This goes for an easy 300 (and, frankly, should probably go for 500 if the defence attack hearts in time) but she was rescued by South who took the view that she had enough for the four level. That's not it though, because East (presumably coming to the conclusion that her clubs were actually spades) now came in with a splendid 4 bid. This got passed around to North who, having been willing to take a penalty from 2 and 3 so far, was perfectly happy to whack 4 and extract +500 and 12 IMPs to the Republic of Ireland. For the record, and as a lesson to us all, this was the bidding:

Just a few boards later, an Irish declarer showed us just what it takes to make it onto poorbridge.com. The deal was as follows:

In the England v Wales match, both North/Souths ended up in diamonds and, due to the 4-1 break, had to go off, England picking up 2 IMPs by staying out of the slam (missing two cashing clubs). In the other match, however, North played in 4 at both tables which on the face of it appears to be a good spot. In the Open Room, the Northern Ireland declarer got a club lead and quickly wrapped up 11 tricks. If I told you that in the Closed Room there was a trump lead you would probably start to wonder why this hand is appearing in these pages at all but that's what was received and this was how it was played:

Declarer won the heart lead in hand with the K. She then unblocked the Q (though not at all fatal, this was the first crumbling foothold on the slippery slope) and crossed to dummy with a trump. A and K followed, pitching two clubs and East ruffed and returned a club. Declarer ruffed and this was the position:

Declarer drew the last trump and when she found the diamonds didn't break, claimed 11 tricks. Well, that's what you would think happened, wouldn't you? But what actually happened is quite different. Declarer drew the last trump, crossed to dummy with a top diamond and ruffed a spade with her final trump. Having now set up her long spade on table (yes, you read that correctly), declarer crossed back to table with a diamond to cash it. West woke up with glee and cashed a bunch of clubs for one off and a bizarre 11 IMPs to Northern Ireland. She had been given 12 tricks on the lead, decided to play for just 11 by playing spades early and then, when she could have quite legitimately claimed 11 tricks, she decided to go off. Who says International Bridge is inaccessible to the club player?

The first night's excitement came and went and the teams settled down a bit. The people who had been watching on the Friday night were rather relieved that the standard of play on the Saturday was really quite good. But come Sunday, the players started to tire. An England win seemed a foregone conclusion and, for fear of comparing them to lemons, the zest had gone out of the players. So we fast-forward to match 10 of 10 and, in particular, England versus Northern Ireland.

What do you do with this hand when your partner opens 1 and your right-hand opponent overcalls 3? Ok, let me make it easier for you — a) do you bid anything at all? or b) do you pass? I have to admit I don't know the Northern Irish pair's system. Perhaps they were playing a forcing pass system and 4-8 point opening bids or something. Or maybe 1 was forcing to game and therefore you can pass here without fear of partner stopping. But if that was the case, North forgot the system because you were left to defend 3 for a measly 200 points with a slam on.

Yes, North could have reopened and spared South's blushes but that hardly justifies passing. The English South, facing a fairly inoffensive 2 overcall, managed to find a bid and, while they didn't make it to the light slam, easily landed in game for a 7 IMP swing. The moral here is simple, if a little specific — don't pass 15 counts when your partner has opened the bidding and you have at least three quite sensible bids available.

David Burn, one of the online commentators for the event, noticed a hand where declarer took a line which protected against a 4-1 trump break. Unfortunately for her, though, trumps were 3-2 and she had to go down!