Redouble!

Here is a curiosity from the Scarborough Congress, reported by Peter Stocken of Yorkshire. Table One's East will have felt rather sheepish after the deal, his double of 4 ♠ backfiring embarassingly poorly. He will have brightened up considerably after scoring up with his teammates. 

Declarer won West's singleton heart lead with dummy's ace and cashed the ace of spades, revealing the 1-1 split. No more cards needed to be played. Declarer could cash the minor-suit aces and crossruff the remammg nine spades. Thirteen tricks and 4 ♠. doubled plus three. N-S +1390.

Table Two

At Table Two, North-South, internationals John Holland (North) and Alan Mould (South) bid very efficiently to 7 ♠. The play did not tax declarer and 13 tricks were quickly chalked up for +2210. That represented a 13-imp gain for their team, on their way to ulti­mate victory.

However, the result on the deal could have been so different if either of Tables One's North or South could have uttered a word.

"Redouble"

A redoubled contract making overtricks always scores better than the undoubled higher contract. 4 ♠ redoubled plus three would therefore score more than 7 ♠. (Tricks: 120 x 4) + (overtricks: 400 x 3) + (vulnerable game: 500) +(insult:100)=2280.

Redoubling carries the risk that the opponents will bid but I reckon both East and West would have placed their partner with very good spades and stuck it out.