Fun with Flannery

A good result for once. Continue reading

The Flannery convention (bidding 2 to show a hand with five hearts, four spades, and 11-15 HCP) has caused me quite a few problems. In fairness I must admit that it really came through for us last Saturday. North dealt with neither side vulnerable. I was West.

North
9 4 2
A Q 8 5
J 7 6 2
7 5
West East
5 A K 6 3
J 9 10 7 4 3 2
K Q 5 4 3 A 9 8
A Q J 6 2 4 3
South
Q J 10 8 7
K 6
10
K 10 9 8 3

My partner opened 2. I thought for a moment and then bid 3NT. North was understandably reluctant to underlead the A Q. Her choice of a diamond set up my best suit, which had never been bid. I won ten tricks in a row and then scored the 10 on the last trick after I surrendered the lead. No other east-west pair came close to matching this result. The next best was a partial score.

If we had not used Flannery, my partner would have opened 1. I would have responded 1NT. His only conceivable bid would be 2, which I would raise to 3. Since he did not know about my clubs, and I did not know about his diamonds, we would have probably played it at 3.

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