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Only three E/W pairs were allowed to play in the 10–card spade fit, and only one of those reached slam. E/W Pair #3 evidently got to slam in a major but were outbid by the opponents. The N/S pairs sacrificing in a doubled club contract had the right idea, and most were rewarded handsomely, but the pair in 7♣ went down four for –800, scarcely better in terms of matchpoints than defending against 6♠.
The Auction
Auctions at the other tables are not known, but we assume most pairs were playing a standard Weak 2♦. The East hand is short of a “20 + 2” opener, but from the results table above, at least one player must have opened it 1♥. Otherwise, we imagine most Wests opened 1♠ after two Passes, with North competing vigorously in clubs. But at our table, E/W were playing Flannery. Now with just 10 HCP including three contemptible jacks, our East might still have passed, especially red against white. But the Flannery 2♦ opening proved irresistible, and in the same circumstances, your author would also have succumbed. The temptation to trot out an infrequently used and mildly seductive gadget can sometimes overcome good judgment.
West understandably became excited when presented with both a 10–card spade fit and an 8–card heart fit. The artificial 2NT response showed interest in at least one of the majors and asked East to describe the hand further. North interfered with 3♣, but this was not at all obstructive. By partnership agreement, East’s jump to 4♦ (duly alerted) showed four cards in that suit (and necessarily, an accompanying void in clubs). West could not imagine an opening hand that did not include the ♦A and jumped to the spade slam forthwith, inducing a visible twitch from East.
The Play
North led the ♣A, but declarer ruffed in dummy, pulled two rounds of trumps, then continued with the ♥A and a second heart to the jack. This lost to the queen, but the established heart suit provided a parking place for Declarer’s third diamond on the way to a score of +1430 and an absolute top. This line of play succeeds even if hearts break 4–1, since declarer can ruff out the suit and return to dummy with a diamond for a discard on the fifth heart.
From a double dummy retrospective, South is subject to a risky squeeze in the red suits if Declarer runs the spades. South will be unable to hold on to a fourth diamond to protect the queen–nine, and dummy’s long diamond will provide the thirteenth trick. Click here to see the squeeze in operation in the BBO HandViewer. Click Next repeatedly to play the deal trick by trick.
Closing Thoughts
Dear Reader, while we utterly disavow “Analysis by Result”, and although one other pair apparently got to a major suit slam before N/S sacrificed in clubs, getting there on 24 HCP combined will be very difficult unless East opens a Flannery 2♦. The only other route we can imagine is a club splinter by East after a 1♠ opening in the West, but with East a passed hand, even that seems unlikely. As for the play, since getting to any making slam on these cards will score very well, no sane Declarer would conjure up a tortuous squeeze for an overtrick.
One last observation: With North’s extreme distribution and solid suit, any overcall short of an immediate jump to 5♣ will not effectively obstruct the E/W auction, since a 4♦ call by East over 4♣ will convey the same information as it did over 3♣. If the opponents are on a path to a probable game, as West’s 2NT ask would suggest, best to get as high as possible as quickly as possible. This would have maximally disrupted communications and might have kept E/W from reaching the slam.
Your author plays with many different partners but plays Flannery with only three of these. Would this convention be a useful addition to your own partnerships? Carefully consider Karen Walker’s advice above, then discuss it with Partner to see if it is worth a try, even if only for fun.
All the best,
Rex
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