Reverse Flannery

[Ant590]

Right, I've been mulling with this for a while now, and I can't work it out... I guess I'm missing something simple.

 

There was a thread about people's preferences for what a 2♥ bid is over 1m. Rev' Flannery was rarely people first choice, but was by far the "it's ok, but..." second choice.

 

Why is it better to play 5♠4♥ compared to 4♠5♥? The latter seems superficially more difficult to show in standard methods.

[ArtK78]

It is not in standard methods. But if you play Canape methods, Reverse Flannery is better than standard Flannery.

[Jlall]

With 4 spades and 5 hearts there is no problem, you can bid 1H and partner can bid 1S if he has 4 spades.

 

The problem hand type is when you have 5S and 4H/5H, and partner has 4 hearts, it can be impossible to get to your heart fit sometimes and stop at the 2 level (obviously not a problem if partner bids 1N, but if he bids 2 of a minor then 2H is forcing or 4sf and you could be screwed).

[Trinidad]

Reverse Flannery is not the Flannery variation that you would play in a canapé system.

 

Reverse Flannery are responses to 1 of a minor (1m):

1m-2♥: 6-9 with 5♠+4♥

1m-2♠: 10-11 with 5♠+4♥

 

The reason why these responses contain 5 spades and 4 hearts and not the other way around is that these hands are difficult to bid naturally: You will respond 1♠ and you may lose the 4-4 fit in hearts.

 

Hands with 5 hearts and 4 spades, however, don't have this problem. You will respond 1♥ and a 4-4 fit in spades is found without any problems.

 

An advantage of Reverse Flannery is that when responder shows 5 spades and 4 hearts in a natural way he promises 12+, making the auction game forcing.

 

Rik

[TylerE]

(Just to expand a bit)

 

The reason it's hard to show is that after a common auction,

 

1♦-1♠-[2cl], 2♥ is now 4SF, and there is no way to stop in 2♥.