Flannery Opening

Situation: What do you open with these hands ?

ª KQxx		ª Axxx
© Axxxx		© KJxxx
¨ x		¨ xx
§ KJx		§ Ax

You can't bid these hands correctly without reversing or lying about something.

They aren't strong enough to reverse, and we gave up opening four card majors long ago.  (This is one of the problems that come with five card majors -- there are no completely free lunches in bridge, either.)

Who's Flannery? We open these hands with Flannery - 2©  (The original Flannery uses 2¨ rather than 2©, but we have other uses for 2¨  - the  Mini-Roman Convention)

Strength: 11 to 15 HCP with exactly 5 Hearts and 4 Spades. With stronger hands, we open one Heart and later reverse to Spades if partner doesn't bid them first. As with all limited bids, opener won't voluntarily bid again.

Don't cheat on the distribution -- it's unethical and your partner won't like you, either.

---

 Responses to Flannery

Responder (and opponents, too) know the opener's major suit distribution.   Sometimes, this will be an advantage to the defense.

With direct game possibilities, responder should just bid it.

N	E	S	W
2©*	P	4ª	. . .	Fast arrival.
2©*	P	4©	. . .	Simple and direct is best.
2©*	P	3NT	. . .	South has the minors with this hand

ª Qx

© xx

¨ KQxxx

§ AKxx

With weaker hands, responder picks one of the opener's suits.

N	E	S	W
2©*	P	P	. . .	Pass is a preference, too.
2©*	P	2ª	. . .	Again, simple and direct is best with . . .

ª Qxx
© x
¨ AQxx
§ Jxxxx

With hands of more strength, or where the composition of the other four cards in opener's hand may be important, responder bids 2NT to ask about the minor cards.

N	E	S	W
2 ©*	P	2NT*	P
3¨*	P	3NT	. . .

North's 3¨ bid is a 'Fragment" - a three card suit. In this example, South then feels right bidding the NT game.

2©*         P         2NT*         P

3©         . . .

North has a minimum hand and is 2-2 in the minors. South must be able to accommodate this situation before bidding 2NT. North can't have 6 Hearts to make the Flannery call, so the 3© bid does not show a 6th Heart. With a maximum, North would bid 3NT.

North's hand                 South's Hand

ª Axxx	ª Kxx
© Axxxx	© Qx
¨ Kx	¨AQxxx
§ Qx	§ xxx

Sometimes, a responder with strength can invite game if opener is maximum:

2©*         P        3©     . . .    South has good Heart support, but not enough for game with a minimum opener.

2©*         P        3ª      . . .      Same, but in Spades.  North can pass or bid 4ª.

South's hand:

ª Axxx
© Kx
¨ KJxx
§ xxx

---

Example Flannery Sequences

N	E	S	W
2©*	P	P	Dbl
P	3§	3©	. . .	South is late competing.

---

2©*	P	2NT*	P
3§	P	4NT	. . .	South knows about North's Diamond stiff for slam bidding.

---

2©*

P

3NT

. . .

'Fast arrival game bidding'. Don't help the opponents lead.

2©*	P	2NT*	P
3¨*	P	3© . . .	Oops!, North has the wrong fragment !