What are Flannery Conventions?
Flannery conventions are a type of bridge convention that allow players to identify the distribution of their partner’s hand when certain conditions are met. They were developed by poker player (and later a noted bridge player) Joe Flannery in 1976. While initially derided (notably by Terence Reese), they eventually gained traction and have been widely adopted, becoming a staple of standard American play today.
The origin of the concept can be traced back to a 21 July 1967 issue of Bridge World, where Flannery first introduced the idea to a limited audience. He wanted to develop a system that would allow him to describe a specific distribution forming a "semi-balanced" hand – a 5-4-3-1 distribution – while continuing to allow other described distributions to retain their original meanings. Despite some initial pushback from others, Flannery persisted with the convention, gradually refining the various elements over the ensuing years. The first successful trial of the Flannery convention was made at an informal game of bridge in 1967, played in a corner booth at Lindy’s restaurant .
The convention itself is competitively asymmetric; it permits highly distorted distributions to be ascribed to one side – the 3-4-5 configuration – while limiting those on the other end of the distribution to a conventional 6-3-3 minimum. As Flannery himself explained, this rule is intended to prevent partner from being able to "intuitively" place the unknown distribution onto the other side of the table.
To further define the term "semi-balanced," Flannery introduced a new term – "pseudo-balanced" – which describes the paired ideal case in which there are three shapes, 5-4-2-2 and 5-5-3-1. Flannery described these pseudo-balanced distributions as not being strictly "balanced" because they each lack two cards of one suit, and as being semibalanced for the same reason. The distinction between pseudo-balanced hands and balanced hands is that in balanced hands, "the cards are distributed in a relatively flatter way" while pseudo-balanced hands require that "cards are ‘piled-up’; i.e., their edges are touching."
Why Use Flannery?
A primary goal of Flannery conventions is to provide a mechanism for the partnership to quickly identify possible game-level or slam-level fits. One way in which this is accomplished is by "sacrificing" one of the 14 – 16 high card points in each hand. This slight handicap permits the other hand, with sufficient strength, to have a more direct route to discovering potential major suit or no trump fits. The alternative, of using regular two over one and life master-limit or better hand requirements with a normal distribution, may actually lead to a situation where a partnership misses a game or even slam fit.
Applying the Flannery approach, somewhat counterintuitively, when both players have the 14 – 16 point range, the player with the longer major suit provides information to the partnership while sacrificing their own hand. In this way, the second hand has more opportunities to show everything that they have, and is able to do a much better job of describing their full holdings than otherwise might be possible.
The Flannery world of contract bridge conventions is based on a very simple tenet – the giving up of a few points to better discover when it makes sense to reach for the sky.
The Standard Flannery Opening Bid
The classic Flannery opening call is a 2♦. It is used to show a 5-4 type distribution in hearts and spades, with an overall point range of 11-15.
This means that when you have 5 hearts, 4 spades, and at least 6 dummy points, you can open with 2♦, even if your high card points are too low to make a standard 2 over 1 opening bid of 7-9. The 7-9 point range is covered with the standard 1♥/1♠ opening bids and the 11-15 point range is covered by the 2♦ Flannery opening.
The hand should have no intermediate points, since intermediate points can boost the hand into the 16+ point strength range. Examples of intermediate points are: Aces that do not have a King to go with them; Kings without an Ace; Jacks; and Queens.
The 2♦ Flannery opening bid will invite a game contract (it says "We have enough points for game, since I have a long suit and we have an opening hand, what do you have?"). Therefore, the opener expects that the responder will have at least 6 points.
An additional feature of the Flannery opening bid is that the opener has no blockers in his long suit, because he cannot hold either of these intermediate combinations: KQ, AJ, AQ, or KJ. It would not be reasonable to give the responder that much information about his hand in case partnership errors occur.
Flannery Responses and Rebids
Over a 2♦ opening, opener’s most common response is 1NT. This is similar to asking partner about the quality of his hand after any other opening bid. Responder’s 2♥ response shows (at least) 4 cards in each suit, as discussed above, and asks partner to give an estimate of his high-card strength and distribution.
My 1NT reply to 2♦ will usually be based on pattern, not high card points. If I have a lot of shortness (missing Ace(s) or King(s)), I would bid 1NT, 6-10 pts. If I have 8-10 pts and can tolerate some 54xx (5431 pattern), I would bid 2NT. If I have AQxx in one of the minor suits and nothing good in the majors (5422 pattern), often 4-8 pts, I will bid 3♣. If I have good major suit support and nothing in the minors, I will show that with a bid of 2♥ or 2♠. A bid of 3♠ is the same as a bid of 3♣ (up-the-ladder); responder has 4 hearts and 6 points or more.
Once partner knows responder has 4 cards in each Major and at least 6 points, he is expected to respond 2♠ with either a balanced hand or one with no more than 4 cards in spades, and 4 cards in hearts. With this pattern opener will often limit his hand to 18 high card points and only then look for a fit. With 4+ in spades, opener will move to game; with a Major fit and 13-18 pts., opener will jump to 4 or even 5 Hearts. Responder would not jump to 4 of the second suit, unless he has a maximum hand with a singleton or void in the first suit.
A minimum responder hand would be 7-10 pts., 5 cards in the second suit and less than 4 cards in the first suit. On this hand, responder can just make a simple bid of the second suit, or perhaps bid 2NT to show the hand’s limited strength.
When responder has a minimum hand in the 12-14 point range, he would similarly start with 1♥, allowing partner to make a second bid of 2♠, which responder could accept if he had 3 spades and 4 hearts. Responder would simply accept the spade bid with 2 cards in that suit.
If responder only has three cards in hearts, and wants to force to game, he would bid 2NT. Later, at his first opportunity, responder would bid 3♠, showing at least 2 cards in that Major. Again, responder would need to have 3 spades for a 3♠ bid.
With 5 cards in hearts and 5 cards in spades, responder would start with 1♥ , then jump to 3♠ after opener’s 2♥ response.
In all instances responder would stop below game, to await partner’s rebid. With different strength and/or suit combinations, these principles would apply, but the specific bid percentages are unique to each hand type.
Variations and Alternatives to Standard Flannery
As is the case with any established convention, there are several variations and/or adaptations of the Flannery conventions. In fact, many players will make adjustments to the original Flannery conventions in an attempt to make the conventions more closely align with their own personal playing style. Players are free to use which variation or adaptation of the Flannery conventions they feel comfortable with and which best suits their own individual system.
First, some players will not like the 1-NT opening that is a part of the original Flannery conventions. Instead, they may, (and some do), use either an artificial 1-NT opening or a natural 1-NT opening. The 1-NT opening is a very reasonable alternative as it demonstrates that the player has a 5 card major suit and a 10-11 point count. With this definition, it is important that the responder use the same definition for the 1-NT opening when he opens as the 1-NT opening. This way, the Flannery convention has been substituted with an effective alternative.
Alternatively, as indicated in section II, some players, (and I am one of them), do not like the artificial 1-NT opening. Therefore, I have used a natural 1 level major suit opening along with the 7 card rule. This allows me to easily recognize both the 5-3-3-2 count and that the major suit must be 7 cards or more. With the new use of a natural 1 level major suit opening, the Flannery convention has been substituted with an effective alternative.
Some players will elect to use two preemptive openings to demonstrate a 5-3-3-2 count with the 5-3-3-2 count on the 7 card rule in the major suits and a 4-3-4-2 count on the 6 card rule in the minor suits . This is the 1 major + 3 minor suits opening. This shows partner that the preemptive nature of your hand should therefore trigger a raise of three to six levels in the appropriate suit. Remember that the 7 card rule in the major suits demonstrates the 5-3-2 count with 7 cards in the appropriate major suit. To make this opening, you have only used 4 cards in each of the minor suits, therefore you must in addition to the five cards in the major suit, only one of the other minor suits has more than two cards in it. That is why it is called the 3 minor suits opening, you have four suits but only three non-major suits and that is why you will only be using one of those suits to demonstrate a 5-3-2 count. The 1 major + 3 minor suit opening is a reasonable alternative that can be used by any player if they cannot or do not want to use the Flannery conventions.
Another variation of the 1 major + 3 minor suit opening can be derived from the 1 major + 4 minor suit opening. The major suit demonstration must still constitute a 5-3-3-2 count with the seven card rule. In this case, the 4 minor suits opening demonstrates to the other members that the major suit should be played and the major suit should be a 5-3-2 count with the 4 card rule. This variation in turn means the 3 minor suits should be 3-3-2 and what that means is no suits have 4 cards in them. It is important to understand that because of the definition of the master point ranges, the point counts for the hand would need to be 8-11 points in order to thrive.
How to Practice Flannery
To master Flannery conventions, you must first get the rules under your belt. Then you have to take on the discipline of actually imposing them on actual hands. So that naturally leads to the question of which hands to practice, and how best to practice them. Here are some pointers;
- Choose a schedule of hands to practice
- Pick hands you can expect to see in play
- Always pay attention to bidding boxes when we are at or above the one level
- Play out challenging hands with real people
Following up on each one of these points;
1. A three-day, 100-hand set (see below) used to be a common way to practice new conventions. Now, as my husband likes to say, "practice is for amateurs," And, just about the time your brain parses these hands, you have to go to a two-day sectional, play two matches (48 boards = 48 hands), and then forget everything until the next tournament. So I think you need to practice some hands every day you play. I generally do it twice a day – it’s not as bad as watching paint dry, takes 20 minutes or so beforehand, and really helps you master the convention. Here are some hand types I practice on a regular basis;
2. I try to remember the type of hand we see at the bridge table: 26% of the time, our opponents are playing a weak 8 points (since 1-6). If you bid 3S with the hand below, your partner has just 10 points (based on her one-over-one bid of 1H) and is unreachable. If you play several sessions a week, you will have this hand at your last table.
I try to practice two or three of these hands each day right before a session. Keep in mind that you want a variety of suit combinations in your practice hands to become masterful. I particularly like working on hands where I don’t quite remember the rules, like making a fit jump (bidding 4C when partner bids 3D). The convention is to make the jump promisory of a preempt with a good suit. Otherwise, your bid doesn’t mean anything at all and sometimes denies fit. I say "sometimes" because in a few hands above, you can make a fit jump with a 4-card suit when you don’t want to promise more. The bad news is that the rule (present at North American contracts mostly) is exceptions to the rule.
3. Now that I’m sure I’ve confused you, let’s talk about keeping to the basics. Master the 30% of the convention that is always true – then the exceptions aren’t so material. I wrote the first tip from the perspective of playing havoc with the opponents if I thought I had a strong fit – that is, a hand that will probably have an adversarial opinion from their hand. In the other direction, with a strong hand, you want to have some agreement with your partner that you are massing opinions. You may have two hands with 4-3-3-3 shapes. In that case, when you fly off into a 4-level contract, you need to use the 2S or 2NT bid to promise an opening hand with no fit. In essence: an opening hand I’ll probably play anyway? That is to say, problematic for the opponents, define that opinion;
4. Try to ensure you don’t fit your bids to our opponents, even if you don’t see them or don’t know their hand shapes yet. So, across the course of many bridge hands, I’ve come to where my only hesitation is: does our opponents have the same number of points?
Conclusion – Is Flannery for You?
As we have seen, Flannery conventions can be a very useful tool in the game of contract bridge. No longer do you need to worry about bidding three times just to show your true hand. You can make the opening bid of 1 diamond, knowing that even if partner does not respond, they will know your hand is actually suited in spades. This agreement takes a lot of the guesswork out of the game for both players . Since Flannery conventions have been around since 1981, most experienced players are familiar with them and understand how this system works, so many players will know what you hold when you play with them which will in turn help improve your overall game. Knowing the functions of the 2-4, 2-5 and 2-6 bids is a great way to keep track of your hand and let your partner know where you stand.