The insufficient bid produced a rarity

Apuleius, whose “Metamorphoses” is the only Latin-language novel that has survived in its entirety, wrote, “Familiarity breeds contempt, while rarity wins admiration.”

We do admire rarities that are not absurd. Yesterday, I posed this question: During an auction at the Summer North American Championships in Las Vegas last month, I bid one heart on the first round and one spade on the second round even though my partner did not pass, double or redouble. How?

The answer was that partner made an insufficient one-heart bid that my righthand opponent surprisingly accepted. (It also could have happened if my lefthand opponent had made an insufficient one-club or one-diamond bid that my partner accepted and rebid one diamond or one heart.) The full deal and our auction is given in the diagram.

After East accepted my partner’s oneheart rebid, I bid one spade primarily because it was “impossible” for me ever to do that with partner bidding. I did not ask my partner about the two-spade bid, but it certainly worked well because it made it difficult for West to lead a spade, which would have defeated the contract.

When West led the club ace, I ruffed, cashed my two top trumps, crossed to dummy with a diamond and started to discard spades on clubs. East ruffed the jack and cashed one spade, but I had the rest for an overtrick. I took five hearts, two diamonds, three clubs and a diamond ruff on the board.

As you would imagine, plus 450 was a top.