The Easiest Bid in Bridge

10 5
9 5 4
J 8 7 4 3
K 8 5
A J 3 K 8 2
A Q 7 6 3 2 K J 10 8
K Q A 10 9 3 2
Q 2 9
Q 9 7 6 4
------
6 Vul: None
A J 10 7 6 4 3 Opening Lead: A of hearts

NorthEastSouthWest
Pass 1 2 2
Pass 3 3 4 NT
5 5 Pass 5
Pass Pass 5 Dbl
All pass
Another case of spurning a partner's announcement of preference for one's second and very meagre suit. To be sure, declarer can save a level in so doing, but 7 trump when he could have 10? Oh, he doesn't know that, does he? Well, he should know he's got two more clubs than spades and that his partner preferred clubs, rather than the major. So it shouldn't be too difficult to suspect that disparity, should it?
The easiest bid in bridge to get right! Or so I have called it. Oh yes, this hand requires a choice between a major and a minor, and I have granted that often you'll have to think a little in such cases, when there isn't a clear-cut choice. At the game level, you might choose the major with slightly less support than you have for a minor, since you save a level in the bidding. But when you're bidding to sac, you don't want to zero in on the major. Undertricks cost the same in any contract, and you only want to find the best suit for holding the negative score down.
I first looked at this hand because of the horrendous penalty, worse than a slam would have cost N-S -- when they weren't even bidding slam! Why does anyone want to come in at the five level with that moth-eaten 5-card spade suit headed by the Q 9? My reaction was to blame North for not showing preference when he clearly has better support for the minor.
I then saw that North had expressed his preference for clubs. He not only expressed preference for clubs, but he did it on a free bid! Perhaps he was motivated partly by a desire to muck up the opponents' Blackwood, but you can't read too much devious motivation into North's bid. He freely bid clubs and that has to mean more than a "mere preference", by which I mean choosing your best fit when you're trapped into a bid of some sort. That's mere preference and partners of such bidders should not read too much into a trapped bid.
So South has to be the goat here. He has two more clubs than spades and his partner has already shown his preference. He shouldn't be asked to show it a second time. Not with that suit, anyway. A rebid of the once-spurned suit, I should think, would say substantially, "Hey, look, pard. I heard your preference, but I can save a level in spades and it's such a powerful suit I don't need much support. Can you offer it?"
If that's what North heard, I think he can be excused for passing 5 spades. But, of course, South doesn't have a spade suit even remotely resembling that suggestion. In any event, the final score was minus 1400! And the other guys weren't even in slam! South was in the pass-out position! Further, it would seem that with the 3-3 spade break, a club contract should garner 10 tricks, losing two spades and a diamond -- for a right nice sac if the opponents settle for a double. To be sure, if the opposition goes to 6 hearts, now you've got to decide if you've pushed them into negative territory or if you want to sac at 7, which would be better than 6 hearts, but not so good as if you'd let 5 hearts ride!
In any event, I would say the preference bid is best effected by listening to what your partner is telling you and acting accordingly.
Anyway, here's the play: A of hearts ruffed, club to the K, spade to the 9 and J, cash a diamond, diamond continuation ruffed. How many trump does declarer have in the closed hand? And how many in each defender's hand? Well, of course the answer is 2 in each hand but dummy, and guess who's got the top ones. The A of clubs followed (though somebody has to be out), East ruffs, cashes the K of spades and shifts to hearts, ruffed by declarer with his last trump. He now picked up a club trick as West declined to ruff. Down 6 with a defensive error. Expensive?
The opponents have slam, of course, without even needing the spade hook. Six clubs figures to be down two, a worthy sac against the opponents' potential. But what if they bid six hearts? Then you have to go another level now losing to all whose opponents didn't go to slam -- or let 'em make it. Was it that level saved that made declarer revert to spades? Dunno, but if so, it was an expensive saving of one level.
I've been reviewing the pref bids entered one by one over a period of several months, maybe a year, which is to say I didn't notice how many involved a spotty, weak major chosen over a powerful minor. Sure I like majors over minors and even have a category for it. But not when the disparity in strength is as marked as here and a few other examples.