extremely rare, but can occur, as in the following deal: The bidding starts: 1 Michaels cuebid, indicating both majors. South can see that East-West have a huge spade fit and that it's quite possible that they can make 4. However, the best sacrifice seems to be 4NT rather than 5; it requires a trick less and there is no indication that 5 would provide more tricks than 4NT. Indeed, 4NT is down one and 5 down two. Other considerations in sacrifices The scoring matters a lot in sacrifices. Matchpoints scoring vs. IMP scoring makes a very significant difference in sacrifice decisions. Kit Woolsey suggests that the following three conditions should all be met for a sacrifice to make sense in Matchpoint scoring: The field is going to bid the game the opponents reached. The said game is very likely to make. Your doubled sacrifice is likely to not go down too much (i.e. maximum 1 down in unfavorable vul, max 2 in equal, and max 3 in favorable. Slam values are much higher) See also Glossary of contract bridge terms Preempt References Contract bridge bidding