Minus 1,000 -- no problem!
On this deal from the 2015 NABC Senior Knockout Teams (in Denver), Bart Bramley had a chance to make 4
XX:
| Vul:West Dir: N-S |  Q10986 8 AQ Q10953 | |||||||
| 3 -- J10987653 A642 | AK7542 K752 -- K87 | |||||||
| J AQJ109643 K42 J |
West opened 4, passed around to South (Bramley). He bid 4 and when this came to East, he doubled for penalty. North redoubled (not clear how he meant it), but there they rested. A diamond was lead and East ruffed. He laid down a high spade, all following. East now (reasonably) played a low spade. He didn't realize his partner had no trumps. Had Bramley discarded his club, he would have made 4!HXX for a whopping 1080! However, he didn't know the strange position. He trumped with the HQ, played the A and a high heart to East's king. Now a club to the ace enabled another defensive diamond ruff for down 2, -1000. Big swing? Yes, but not how you would expect.
This was the auction at the other table:
| West | North | East | South | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rodwell | Meckstroth | ||||||||
| 5 | Pass | Pass | 5 | ||||||
| Pass | Pass | Double | Pass | ||||||
| Pass | 5! | Double | All Pass |
Yes, Meckstroth got to defend against 5SX. The play was bloody and ended up with a penalty of 1700 (down 6). So, Bramley won 12 imps for going down 1,000!