Friday, December 16, 2011

Borderline BAM Decisions--Updated

Here are two similar hands that came up in Seattle--how would you handle each situation? Each is rotated to make you South.

1. Dealer South, N/S game
KTx
KQx
AKx
QTxx
You open 1NT, checked around to RHO who bids 2D showing the majors. LHO removes to 2S and partner doubles, passed to you.

2. Dealer East, E/W Game
Qx
AKJx
Q98
KJxx
East opens 1H, you overcall 1NT, passed back to East who bids 2D. This is passed to partner, who doubles. Back to you again.

After some debate I am still torn, but the only 2 real options in each case are pass and 2NT. Jonathan's point about partner having other options with more takeout-oriented hands is a good one. Also important to note in BAM/matchpoints, the opponents have jockeyed you out of your best-scoring partial, so you need to consider how any action you take may compare to what you may be able to score in 1NT.

What were the table results? Well, I regret to say that the first hand was the last of our qualifying effort in the Open BAM Teams event and I had a blind spot, bidding 3 Clubs. My RHO had a borderline balance (our teammate passed out 1NT for -150) and partner had a maximum pass with just enough to beat 2 Spades 2 tricks. Passing would have won the board and 2NT would have saved a half, but 3 Clubs lost it. As it turned out, a win on that board would have qualified us for the final. The second was from the 2nd semifinal session of the Reisinger Teams and this time I passed and led a trump. Unfortunately dummy was pretty good with 3 trump, a stiff heart and an ace...declarer (he had AKJxx of trump) emerged with an overtrick. Worse, 2nt was on our way. Our teammates played in the same contract on the same auction, but took a safe line to make 2 on a club lead. Another loss, but hopefully some experience gained!

1 comment:

Jonathan Weinstein said...

maybe no one has commented because these are hard problems? I guess I would pass in both cases but with little conviction. Notice that in both cases if partner wanted to absolutely avoid defending he had other options...in #2, 2S after passing would show 4S with clubs.