[diana_eva]

Another one from BBF vs JEC. I have almost no experience against weak NT, so found it tough. Sorry in advance if it's a no brainer for those more experienced:

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You are playing landy here, in case this hand was good enough to do something on the first round.

Would you balance? If so, with what?

Edit: It's IMPs.

This post has been edited by diana_eva: 2015-February-04, 03:10

[helene_t]

I think dbl is ok at this vul even at imps.

[TylerE]

Easy pass for me. As I've gotten rich as a mini-NTer many times because opponents make a marginal balance and just get totally skewered. W can have a really good hand here, all the way up to a full opening, or very close to it.

To make things even worse, W will often be able to double when it's right.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

#1 playing Landy, and all other things nat., incl. X as penalty, you had to pass.
#2 now i say it is 50 / 50, we would reopen, with X, but we do it agressive, some
may say in an unsound manner, but that is the way we live.
They will have a 8 card fit, the points will be 20 / 20, so the Law would be with
you.
If you double, 2NT by partner should be scrambling, to allow you to find your best
minor fit.
If you would reopen in a fit auction 1S - 2S with this hand, do it now as well, if
not, than not. It is dangerous and can be costly, but always loosing the part score
swings is also costly, ... and we got rich doing it agressive, with being occassionally
getting burned.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mycroft]

It's not a no-brainer; this is the death hand we all hope you have when we open a mini-NT. West knows *everything*; you just know that you have somewhere between 16 and 30 HCP between you and that partner can't find a call over 2♠ (so it's almost certainly not 30). There is no right answer; 2♠ on a reasonable fit is -110 or -140 into very likely +110 (or -50) your way; even if it's +50 into +110, 130, 140, they're good. They're also good if it's +100 or +150 into game your way. If you double you may get a great score (if partner sits, and it's right, but they *also* have more experience playing these bad contracts than you do defending them), or it might just get you back to average (most likely really); or they may only have red cards in their box now - if that's the case, you've gone from +/-2,3 IMPs to 8, 1100 into nothing; -13.

If your double is "cards" by partner, it looks like a partscore battle (because she didn't double 2♠); so huge downside, potential small upside, and you're currently likely somewhere between -2 and -6. If your double is pure takeout or pure penalty, you're in a fix.

[diana_eva]

On this hand we got out alive, but I found it interesting because the bidding was scary. I wasn't expecting E-W to be so willing to kill us for interfering, and as the auction developed I realized how dangerous it can be to bug in with such a flat weak hand.

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