Playing in the BIL is normally fun as no-one is watching and it's just you and your partner against another pair. Tournaments are similar. Team games offer another dimension, it is now four of you against four of them - your performance is now a vital part of your team's performance and that brings additional pressures.
To introduce some of the BIL to playing team matches, OliverC and I arranged a short 6-board match between some of my SAYC and 2/1 players and Oliver's Precision Club class. And, just to make it slightly more difficult for the players, we advertised the event so there was a small audience watching every play.
The players were lined up like this:
Open Room: NS sceptic/1valeria playing 2/1
EW bien fait/lcmdir playing Precision
Closed Room: NS oliverc/robertn playing 2/1
EW (dwbva/babog)/gerd123 playing SAYC & 2/1
The match started with a very competitive board and the natural bidders winning the contract in both rooms. Some inspired play in the trump suit by sceptic gaining 2 IMPs for his side.
The second board saw both NS pairs bid and fail in game. A weak two diamond opener by dwbva made bidding 4H easier for the Precision pair in the closed room. In the open room the Precision pair could not open a weak two diamond systemically but a later entry in the auction caused more confusion and the best spot for NS was missed. But both games failed by a trick so the score remained 2-0.
A part score battle on board 3 saw a further 4 IMPs to the Naturalists, mainly inspired by the confusion caused by the Precision 1D opener.
Board 4 and disaster for NS in the open room as they reached 7NT on the following cards:
North
S AQ
H AT84
D AQT65
C AK
South
S JT972
H K53
D 43
C J53
Open Room
North South
2C 2D
2NT 3H
4H 4S
5C 6NT
7NT
An instructive mistake when North forgot that 3H was a transfer to spades. It is important to agree with your regular partner whether you play the same responses as a 2NT opener in ALL sequences like this. In fact this is something to agree for all auctions, e.g., what do you play when partner overcalls 1NT, or overcalls a weak two opener with 2NT? I recommend you play the same responses as the equivalent opening bid.
The Closed Room was a little better ... in the sense they got to a making contract
Closed Room North South 1C 1D 2D 2S 3H 4H Pass
Following a strong club and negative response, North chose to show his 5-card suit rather than a strong balanced hand. This eventually gave South a tough decision over 3H - perhaps 3S is best with the strong intermediates as 4S is probably a better contract than 4H. Making exactly ten tricks was worth 13 IMPs.
Board 5 gave the Precision pair the opportunity to show the system off:
North
S KT743
H AK4
D KT
C KQ5
West East
S J65 S
H 9862 H JT73
D 982 D AQ653
C 983 C T764
South
S AQ982
H Q5
D J74
C AJ2
Closed Room:
West North East South
babog OliverC gerd123 robertn
1C(1) PASS 1S (2)
PASS 1NT(3) 2D 2H (4)
PASS 2S (5) PASS 3D (6)
PASS 3H (7) PASS 3NT (8)
PASS 4D (7) PASS 4H (9)
PASS 4S PASS PASS
PASS
(1) 16+ HCP
(2) 5+ spades, 8+ points
(3) Control asking
(4) 4 controls (ace=2, king=1)
(5) Trump asking bid
(6) 2 of 3 top spade honours, 5-card spade suit
(7) Asking bid
(8) 3rd round control (queen or doubleton)
(9) no control
North now knows that South holds 5 spades, 2-3 hearts and 3+ diamonds with two aces. The probable duplication of values, together with the 2D overcall, suggest that the slam may not be there, so an excellent stop. Certainly the winner of the BEST BIDDING trophy.
In the other room East did not bid, so North/South bid the good 6S slam. Unfortunately it did not make and the Precision team led by 26-6 with one board to go.
Board 6 was a misfit and conservative bidding by EW in the Closed Room earned them 7 IMPs, making the final score 26-13 to the Precision players.
It was a match enjoyed by all and we hope to see more in the future.