December 2012 - 31

Californians Bob Etter and Alex
Kolesnik are both college-level math
instructors - Etter at Sacramento
State University, and Kolesnik at
Ventura College. Etter is a two-time
NABC champ (the 1981 Keohane
North American Swiss Teams and the
1998 Jacoby Open Swiss Teams) while
Kolesnik is a Diamond Life Master
who had two strong performances at
this year's Summer NABC in Philadelphia: the Spingold and the Jacoby
Open Swiss Teams.
The duo plays 2/1.
Nader Hanna and Joan Eaton are a
married couple from Toronto. They
were members of the winning squad
in this year's Freeman Mixed Board-aMatch Teams, and each has two other
NABC titles (Hanna: 2005 Wernher
Open Pairs, 2011 Keohane North
American Swiss Teams; Eaton: 1998
Rockwell Mixed Pairs, 2003 Whitehead Women's Pairs).
The partnership employs a weak
1NT (12-14 HCP) in a 2/1 structure.
Reminder: The Bridge Bulletin auction that appears with each problem
is simply a suggested bidding sequence using widely played methods
to arrive in a reasonable contract. It
is not intended to demonstrate the
"right" way to bid a pair of hands.

Problem 1

North deals. None vulnerable.
West
 A K 10 8
A954
 10 6 2
K3

East
QJ76
 K J 10 2
K87
QJ

Etter

Kolesnik
1
2
3
Pass

1
2NT
4

Everyone will open the East hand
although it's among the worst-looking
13-counts that can be constructed.
After Etter's 1 response, Kolesnik

The
Bidding
Box
Moderator: Paul Linxwiler
Scores: Bobby Wolff

See the East and West hands that appear on pages 53 and 57 respectively,
and try bidding them with a regular partner. The North-South players are
silent unless otherwise noted. Compare how you performed with the expert
pairs whose auctions you can read about in this month's column. The form
of scoring is matchpoints with a 12 top.
raised the suit.
Most top-level players play some
type of gadget in this sequence, and
this pair is no exception. 2NT is artificial showing spades. Kolesnik was systemically forced into a 3 response
(four hearts and a minimum hand), so
Etter never knew about the spade fit.
Even if he had, it's not entirely clear
from his side that one major would
play better than the other.
Hanna
2
4

Eaton
1NT
2
Pass

Hanna responded to the weak 1NT
opening with 2, forcing Stayman.
Eaton bid an up-the-line 2, and
Hanna jumped to game.
The duplication of pattern and
values makes game prospects unattractive.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1-1;
2-2; 3-4; Pass

Scores: 2 12; 2 10; 3 9; 3 8;
3NT 7; 4 6; 4 5; 1NT 4; 2NT 3
Etter-Kolesnik 5, Hanna-Eaton 5

Problem 2

East deals. N-S vulnerable.
West
 K 10 2
4
 A 10 9 2
 A 10 6 5 2
Etter
2
3
4
5
Pass

East
765
A7
KQ7654
KQ
Kolesnik
1
2
4
4
6

The aces and the unbalanced shape
persuaded Etter to upgrade the West
hand to game-forcing strength after his partner opened 1. 3 is a
splinter bid (heart shortness and a
diamond fit), after which Kolesnik
offered a control bid in clubs (ace,

➤

December 2012 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2012