September 2022 - 40

THE
BIDDING
BOX
a contest between two strong pairs.
Liam Milne and Andy Hung are
world-class players from Australia.
They are members of the Australian
national team who regularly attend
the North American Bridge Championships.
They have one NABC title,
the 2019 Mitchell Open Board-aMatch
Teams. Their bidding system
is a familiar 2/1 forcing to game, with
most gadgetry occurring in competitive
auctions.
The second pair is Jeff Hand of
New York City and Bill Neumann of
Columbia MD. They partnered each
other at the recent NABC in Providence.
Hand has a prior NABC win,
the 2008 Mixed Pairs in partnership
with Gail Greenberg. They also play
2/1 forcing to game.
Problem 1
North deals. None vulnerable.
West
 A Q J 3 2
k J 6 5
l Q 9 6
' K 3
East
 10 5
k A K Q 8 3
l A J 8 5 4
' 6
Scores: 4k 10; 4 6; 3NT(W) 5;
5k 4; 6k 3; 3NT(E) 2
Milne-Hung 10, Hand-Neumann 10
Bridge Bulletin auction: As Hand-
Neumann. Bridge Bulletin Standard
(BBS) uses a forcing 1NT response,
which is nice for this combination
Scores: 1k 12; 2k 11; 3k 5; 1NT 4
Milne-Hung 14, Hand-Neumann 21
40 | Bridge Bulletin | September 2022
Problem 2
East deals. N-S vulnerable.
MODERATOR: JOSH DONN
josh@thedonns.com
See the West and East hands that appear on pages 51 and 57 respectively, and
try bidding them with a regular partner. Compare how you performed with the
expert pairs whose auctions you can read about in this month's column. The
North-South players are silent unless otherwise noted. The competitors were
not informed of any interference by the opponents before the bidding commenced.
The form of scoring is matchpoints with a 12 top.
The Bridge Bulletin auctions are meant to portray possible bidding
sequences to one of the top-scoring contracts using common methods.
This month's Bidding Box features
Milne
Hand
1
3'
4k
Hung
Neumann
1k
2l
3l
Pass
Identical auctions. The 1k opening
bid was standard. Our West players
responded 1 with the nice suit, and
opener showed diamonds. 3' was
fourth suit forcing, which is shorthand
for an artificial game-forcing
bid in the fourth suit. After 3l by
opener, both West players jumped to
4k to attempt to show minimal game
strength with heart support.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1k-1;
2l-3'; 3l-3k; 4'-4k; Pass. The
auction from both pairs is reasonable.
Responder might decide to bid 3k to
show a little more interest than 4k,
but the auction should still be able to
end at a safe level.
West
 7
k K Q J 10 5
l Q 6 4 2
' J 7 5
Milne
1NT
East
 K Q 10 8 5
k 8 7 3
l K 8
' A 9 4
Hung
1
Pass
Milne and Hung enjoyed a short
auction. The 1NT response was
semi-forcing. Although semi-forcing
sounds like something of a contradiction
(in the same sense that a person
cannot be semi-pregnant), what is
meant is that responder might hold
invitational 11- or 12-point hands, but
opener is still allowed to pass with a
balanced minimum. That is exactly
what happened here, causing the pair
to miss a better heart contract.
Hand
1NT
2k
Neumann
1
2'
Pass
Hand and Neumann play the 1NT
response as forcing. Both semi-forcing
and forcing are common treatments,
each working better some of
the time. 1NT forcing worked better
here because it let the pair find a
heart contract. The 2k bid usually
delivers a six-card suit, but these
five were so nice that Hand had no
qualms showing them.
September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2022
