October 2022 - 38

THE
BIDDING
BOX
have a battle between a pair from
the United States and one from the
Netherlands.
First is B. Wayne Stuart of Raleigh
NC and Jon Rice of Apex NC. Stuart
is an experienced tournament
player who just recently achieved his
much-deserved first national win.
He was a member of the victorious
District 7 squad in the Grand National
Teams Championship Flight at the
Providence NABC. Rice is a talented
player who has twice won the 0-5000
Mini-Spingold.
They play a completely recognizable
2/1 forcing-to-game system.
The Dutch duo are Guy Mendes de
Leon and Thibo Sprinkhuizen. They
are a young, up-and-coming pair. At
recent NABCs, they came second in
a North American Swiss and were
also second in the Lebhar IMP pairs.
And at the recently completed World
Bridge Series in Wroclaw, Poland,
they came in second in the Open
World Team Championships, a hugely
impressive result.
Their bidding system involves
opening all balanced hands outside of
their notrump range with 1', leaving
a 1l opening bid to be natural but
promise an unbalanced hand.
38 | Bridge Bulletin | October 2022
MODERATOR: JOSH DONN
josh@thedonns.com
See the West and East hands that appear on pages 49 and 52 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.
For this month's Bidding Box, we
 Q J 10 5 2
k A Q 5 4
l 9 2
' J 8
Rice
1
2NT
Problem 1
North deals. None vulnerable.
West
East
 -
k K J 8 3
l A 10 6 5 4
' A 10 5 3
Stuart
1l
2'
Pass
1l was a standard opening, and
1 a standard response. The East
hand is awkward, but 2' is a normal
rebid because the strength is lacking
to reverse into 2k. West then bid a
natural 2NT because 2k instead
would be an artificial game force (the
common convention known as fourth
suit forcing). East had a relatively
minimum opening bid and passed,
thus missing the heart fit, as so many
players would.
Sprinkhuizen Mendes de Leon
1l
1
2'
1NT
2k
Pass
This 1l opening was natural, but
promised an unbalanced hand: It
will have at least five diamonds or
a 4-4-4-1 type of distribution. The
1 response was normal. Because
opener can't have a balanced hand,
there is no need for a natural 1NT
rebid. Therefore, this pair uses the
1NT rebid artificially. It shows six or
more diamonds, or (as in this case)
five diamonds and four hearts. 2'
asked which it was, and 2k showed
the second option. Responder passed,
surely already happy with his strong
position on the board.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1l-1;
2'-2NT; 3k-4k; Pass. Opener
could overbid with 3k over 2NT
and locate the heart fit in that way,
but that would lead to a 4k contract
which is uncomfortably high.
Scores: 2k 12; 3k 10; 1NT 9; 2NT 8;
2l 6; 4k 4; 3NT 3
Rice-Stuart 8, Sprink.-MdL 12
Problem 2
East deals. N-S vulnerable.
West
East
 A J
k A Q 10 7
l 2
 K Q 9 8
k 5
l A K 10 9 4 3
' A K Q 9 4 3 ' J 5
Rice
2'
2k
3'
3
5NT
Pass
Stuart
1l
2l
2
3l
4'
6'
East opened 1l, and West responded
2' with this game-forcing hand.
It is an important part of standard,
natural bidding to begin with the
longest suit on strong hands, so 1k
would be a common error. Opener
rebid diamonds, and then both players
offered their four-card major in
the hopes of finding a fit. Responder
next completed a shape description
(4-6 pattern) by bidding the clubs
again. Opener decided to emphasize
October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2022
