January 2024 - 38

THE
stopped, East did not have any interest
in notrump holding a spade void.
BIDDING
BOX
exciting young pairs who we are sure
to hear a lot from in the future.
First is Aaron Jones of Los Angeles
and Harrison Luba of Lynnfield MA.
Jones competed in The Bidding Box
several years ago with a different
partner, and is now making a return
appearance. He is a bridge professional
and, at 38, is the " old man " of
this group, as the other participants
are in their 20s. Jones has an NABC
win under his belt: the 2015 Lebhar
IMP Pairs. He also won the 0-10,000
IMP Pairs in 2019. Luba, 20, has
represented the U.S. four times in
world Junior championships, winning
a gold medal in 2022 in the U-26
teams, a silver medal last year in
the Youth Board-a-Match and two
bronzes in U-16 and U-21 teams in
2018 and 2019. He is not only talented
at bridge, but also at poker.
This pair plays basic " expert standard "
2/1 forcing to game.
Second are Kyle Rockoff of Gilbert
AZ and Daniel Weiss of New York
City. Rockoff, 27, won the 0-10,000
Knockout Teams in 2022. Weiss, 27,
finished third in the NABC 0-6000
Pairs at the Fall NABC in 2023, playing
with Rockoff.
Rockoff and Weiss normally play a
fancy and complicated relay system,
but they have generously agreed to
38 | Bridge Bulletin | January 2024
West
s K Q 7 4
h 2
d A 8
c A J 10 9 5 3
Luba
2c
2s
3h
4d
5c
MODERATOR: JOSH DONN
josh@thedonns.com
See the West and East hands that appear on pages 49 and 55 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 contest features two
play a much more standard version of
2/1 forcing to game for this contest.
Problem 1
North deals. None vulnerable.
East
s -
h A K 9 7
d K 10 9 7 6 5
c Q 8 7
Jones
1d
2d
3c
4c
4s
Pass
East opened 1d, and West responded
2c, forcing to game. It's an
important concept in bidding that
you should start with your long suit
on game-forcing hands. Beginning
with 1s would making finding a club
fit with a hand like this very complicated.
East rebid 2d, not worried
about bidding hearts because West
will mention a four-card major on the
next round. West did just that, but
in spades rather than hearts. East
then showed club support. West bid
3h to mark time, perhaps hoping to
reach 3NT. Even though hearts were
He bid 4c, forward going. 4d was
" kickback " Blackwood, a common
convention among advanced players
where the suit above trumps is used
to ask for key cards rather than 4NT,
to save valuable bidding room. East
couldn't be sure the spade void would
be helpful, so he bid 4s showing 1 or 4
key cards, and West had no choice but
to sign off in 5c.
Rockoff Weiss
1d
2c
2s
4d
5c
2d
3c
4h
Pass
This pair had a very similar auction
to the first pair. 1d was obvious, and
for this pair, so was the 2c response,
quickly establishing a game force.
East rebid diamonds and then West
showed spades, followed by East
supporting clubs. Here the auction
diverged from their counterparts, as
West liked his hand enough to simply
jump to 4d, the same kickback convention.
East answered 4h showing 1
or 4 (this pair uses " 1430 " responses,
whereas the other pair uses the more
traditional 3014), and again West
signed off in game without knowledge
of the spade void.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1d-2c;
2h-3c; 4s-4NT; 6c-Pass. East
might rebid 2h over 2c, if the system
allows. 4s would be a splinter
bid showing short spades. West has
spade wastage, but such great distribution
and a nice enough hand to bid
Blackwood. 6c traditionally shows
an odd number of key cards and a
void, which gets the pair to slam in
this case.
Scores: 6c 11; 3NT(W) 8; 5c 6; 6d 5;
3NT(E)/5d 4; 7c 2
Luba-Jones 6; Rockoff-Weiss 6
http://55 http://49
January 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2024
