March 2024 - 38

THE
BIDDING
BOX
month, representing different areas of
the country, competing with an exceptionally
difficult set of hands to bid.
The first pair is Alex Hudson of
Morrisville NC and Peter Boyd-Bowman
of Greensboro NC (not to be
confused with the famous player
Peter Boyd, known for his long-term
partnership with Steve Robinson).
Hudson and Boyd-Bowman are young
and talented professional bridge players
who can often be seen at various
tournaments. Their bidding system
is 2/1 forcing to game, but they have
some uncommon and advanced
agreements, as will be seen.
The competition is stiff, as their
counterparts are Tracey Bauer of San
Rafael CA and Richard Reitman of
Los Gatos CA. Bauer has contributed
to bridge in many ways, arranging
events to raise money for various
causes. She is currently working on a
project to create a type of online community
that connects more bridge
players together. Reitman is a national
champion, winning the Truscott/
USPC Senior Swiss Teams title in
2016. Their bidding system is a more
simple and familiar version of 2/1.
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.
We have four talented players this
h K Q J 3 2
d K 9 4
c A Q J 6 2
Hudson
2d
2s
3d
3s
4NT
5NT
Pass
2h
2NT
3h
4d
5d
6h
2c showed a strong hand, but one
of the options for this pair is an 18- or
19-point balanced hand (with this incredible
17-point hand being a prime
candidate for an upgrade). 2d was
waiting. 2h showed multiple possible
hand types, and 2s was also waiting.
2NT finally showed a balanced 18-19.
For simplicity, the first two rounds
of the auction can be ignored and
just pretend opener began with 2NT.
3d was a transfer to hearts, which
was accepted. 3s has, again, multiple
meanings for this pair; its most
common purpose is to see if there is a
heart fit. 4d confirmed a fit for hearts
38 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2024
Problem 1
North deals. None vulnerable.
West
s -
East
s A K 10
h A 10 6
d A Q 10 8 5
c 5 4
Boyd-Bowman
2c
and a control in diamonds. Responder
bid 4NT, which shows a spade
control, as this pair switches the
common meanings of 4s and 4NT in
order to save space when asking for
aces. Without any control in clubs,
opener settled for 5h, and knowing
the cK was missing, responder, in
turn, settled for 6h.
Bauer
1h
2c
4c
4NT
5NT
Pass
Reitman
1d
1s
3h
4d
5d
6h
The 1d and 1h opening were both
standard. 1s was a creative choice
with a strong three-card holding.
Opener didn't want to rebid notrump
because he was worried about
wrong-siding a notrump contract with
his low club doubleton. 2c was artificial
and forcing. Now opener bid 3h to
show his secondary support and extra
strength. 4c showed a control in support
of hearts, as did 4d. 4NT was key
card Blackwood. Although not often
recommended with a void, Bauer was
willing to presume her partner held
the sA on the bidding. 5d showed 0 or
3 key cards for hearts, and 5NT said
all the key cards were held. Opener
had no king to show below 6h, so that
is what he bid. This pair suffered the
same issue as the other pair, namely,
learning the cK was missing but not
being able to identify that there were
enough tricks outside of clubs.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1d-1h;
2NT-3c; 3h-4c; 4NT[RKCB]-5s[2
key cards + hQ]; 5NT-6d; 7NT-Pass.
3c is checking back for a heart fit,
and 6d shows the dK. 7h might be
slightly safer, but if the diamonds and
hearts run (and also maybe if not),
then the tricks for 7NT are there.
March 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2024
