April 2024 - 44

THE
BIDDING
BOX
this month, with four of the top players
in the world competing.
First are David Grainger of Etobicoke
ON and Joel Wooldridge of
Jackson Heights NY. They are longtime
friends who became partners
a few years ago. Both have experienced
great success at the NABCs.
Grainger has three wins and three
second-place finishes in NABC+
events, and Wooldridge has an
impressive total of 12 wins and nine
second-place finishes.
Their bidding system is 2/1 forcing
to game. 1c could be as short as two
clubs, and they use transfer responses
to 1c with 1d showing hearts, 1h
showing spades, and 1s denying a
four-card or longer major suit.
Not to be outdone are Swedish
brothers Mikael and Ola Rimstedt.
The Rimstedt family, including their
sisters and parents, are arguably
the top bridge-playing family in the
world. Mikael and Ola have a combined
five NABC+ victories, but their
international results are even more
impressive, the most notable being
the World Open Pairs in 2018.
Their bidding system is also 2/1
with a short club, but later in the
auction they play many gadgets that
are common in Europe but less so in
the ACBL.
44 | Bridge Bulletin | April 2024
d Q 10 3
c 4
MODERATOR: JOSH DONN
josh@thedonns.com
See the West and East hands that appear on pages 55 and 61 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.
The competition is very high-level
s K Q J 5 4 2
h A 7 6
Problem 1
North deals. None vulnerable.
West
East
s A
h Q 8 2
d A K 8 7 6 4
c A 6 2
Grainger Wooldridge
1d
1s
3s
4d
4NT
5h
7NT
3d
3NT
4s
5c
7d
Pass
The 1d opening and 1s response
were both completely standard. East
rebid 3d to show extra values with six
or more good diamonds. West rebid
3s, forcing. With no spade fit, and
a likely stopper in both unbid suits,
East bid 3NT.
West had a very strong hand in
support of diamonds, so he pulled to 4d,
forcing. 4s was a spade control with a
high honor because they would avoid
showing a shortness control in partner's
long suit. West therefore knew
this showed the sA, which was important
later in the auction. 4NT was a
heart control, not Blackwood. In order
to bid Blackwood, they would have bid
4h directly over 4d, a convention called
kickback that has been used many
times in this column, and which saves
space compared to traditional Blackwood.
5c was a further control, and 5h
confirmed that the heart control was
the ace or a void. It's important to realize
that any control bid which is above
five of the trump suit already forces to
slam, therefore it must invite a grand
slam and show a first-round control.
East had heard enough to bid 7d, and
West could see a ton of tricks in spades
and diamonds, so he converted to 7NT.
It's always impressive to see a
grand slam bid without any sort of
ace-asking device.
Mikael
1s
3c
4d
4NT
7NT
Ola
1d
2NT
3d
4s
5c
Pass
The 1d and 1s opening from the
other pair were duplicated here, with
1d showing an unbalanced hand. 2NT
was an artificial rebid for this pair because
opener can't be balanced. It basically
shows a strong (16+ HCP) hand
with at least six diamonds. 3c was
a relay asking for more information,
and showing interest in game at least.
3d showed a minimum in the context
of the agreement about 2NT, thus
about 16-17 HCP. 4s was a control,
and 4NT was key card Blackwood,
perhaps surprising given their other
advanced agreements. This pair uses
1430 responses, so 5c showed one or
four key cards for diamonds, obviously
four given East's strong bidding. West
could count six likely spade tricks, six
diamond tricks, and two aces, totaling
more than enough for 7NT.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1d-1s;
3d-3s; 3NT-4d; 4s-4NT; 5d-7NT;
Pass.
The Grainger-Wooldridge approach
seems good, but the auction might
look like this, presuming 4NT is key
card Blackwood.
April 2024

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