Letter sent to MABC Bidding Fourm Members

January 1999

Dear Player,

The Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference Internet Site is planning on having a bidding forum starting in the spring of 1999 and your name has be submitted as a possible panel member. There will be three or four sets bidding problems per year. Each set will contain from seven to ten problems with a total of ten answers.

Answers to the questions will be based on "MABC Standard" – loosely Bridge World Standard with changes that seem to be prevalent in the MABC area. A copy of the "system" is enclosed (or attached) 
to this message. Obviously it is not a perfect system, but it should be satisfactory for answering the problems and it seems to be pretty much the standard for the "average" player within the MABC.

If you are interested in being on the panel please answer the problems enclosed (or attached) and 
return them by the end of February 1999. You can e-mail the answers or send them by regular mail to:

MABC Bidding Problems
(old address - since changed)

If there are no questions enclosed (or attached) you will be asked to answer questions for a later set of problems. There were over seventy names suggested to be on the panel and there will be approximately fifty players who will be sent questions for each set of problems. If you were not on the first group it would be appreciated if you would let me know if you are willing to participate in answering the next set of problems.

In case of husband-wife, significant other, etc. partnership you may answer either as a pair or as individuals. You do not have to comment on your actions, but it will make for a much more instructional and enjoyable format if you explain your thoughts about the bid you choose.

One problem with any type of bidding forums is that there are almost always objections to prior bids made with the problem hand...please try to work around any objection as most of the problems are from real life and any earlier action taken was taken by a good player (often a member of the panel) and is probably [possibly?] somewhat reasonable. You could comment that you would not be in this position because....

Scoring on each problem will be similar to other panels of this type with the top vote getting bid getting 100% unless it is very much against the majority of the panel (Example: 4S gets 8 votes, while 4NT gets 7, 5C gets 5, 6S gets 4, etc).

Please note that if you received this letter by regular mail and you have an e-mail address please send your answer by e-mail. You will then receive all correspondence by e-mail.

The MABC hopes that you will see fit to participate in this endeavor and hope you will enjoy it.