Book excerpt: "Canadian expert Roy Hughes' first book, Building a bidding system, has become a must-read for expert pairs looking to develop effective constructive bidding methods. Now Hughes turns to the theory and practice of competitive auctions, a critical component of the modern game. Beginning again by establishing what the bidding system needs to accomplish, Hughes goes on to discuss every type of contested auction, and recommends useful methods and agreements from which the reader can select. This is a state-of-the-art discussion, covering many topics in detail that have at best seen cursory treatment in print up to now."--Publisher description.