Business Detail #4: CLOSED BIDDING WITH LIVE STATUS REPORTS Every bid is a "closed bid" which means no other bidders know its actual value. Bidders are given

Business Detail #4: CLOSED BIDDING WITH LIVE STATUS REPORTS Every bid is a "closed bid" which means no other bidders know its actual value. Bidders are given the "status" or "position" of their bids in relation to the current unique high bid, but they never see the values of other people's bids. I must send the answers to these two questions to each bidder every time he posts a new bid: -- Is his new bid unique or has someone else posted the same bid value previously? -- Is his new bid > = < the currently unique high bid? If his last bid = the currently unique high bid, the bidder is in an enviable position because he is currently winning the auction. Other bidders must bid the same exact amount (to the penny) in order to cause him to lose his position as the unique high bidder. When this happens the unique high bid value must be determined by the software again, and with 100,000+ bidders is is likely that someone else will become the new unique high bidder. If his last bid is not unique or if it is > or < the currently unique high bid, the bidder must post another bid which he hopes will become the new unique high bid. But he does not know the value of other people's bids, all he knows is the value of his own bids and their position relative to the current unique high bid. He must therefore use intelligence, strategy, and quick thinking (game theory?) to determine the value of his next bid, and the one after that, etc., until he succeeds in becoming the new unique high bidder.