When the bidding goes live, if there's already a phone bid on the lot, one of Doug's helpers in the room will call the phone bidder to tell him live bidding is about to start on the lot he bid on. From that point on, the phone bidder and any in-person attendees at the auction will be allowed to bid competitively on the lot in question. When there are no higher bids either from the phone or from the floor, the lot is closed and the high bidder declared winner.

That means that if you know you won't be attending the live auction in Las Vegas, you should get a phone bid in before the phone bidding closes (already closed on this auction). That way, you'll get a call with the option to bid higher than your existing bid (if you need to and want to) if someone else outbids you.

That's the way the ChipChat auctions have worked for the past several years. I've always attended in person but I see what's happening with the bank of helpers and their cell-phones. They don't always get an answer at the phone number the bidder listed on his bid but at least they try. I'd say that about half the time when an existing bid is exceeded by a floor bidder, the bidder on the cell-phone ends up increasing his bid and ultimately wins the lot. Seems to work well!

I'm not there in person for this auction so I don't know where they are in bidding lot numbers. Yesterday was scheduled to be day 1 of the 2 day auction and Doug usually splits the lots about evenly between the two days. My guess is the auction will end shortly (it's about 5 PM Pacific time).