public Bid getMaxBid(Long itemId) {
//...
   maxBidAmount = (Bid) q.uniqueResult();
//....

}

11:07:59,228 ERROR JDBCExceptionReporter: Could not execute query
java.sql.SQLException: Syntax error or access violation message from server: "You have an error in your SQL syntax.  Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'select min(bid1_.AMOUNT) from BID bid1_ where (bid1_.ITEM_ID=2 "
   at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.checkErrorPacket(MysqlIO.java:1997)
   at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.sendCommand(MysqlIO.java:1167)
   at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.sqlQueryDirect(MysqlIO.java:1278)
   at com.mysql.jdbc.Connection.execSQL(Connection.java:2251)
   at com.mysql.jdbc.PreparedStatement.executeQuery(PreparedStatement.java:1586)
   at net.sf.hibernate.impl.BatcherImpl.getResultSet(BatcherImpl.java:87)
   at net.sf.hibernate.loader.Loader.getResultSet(Loader.java:875)
   at net.sf.hibernate.loader.Loader.doQuery(Loader.java:269)
   at net.sf.hibernate.loader.Loader.doQueryAndInitializeNonLazyCollections(Loader.java:133)
   at net.sf.hibernate.loader.Loader.doList(Loader.java:1033)
   at net.sf.hibernate.loader.Loader.list(Loader.java:1024)
   at net.sf.hibernate.hql.QueryTranslator.list(QueryTranslator.java:854)
   at net.sf.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.find(SessionImpl.java:1544)
   at net.sf.hibernate.impl.QueryImpl.list(QueryImpl.java:39)
   at net.sf.hibernate.impl.AbstractQueryImpl.uniqueResult(AbstractQueryImpl.java:550)
   at org.hibernate.auction.dao.ItemDAO.getMaxBid(ItemDAO.java:51)
   at org.hibernate.auction.test.ItemTest.testPlaceBid(ItemTest.java:40)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
   at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:324)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.runTest(TestCase.java:154)
   at org.hibernate.auction.test.TestCase.runTest(TestCase.java:17)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.runBare(TestCase.java:127)
   at junit.framework.TestResult$1.protect(TestResult.java:106)
   at junit.framework.TestResult.runProtected(TestResult.java:124)
   at junit.framework.TestResult.run(TestResult.java:109)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.run(TestCase.java:118)
   at junit.framework.TestSuite.runTest(TestSuite.java:208)
   at junit.framework.TestSuite.run(TestSuite.java:203)
   at junit.textui.TestRunner.doRun(TestRunner.java:116)
   at junit.textui.TestRunner.doRun(TestRunner.java:109)
   at junit.textui.TestRunner.run(TestRunner.java:72)
   at org.hibernate.auction.test.ItemTest.main(ItemTest.java:104)