Author: lederertrophy

Ireland have increased their lead going into the last match. The only team that could just catch them is de Botton. And the two teams are playing head to head in the last match! Showing on BBO.

Match 8 scores in detail

Nice defence from Richard Fedrick (E for London) on board 5 from match 6. Richard opens a lightish 1S, south bids 2D and north bids 3D. Richard now bids 3H, S bids 3NT and W (Mike Scoltock) doubles. The final contract is 3NTX.

Mike leads the 6 of spades which is covered by the queen. Declarer needs to duck this or the spades are basically set up so Richard is allowed to win with the king of spades. After a bit of thinking Richard decides partner has to have values in clubs and a good diamond card to take this down. So he grits his teeth and plays the queen of clubs. 800 in for London. Meanwhile at the other table Sally Brock makes 3NT+1 for another 630 in.

Top 3 still unchanged after match 7: Ireland over half a match in front now, closer between de Botton in second and Crockfords third.

Match 7 scores in detail

Board 9 in match 6 was interesting. 7 clubs is a good contract for EW but hard to reach after lots of pre-empting in hearts by the opps. If you’re going to be at the 6 level spades scores better.

In the match on BBO Ireland v London the Ireland EW pair (John Carroll and Mark Moran) reached 6 clubs which made with an overtrick for +1390. This was the most common score in the room. At the other table the pre-empting went a bridge too far: Nick Fitzgibbon and Adam Mesbur went for -1400 in 6H X. This is particularly cruel because of how the Lederer scoring works: the 10 point difference means London got the 2 VPs for winning the point-a-board component.

2 pairs got to 6 spades: Kieran Dyke and Ed Jones (Knottenbelt) and the Rimstedt brothers (Harris).

2 pairs bid 7 clubs: Natalie Hoff and Mike Bell (Crockfords) and Peter Bertheau and Simon Hult (Black Adders). Very well done to them.

Hoff-Bell auction:
(3H) – X – (4H) – 5C
(P) – 7C

Bertheau-Hult auction:
(3H) – X – (4H) – P
(P) – 4NT – (P) – 6C
(P) – 6S – (P) – 7C

If you come to the RAC while the Lederer is on you can sit at the tables (quietly!) and watch the players up close. Or if you want a bit of live expert analysis we also have a Vugraph room where our commentators give their predictions and views on the proceedings (which they watch on BBO). Many thanks this year to Brian Callaghan and Paul Barden for their insights and good humour.

Top 3 unchanged after match 6: Ireland still in front, de Botton now second and Crockfords third. Some very interesting boards in this set – posts to follow on a few of them.

Match 6 scores in detail

Overnight leaders Ireland against London (currently 4th). Match is being shown on BBO.

Ireland hold their lead after match 5 though by a slightly smaller margin, de Botton and Crockfords tied for second.

Match 5 scores in detail

Hand 26 from match 3 was another interesting board. At Simon Gillis’s table the contract is 4S by South. Simon leads a club to partner’s K and a club is sent back and won in dummy. 4 spades makes but only if you drop the singleton king of trumps offside. Unsurprisingly Simon Gillis won that card on trick 3 at his table and is now on lead. Simon chose to play another club on trick 4 which defeats the contract despite giving a ruff and discard!

If declarer is allowed enough entries to dummy he can finesse the spade again to pick up the jack and run the trumps. This will set up a heart / diamond squeeze to make the contract with a diamond entry to cash the winners. Although allowing a ruff and discard is often unwise, in this case it deprives declarer of that crucial entry. Declarer is now doomed to go one off. Well done Simon.

Ireland increase their lead after match 4, London now in second, de Botton in third.

Match 4 scores in detail