lederertrophy

Still Ireland after 7

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

Grand slam hand in match 6

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

In the Vugraph room

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.

The Vugraph room during match 6. Commentators this year are Brian Callaghan (left) and Paul Barden

Still Ireland after 6

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

Match 5 underway

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

London v Ireland L-R: Richard Fedrick, Adam Mesbur, Nick Fitzgibbon, Mike Scoltock

London v Ireland L-R: Barry Myers, John Carroll, Mark Moran, Sally Brock. Irish NPC Grainne Barton kibitzing

Ireland have the overnight lead

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

Removing entries

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.

Still Ireland after match 4

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

Match 4 scores in detail

Slam hand from Match 1

Here’s an interesting hand from the first match. In principle, 6 clubs goes down on the lead of the spade ace. In practice, it’s so tempting to lead a top heart from the north hand that it will usually make. Of the 6 pairs who played in clubs all made 12 tricks. 2 pairs reached 6 clubs: Peter Bertheau & Simon Hult, Ben Norton & Stefano Tommasini. Well done to them.