Results and Winners Bidders Challenge 2023-3

The Top Bidders for Set 2023-3

This month saw another big turn out, with 7,727 entries, just a few short of last month’s record of 7,798. Tell your friends and regular partners to join in the fun and let’s break the 10,000-barrier before the year ends.

The average scores were up a little this month, but it was a tough set on which to score really well. Our solo winner’s score of 79/80 not only outscored more than 7,000 other entrants, but also the whole panel too:

Pedro Gonçalves (pgoncalvs) from Spain

Pedro says, "My mother is from Valencia and my father from Lisbon, and they met at a bridge tournament, so you could say that I exist thanks to bridge. I am 34 years old and have been playing since I was 13. Bridge is one of my greatest passions." He has represented the national team on several occasions, both in Junior and Open categories, and he has won the Spanish team championship four times.

Also on the March 'Roll of Honour':

With a score of 77/80:

Robert Schachter (punkydoodl) from USA

and, with a score of 76/80:

Dr. Morrie Kleinplatz (amulet1) from Canada, and

Hanoi Rondon (Hanoi5) from Chile

The average score this month was 40.81 (up from 39.01 last month). However, with the panel producing a clear majority on most hands this month, the second-highest scoring bid was more likely to score 6 or 7 rather than the 9 you might get when the panel is closely split. This means that every time you don’t hit the top spot, you drop more marks, so scores in the 70s were hard to come by this month. Less that 50 players out of over 7,700 scored 70/80 or higher. The upshot is that all scores of 65/80 or higher make the monthly leader-board. Congratulations to:

The 2023 Annual Competition

With three months gone, we will now publish a full leader-board for the annual competition each month. We now have just 13 players with an average score of 70/80 or higher. Leading the way, is the January winner, John Lusky from Portland OR, whose combined total of 226/240 makes him the only competitor with an average score in excess of 75/80.

His third-place finish this month moves Hanoi (who finished second in 2021) up into clear second place with 221/240. Just one point further back, with 220/240, is a newcomer this year to the annual competition Top 10, Paul Boudreau from USA.

You need an average score of 60/80 or more to make the annual competition leader-board.

Remember that only your best nine scores during the year will count in the annual competition, so playing every month will allow you to drop your three weakest scores by the end of the year.