The Lebhar IMP Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Lebhar IMP Pairs is a four-session IMP pairs event with two qualifying and two final sessions. The event typically starts on the second Thursday of the NABC. The event is open.
History
editThe Lebhar IMP Pairs is a four-session event --- two qualifying sessions followed by two final sessions. The winners have their names inscribed on the Lebhar Trophy. Scoring is by International Match Points (IMPs).
The trophy was donated by Bertram Lebhar Jr. in 1948 in memory of his wife, Evelyn. The trophy was previously given to winners of the Mixed Teams but re-designated for the IMP Pairs by the ACBL Board of Directors. Lebhar (1907–1972), under the name of Bert Lee, earned a national reputation as a sportscaster and later as a bridge player and administrator. In private life, he owned radio and television stations in Florida. Lebhar was one of the founders of the Greater New York Bridge Association and was elected its first president in 1948. Lebhar was also a player: he won the Spingold in 1940 and the Master Mixed Teams in 1946. His team was his wife Evelyn along with Samuel Katz and Alicia Kemper.
Winners
edit| Year | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Robb Gordon, Linda Danas | Peter Weichsel, Richard Katz |
| 1988 | Gene Freed, Mike Passell | Corinne Gellman, Jim Kirkham |
| 1989 | Richard Schwartz, Fred Hamilton | Bud Reinhold, Michael Seamon |
| 1990 | Ralph Cohen, Renee Mancuso | Richard Schwartz, Drew Casen |
| 1991 | Harvey Brody, Ralph Buchalter | Ron Freldman, Marty Shallon |
| 1992 | Vera Gama, Marcelo Branco | David Midkiff, Tom Oppenheimer |
| 1993 | Bob Klein, David Ruderman | Win Allegaert, Gary Gottlieb |
| 1994 | Tom Fox, Walter Schafer Jr. | Howard Chandross, Lee Rautenberg |
| 1995 | Steve Sion, Harold Lilie | Brad Moss, Elizabeth Reich |
| 1996 | Mike Albert, Marilyn Hemenway | Steve Beatty, Adam Wildavsky |
| 1997 | Tom Carmichael, Joel Wooldridge | Dick Bruno, Kenji Miyakuni |
| 1998 | Jim Robison, Gene Freed | Jeanne Rahmey, Gary Cohler |
| 1999 | George Jacobs, Ralph Katz | Rob Crawford, Spike Lay |
| 2000 | Ashley Bach, Stephen Burgess | Steve Beatty, George Steiner |
| 2001 | Peter Boyd, Steve Robinson | Neil Chambers, Norb Kremer |
| 2002 | Ai-Tai Lo, Alan Schwartz | William Ehlers, Rich DeMartino |
| 2003 | Steve Weinstein, Bobby Levin | Mitch Dunitz, Iftikhar Baqai |
| 2004 | Jiang Gu, Nikolay Demirev | Peter Boyd, Steve Robinson |
| 2005 | Blair Seidler, Kevin Wilson | Jón Baldursson, Þorlákur Jónsson |
| 2006 | Fred Gitelman, Geoff Hampson | Michael Rosenberg, Ralph Katz |
| 2007 | Boye Brogeland, Ishmael Delmonte | Jonathan Weinstein, Robert Heitzman Jr. |
| 2008 | Doug Doub, Adam Wildavsky | Marc Nathan, Dan Gerstman |
| 2009 | Nikolay Demirev, Nicolas L'Ecuyer | Greg Hinze, Nagy Kamel |
| 2010 | Pablo Lambardi, Pablo Ravenna | Jón Baldursson, Þorlákur Jónsson |
| 2011 | Runar Lillevik, Oyvind Ludvigsen | Jón Baldursson, Þorlákur Jónsson |
| 2012 | Hailong Ao, Jian-Jian Wang | Alexander Ladyzhensky, Irina Ladyzhensky |
| 2013 | Kent Mignocchi, Joel Wooldridge | Lewis Gamerman, Robert McCaw |
| 2014 | Radu Nistor, Iulian Rotaru | Hans Christian Graverson, Henrik Casperson |
| 2015 | Sylvia Shi, Aaron Jones | Roger Bates, Dennis Kasle |
| 2016 | Kevin Dwyer, Stan Tulin | Curtis Cheek, Arthur Crystal |
| 2017 | Chen Zhao. Jing Liu | Barry Bragin, Fred King |
| 2018 | Mark Jones, Clay Hall | Marty Seligman, Eric Rodwell |
| 2019 | Gregory Bright, Bob Zellar | Leo Weniger, Ronald Mak |
| 2020 | cancelled due to COVID-19 | |
| 2021 | cancelled due to COVID-19 | |
| 2022 | Tim Van De Paverd, Luc Tijssen | Guy Mendes De Leon, Thibo Sprinkhuizen |
| 2023 | Hugh Brown Jr, Emory Whitaker | Marusa Gold, Signe Buus Thomsen |
| 2024 | Erli Zhou, Jianming Dai | Giuseppe Delle Cave, Ettore Bianchi |
Sources
edit"ACBL - NABC Winners". acbl.com. ACBL. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
List of previous winners, Page 12 Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 52–7, March 19, 2009
2009 winners, Page 1 Daily Bulletin (PDF), vol. 52–9, March 21, 2009, archived from the original (PDF) on November 17, 2010