Nerja Bridge Club
ECats: Local vs Overall Scoring
Board 25 from the 2008 Charity Challenge

This board is unusual in that it is an almost perfect example of why local and overall results can be very different. On this particular board, not a single EW pair of the seven who played the board at NBC scored as much as a "middle" of the available overall match points, the best three scoring only 48% overall for 3NT made exactly compared to 83% locally for a shared "top". 600 (= 3NT made exactly) for the vulnerable game was the most common EW score overall, having been achieved by 39% of EWs. But overall only 28% of EWs did worse while 33% did better - hence it didn't quite score 50%.

The event booklet suggests the following auction:

As it points out, on a heart lead declarer has to settle for 9 tricks against best defence whereas on any other lead there is time to establish a 10^th trick in clubs.

A heart lead is quite likely if West is declarer, but at the club all five declarers in NT were Easts, presumably bidding 2NT as their second bid, having opened 1♦ through playing five card majors (where opening 1♣ denies 4♦s). Even so, two Souths led a heart while the other three led a spade. Unfortunately for the declarer at the club who received a heart lead yet still made 10 tricks, the contract was only 2NT resulting in 180 to EW for a local 50% but overall only 26%. Bad luck, perhaps, when two of the declarers who received a spade lead against 3NT only made 9 tricks while the third went down one.

The full deal was:

If you have a bridge-playing program, click here to download the deal in PBN (Portable Bridge Notation) format and see what happens. Blue Chip Bridge bids the hands to 6♦ and makes all 13 tricks against any defence.