Lebhar IMP Pairs

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

The 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

Winners of Lebhar IMP Pairs
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

"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