London Business Houses
Contract Bridge Association

1-September-2022

New Season Details

The new League layout and knockout draw is published left. The number of divisions is unchanged, in the main "Two Up Two Down" has been applied. See the 'Year page' for the rationale of the new layout.

17-August-2022

AGM

The 48th AGM of the London Business Houses CBA will be held online at 6pm, Wednesday 7th September. Details for attending will be sent to all registered teams.

Draft AGM Agenda

1. Opening and report by Chair
2. Apologies for absence
3. Approval of the minutes of 2021 AGM
4. Matters arising from 2021 AGM
5. Treasurer's report
6. Election of officers and committee
7. Appointment of auditor
8. Dates for SURDOC and Selfridges
9. Playing of League/Cup matches
   1. Season extended to April 30th
   2. Optional use of RealBridge
   3. Undos in auctions
10. Honour Roll for 2021-22 season
11. Any other business

Nominations and proposals should be sent to the secretary no later than 28th August (10 days prior to the meeting).

Dates for 2022-23

5-August-2022

Online Summer Handicap – Knockout Phase

With the last fixture completed, the top two qualifiers from each pool are known and the draw for the semi-final has been made.

Next Season

After considering the responses from the recent survey the committee has decided to not to change the format for matches in the 2022-23 season. Replies indicated little significant shift from last year and, for the new season to begin in September, the default will again be online. That is, either captain can opt for a match to be held online (BBO remains the default).

Invitations to participate in the forthcoming season will be sent to captains shortly.

Leslie Dodds Cup

Congratulations to Civil Service who succesfully defended the Leslie Dodds Cup. Roy Westwater, Mike Bull, Peter Brook and Richard Creamer defeated Habeas Corpus in the final.

21-June-2022

SURDOC Trophy 2022

This season's SURDOC was won by Civil Service; congratulations to Richard Creamer, Mike Bull, Roy Westwater and Peter Brook.

Team	Civ	Roe	Sto	Liv	IMPs
Civil Service	x	1	20	42	63
Roehampton	-1	x	11	2	12
Stock Exchange	-20	-11	x	6	-25
Livesey	-42	-2	-6	x	-50

See full results.

12-June-2022

2022 AGM – 7th September

The 2022 AGM and Captains' Meeting will be held at 6pm, Wednesday 7th September on Microsoft Teams.

As last year we are inviting teams' opinions as to the online/face-to-face nature of our main competitions, the League and Knockout. So there is another simple survey requiring each team's attention.

11-June-2022

SURDOC Trophy 2022 – Update

The current entry for the SURDOC is small but overheads on RealBridge are low and the event will go ahead. Though the stated closing date is Monday 13th, entries will be accepted up to next Sunday (19th June).

Summary details are below, more from menu-item left. Enter by email to .

1-June-2022

SURDOC Trophy 2022 – Online

Full details for the SURDOC have been sent to team captains and are available from menu-item left. In brief:

The 2021-22 event

• Date: Monday 20th June 2022.
• Start Time: 7pm prompt.
• Venue: RealBridge.
• Format: Multiple Teams, IMPs converted to VPs.
• Entry Fee: £10 per team payable by bank transfer to: HSBC Sort Code: 40-06-21; Account No: 71324470 (Ref: team name).

12-May-2022

SURDOC: Face-to-Face Cancelled

With only three teams entering, the proposed face-to-face 2021-22 SURDOC teams (Wednesday 18th May) has regrettably been cancelled.

We will endeavour to again hold an online version, most likely on RealBridge, in June (Mondays, 13th & 20th proposed). Details to be confirmed.

10-May-2022

Online Summer Handicap

There has again been a good response for the Online Summer Handicap Teams to be held over May, June and July. This year 10 teams contest the 'OSH'. See layout of divisions (or link from left).

OSH – Brief Conditions of Contest

Reminder, this is a friendly event, with shorter matches, no Masterpoints, against teams from different divisions, people whom you might well have not played before. The event is run by Mark Hutton, there is no fee to enter but first prize is free entry to the 2022-23 League!

• Each team will play four matches, approximately one every three weeks. Opponents are drawn across all divisions to balance each pool.
• All matches will be on BBO with no home/away distinction. Each match is of 16 boards (2 x 8, with exchange of opponents). Current LBH rules for matches on BBO to apply.
• There will be a handicap of 6 IMPs per division difference between the teams (2021-22 League). Results will be submitted via the website in the normal way.
• The two teams with the highest VP scores (calculated after relevant handicap) qualify from each pool, with each winner playing the second-placed team from the other pool. A final will then be played between the two winning semi-finalists.

31-March-2022

April is a Playing Month

For many years April has been de facto a month in which to complete fixtures, despite anecdotally at least, Easter being cited as end of season. It was probably never true – let alone sensible to have a moveable feast as an end-point – but it is now official; April is available to complete fixtures.

Next year we will amend the fixture-sheet accordingly. If you have to go into May, please contact the Results Secretary. Note that we do plan another 'Online Summer Handicap' – but open only to teams who have completed their regular fixtures.

22-February-2022

SURDOC Teams

The 2021-22 event will be held face-to-face on Wednesday 18th May 2022 at the Mind Sports Centre (Young Chelsea BC), 21-23 Dalling Road, W6 0JD. Following the pre-pandemic model of previous holdings of the SURDOC, light refreshments (incl. tea/coffee) are included and available from 6:00pm with play beginning promptly at 6:30pm.

See the full details (named menu-item left).

2-December-2021

The draws for the second round of the Leslie Dodds and the first round of the Gainsborough Plate have been made – see links to the left. There is one match yet to be played from Round 1.

15-November-2021

2021-22 Selfridges Pairs – Closing Soon

This version of the event was also cancelled.

Please note that the closing date for this year's Selfridges Pairs is this Friday, 19th November. The event itself is on Tuesday 23rd and will be on BBO. For further details, see full entry details (menu, left).

6-November-2021

League and KO Results

Cumulative results have now been posted, apologies for the hiatus. If any are wrong, please use the 'correction' options and resubmit.

2021-22 Selfridges Pairs

The face-to-face event was cancelled due to lack of support. We have reverted to an online edition edition as last year, to be held on Tuesday 23rd November, 6pm on BBO. See full entry details (and from menu, left).

7-November: captains have been sent an invite to the event.

30-September-2021

2021-22 Selfridges Pairs – Tuesday 26th October

Invitations have been sent to captains for this season's Selfridges Pairs, details of which are on the menu, left.

The venue is the Young Chelsea (though moved since we last played) and we are hopeful that this will mark some sort of return to face-to-face bridge. To assess viability (14 pairs) the closing date is a few days earlier than usual on Friday 15th; please enter as soon as you can.

29-September-2021

'Match held' on Results Submission

There is a field for completion on the results submission form, 'Match held', with two options, 'Online' and 'Face-to-face. This does not affect scoring in any way but will collect data on how matches are played this season, to better inform future decisions. Both this field and 'Boards played' reflect the existing defaults on opening the form.

11-September-2021

Contact details for Knockout Round One

Accommodating a late entry into Div. 5 perturbed the lookup of contact details for teams from that division playing in the Cup (League not affected). The page has been regenerated and is now working as intended. Apologies.