Bd: 11 North Dlr: South 10765 Vul: None 103 105 A7432 West East 942 K8 AQ6 K952 AK8 J9642 K965 108 South AQJ3 J874 Q73 QJ OPEN ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesniewski Ino Gawrys Imakura 1 1NT Pass 2NT All Pass CLOSED ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Teramoto Lev Hisatomi Polowan 1 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass Nonvulnerable, I would have expected both Easts to pass their partner's 1NT overcall, but both of them invited game, facing an 18-point maximum. Lesniewski was sorry about the whole thing, but Teramoto dug deep into the recesses of his mind and raised himself to game. In 2NT, Lesniewski got a spade lead from Ino, no doubt delighting the diamond-poor Imakura. The defenders cashed four spades, Ino exiting with the 10. Lesniewski won in hand and played diamonds from the top, so he lost to the Q and then lost two club tricks for two down, minus 100. In 3NT, Teramoto got the lead of the 3 from Lev, eight, jack, king. He too played diamonds from the top, Lev discarding a club on the third round. This is one of those deals where it is essential for South to get his partner to overtake the Q, and the way to do this is to switch to a heart. Although Polowan did not do this, he did follow to the first two diamond tricks with the seven-three in an attempt to put his partner on alert that something unusual was required of him (they do not play Smith Signals), then won the Q and played his remaining club. Teramoto followed with the six to help Lev go wrong and that seemed to work for him. When Lev let the Q hold, it was all over for the defense. Teramoto won the belated heart switch, cashed hearts, cashed diamonds, and exited with dummy's remaining heart to endplay Polowan for a stunning plus 400 and 11 IMPs to HISATOMI, ahead now 36-17. But that was to be the high-water mark for HISATOMI in the session. The rest of the set belonged to POLAND-USA, who ran off 53 IMPs without reply over the final five boards.

Bd: 12 North Dlr: West K7 Vul: N/S J3 Q10542 AKJ3 West East 432 AQ10986 K10872 9 A98 KJ3 Q10 652 South J5 AQ654 76 9874 OPEN ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesniewski Ino Gawrys Imakura Pass 1NT 2 3 (1) Pass 3NT Pass Pass Dbl. All Pass (1) s CLOSED ROOM tr> WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Teramoto Lev Hisatomi Polowan Pass 1 1 Dbl. 2 3 3 All Pass The biggest swing in that run came on Board 12, where Ino got his side into trouble and soon made it much worse. He started with an optimistic strong notrump, and over Gawrys's 2 overcall, Imakura transferred to hearts, showing at least invitational values. Ino should have bitten the bullet here and converted to 3, but a rosy glow had surrounded him and he tried 3NT. Lesniewski, with hearts locked up, a little fit for spades, and some kicking high cards, decided to double, and no one had anywhere to go. Had Gawrys led a pedestrian spade, Ino might have emerged with six tricks, but Gawrys, alerted by the double, led his singleton heart. Ino had one more chance to escape for minus 800, but he played low from dummy and soon lost the K, six spades, and three diamonds for six light; minus 1700. Although Hisatomi made his 3 contract at the other table, plus 140 didn't make much impact on the number in the Open Room, and POLAND-USA racked up 17 IMPs to move within 2 IMPs at 34-36.

Bd: 13 North Dlr: North Q94 Vul: Both J109 832 QJ95 West East A52 10763 84 A65 KQJ10 A975 AK102 74 South KJ8 KQ732 64 863 BOTH ROOMS WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesniewski Ino Gawrys Imakura Teramoto Lev Hisatomi Polowan Pass Pass Pass 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass Ino led the queen of clubs against Lesniewski's 3NT. Lesniewski won the ace and ducked a spade to the eight. Imakura returned the eight of clubs, but that was not good enough. Lesniewski won and made the spades divide three-three for plus 600. To set 3NT after the club lead, Imakura had to switch to hearts. Lev led the jack of hearts against Teramoto's 3NT, but when it held, Polowan encouraging, he switched to the queen of clubs. Teramoto won and played four rounds of diamonds, Lev throwing the ten of hearts, Polowan the eight of clubs and a heart. Then he led a spade from dummy and played low from hand. Lev overtook the eight with the nine and reverted to hearts, and Teramoto had no ninth trick; down one, minus 100. 12 IMPs to POLAND-USA, who took the lead, 46-36. These were the East/West cards on Board 15. . . WEST EAST AQ6 K9853 AQ9752 K106 Q4 3 A2 K1085 Before reading on, construct an auction that you and your partner would be proud to have on this combination. Then we'll see how our gladiators did in real life . . .

Bd: 15 North Dlr: South J1042 Vul: N/S J K9652 Q73 West East AQ6 K9853 AQ9752 K106 Q4 3 A2 K1085 South 7 843 AJ1087 J964 OPEN ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesniewski Ino Gawrys Imakura Pass 1 Pass 1 Pass 2NT Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass 4 Pass 4NT Pass 5 Pass 5 Dbl. Redbl. Pass 6 All Pass CLOSED ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Teramoto Lev Hisatomi Polowan Pass 1 Pass 1 Pass 2NT Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass 4 All Pass The bidding was the same in both rooms through 4, but then Gawrys decided to go past game (there is nothing on his card to suggest that 4NT was anything but RKCB-) but a DI 4NT, to show diamond control and leave room for a club cue-bid looks much better; East can't really drive to slam on the basis of key cards alone . . . can he? In any case, it looks as if the Poles found out about aces and key cards and the trump queenbefore bidding slam, and here it was laydown, even with spades four-one. POLAND-USA won the board 980 vs 480 and banked another 11 IMPs, building their lead to 21 IMPs, 57-36.

Bd: 16 North Dlr: West K652 Vul: E/W 9654 8652 8 West East Q8 A973 AKQ J2 QJ103 AK9 QJ106 K754 South J104 10873 74 A932 OPEN ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesniewski Ino Gawrys Imakura 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2NT Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 3NT All Pass CLOSED ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Teramoto Lev Hisatomi Polowan 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 4NT Pass 6NT All Pass There is nothing on the Poles' card to tell us what their auction meant, but it got the job done. Slam is more-or-less without legitimate play, and stopping short is very much the right thing to do. Against 3NT, Ino led a spade, and that conceded the twelfth trick; plus 690. Against 6NT, Lev led the 6. Teramoto won the ace and tried to sneak a spade to his queen past South's putative king. Lev had the king, however, and took it to return a diamond rather than a spade, so Teramoto conceded a trick to the A for one down, minus 100. 13 IMPs to POLAND-USA. ``Zees was expayrience paying off for us,'' revealed Lev in a post-game interview. ``To look for slam wissout fit is just too much'' After 16 deals, POLAND-USA led by 34 IMPs, 70-36. Kenji Miyakuni and Makoto Hirata hard at work in the Vugraph room