Heading into the 2nd day; Bill/I stood a heady 10th. We had played well the first day but also received a heavy dose of good fortune. We'd have a large carryover which gave us a good chance to qualify for the final day, but we'd have to continue to play well to maintain our position. The field would be even tougher today and results would be scored across the entire field (103 top). Boards were pre-made with each section 13 tables, everyone in each section would play the same 26 boards and pairs. The field is re-seeded every day to ensure the sections are balanced. We were not seeded so we began against an unseeded pair. A quick scan of the section told me that we'd face Levin-Weinstein again as our top seeded opponent. Playing in this type of event is exciting and scary. If you make a mistake you are likely to pay for it, the opponents will test you often. The opportunity to play against the top pairs in the world is unique to bridge and should not be missed. Here is a round by round recap of our results:

Round 1 was solid but unventful. Our opponents bid and made 2 normal games. Typically this does not lead to winning events, but we took all our tricks which should allow us to at least break even.

Round 2 was against the Wolperts from Canada, winners of last year's event. It contains several points of interest.

1.	A K 4 2 K 10 8 3 8 4 2 A 6
6 A Q 6 2 A Q J 3 K Q J 7		7 3 9 7 5 4 K 9 6 5 10 3 2
E-W Vul	Q J 10 9 8 5 J 10 7 9 8 5 4

West Dbl 2 NT Pass

North Rdbl Pass 3

East Pass 3 All Pass

South 2 Pass Pass

3 by South

As you can see, point ranges aren't strictly adhered to in this field though opening is clear to me with the South hand. I'd choose 3S actually at this vulnerability. I had an easy double at my first turn. Gavin redoubled quickly which was passed back to me.

Point #1: what does partner's pass of the redouble show? There isn't a right or wrong answer but you'd best be on the same page as your partner. Most pairs play that passing of a redouble in this situation is penalty (i.e. they would have left the double in). As you can see, if I'd passed that would not have been a good score. The redouble came with purpose, I didn't think he was playing around so I decided to pull.

Point #2: I want partner to pick a suit but I can't double again - how do I do it? 2N here is the logical choice. I can't want to play NT on this auction. This must ask partner to pick a suit.

Point #3: when you and your partner are scrambling, it pays to bid your best suit in the long run. Note that we have 4-4 fits in both red suits but only diamonds can take 9 tricks. Why? Because the diamonds are better. Bill opted for hearts, certain that I held at least 4 of those.

Gavin then bid 3S, where he wanted to play all along. The redouble was tactical in that sense; he didn't really want to penalize us with such good spades. I had some extras for my bidding but 4-4-4-1 hands tend to play poorly without a big fit opposite which seemed doubtful here. I expected most of the remaining high cards to my left so doubling did not have much appeal especially against non-vulnerable opponents. We managed our 4 tricks for a surprisingly good score (-140 tends not to be a great matchpoint result). We sold out cheaply on the companion board for another -140 which was around average.

Round 3 was a replay of the first round, 2 easy games for the opponents. I resisted an opportunity for "cleverness" on the first, declarer had taken quite on odd line, which would have worked out poorly. Once again we took all the tricks we had coming and wound up slightly over average. 6 boards, 6 minus scores, yet we were over average (though of course we did not know that). That doesn't happen too often.

Round 4 was our first stumble against Rozanne Pollack and partner. They bid to a great slam on the first board. They were actually unlucky in that higher paying slams in spades and NT are a lucky make so we got a few points. The 2nd board we tried for a 200 set (and our first plus score!) but the layout prevented it. You have to take some chances, this one didn't pan out.

Round 5 we laid claim to our first plus score though we'd yet to declare a contract. I missed a chance for an excellent score with a 2nd undertrick on 1 hand having to make an early decision. I went for the sure plus against 1C (they could make 3S) which seemed reasonable at the time. Our +100 was surprisingly below average.

Round 6 we had a slight mixup and reached slam. It was not a good one but on the lie of the cards the opponents had to find the right lead and continuation upon winning their ace. Sadly for us, they did. We caught our first break on the 2nd board when the opponents reached a silly contract. We didn't fully capitalize but managed +200 on a part score hand. We didn't have much to do over these first few rounds but a bunch of minus scores was not encouraging.

Round 7 provided a chance to make something happen.

2 .	9 8 J 7 5 10 7 3 K 6 4 3 2
K Q 10 A Q 10 9 A 6 4 A J 7		A 7 2 K 4 3 2 Q 9 8 2 Q 9
None Vul	J 6 5 4 3 8 6 K J 5 10 8 5

West 2 NT 3 4

North Pass Pass Pass

East Pass 3 3 4

South Pass Pass Pass All Pass

This hand looks like it should be declaring so I borrowed a point and opened 2N. Our next 2 bids are normal. Bill/I have a useful agreement here that 3S shows slam interest in hearts. Tactics play a huge role in bridge, more so at the higher levels. Bill was a passed hand, and I did not envision a slam with my hand. I didn't want to shut him down completely but I took the opportunity to cuebid 4D, the suit I didn't want led. Bill, not expecting a club control, signed off. It was a calculated gamble, we might have slam. I knew the opponents would be listening as well, and would almost certainly lead a club. LHO was a very good player, he thought for some time, but ultimately led a club and 11 tricks were easy (5 can always be made) for a good score.

Round 8 gave me a defensive challenge.

3.	5 Q J 7 A J 5 Q J 10 9 6 2
A J 9 9 K Q 10 7 K 7 5 4 3		K Q 4 3 2 10 6 4 3 2 8 6 3 —
N-S Vul	10 8 7 6 A K 8 5 9 4 2 A 8

West Pass Pass

North 2 3

East Pass Pass All Pass

South 1 2

3 by North

Trick 1. E 2. E 3. N 4. S 5. W 6. N 7. N 8. N 9. N 10. N 11. W

Lead K 2 2 8 J Q J Q J 7 T

2nd 6 7 2 K 9 3 6 3 4 6 A

3rd 9 A A 6 4 2 T 5 8 K 8

4th 5 2 3 3 8 4 5 9 7 7 4

2C was alerted as either natural or game forcing and balanced. Imagine my surprise when LHO showed real clubs at his next turn. Bill stayed out of the auction despite the favorable vulnerability. I was happy defending in my 5 card suit, certain we could set this. From my perspective, a forcing game was best so I set out on that path. Winning the CK, I tapped declarer again setting up my long club. My first test was on the 2nd round of hearts. I have a complete count on the hand and can see that ruffing the 2nd heart is an error. That will allow declarer to win the DA and score dummy's 2 heart tricks, still having a heart left in his hand. Declarer cannot attack diamonds profitably so must play another heart. Now I must ruff, holding declarer to only 2 heart tricks. My initial hope was that Bill had the DJ, otherwise declarer could make his contract. There was always the chance for an error. I was ready for the endgame and quickly returned the DT. Declarer should play the jack, even if it lost Bill would have a red card left in the endgame. With a resigned air, he hopped ace and we were +100.

Round 9 saw us facing the top seed in our section: Levin-Weinstein. We'd done pretty well against them yesterday, hopefully we could continue that today.

4.	9 7 4 A Q 8 3 2 J 6 5 Q 3
A Q 8 3 7 5 K 9 8 7 6 4 2
N-S Vul

West Pass All Pass

North Pass 1

East Pass Pass

South 1 1 NT

I led a low spade. I'm not a fan of leading from ace 4th but sometimes it's the least of evils. I struck gold and caught Bill with KTx. This looked promising as hearts might play better for them. On the 4th spade, dummy threw a heart, declarer a heart, and Bill the D7. That is the highest outstanding spot, can Bill want a diamond back? It seems unlikely on the auction. This was the longest I took to play to a trick the whole tourney. If declarer has bid honestly, a diamond cannot be right. Might he have opened 1D with Jxx KJx Txx AKxx to inhibit a diamond lead and then followed up with misleading discards? He very well could. Bill knows I'd be unlikely to lead a diamond unless he made a strong signal. I finally decided to attack diamonds - disaster! Everyone had been honest and I'd outsmarted myself and turned a plus into a minus. I felt a little unlucky about the diamond spots (Bill had T7). It was a good hand for upside-down signals (though Bill could have had 32 and then I'd be in same boat). The companion board we won in the auction when Levin-Weinstein let us play 2S. They defended well and held Bill to the minimum so we settled for an average.

Round 10 saw us get unlucky on the first board and very lucky on the 2nd. The first was a partscore hand (we can make a game with a very fortunate lie of the cards). Our opponents remained silent; which caused Bill to misguess the trump Q. Others were bidding and pinpointing the successful finesse despite 9 trumps. Something to consider next time you're thinking of making a marginal overcall. The 2nd found both opponents bidding my KQJxxx suit; having had a mixup after Bill opened 2D. They eventually ran to a slightly safer haven but it still cost them 800 - a clear top.

Round 11 was unbelievable. Bill had AT doubleton of spades both times against their heart contract. He can achieve a ruff on both hands to set the contract. The first was impossible to find; RHO having opened a strong NT and Bill holding a singleton heart makes the SA a poor lead on average. Here was the 2nd:

5.	J 8 7 4 Q J 10 7 3 3 A T 3
K 9 6 5 9 5 Q 8 6 4 K J 5		A T K 4 A J T 9 7 5 8 4 2
E-W Vul	Q 3 2 A 8 6 2 K 2 Q 9 7 6

West Pass 3

North Pass 3

East 2 All Pass

South Double

Trick 1. E 2. E 3. E 4. W 5. W 6. E 7. S 8. N

Lead A A T 5 5 6 Q 7

2nd 2 2 3 4 K J K K

3rd Q 9 K 4 4 A A T

4th 3 4 7 Q 3 2 5 4

The key play was at trick 1. I gambled that a spade switch was better than a club and thus played the Q - an obvious suit preference play. Today the spade was right and we got our ruff. Declarer played very calmly, hoping to catch me napping -- if I duck either club he will make the hand. There is no reason for me not to split, we're either getting a club or we're not. I mentally relaxed after getting the spade ruff, fortunately I split reflexively and we set the contract 1 trick.

Round 12 saw us take a setback on the first board after a systemic mixup. The 2nd gave me an awkward bidding problem:

6.	None Vul
A J 7 K J T 9 K 3 K Q J T

West 1 Double

North Pass All Pass

East 1

South 3

I started with 1C, 18-20 balanced among the possibilities. 1D was negative roughly 0-6. Preempting artificial bids can be effective and this one gave me a problem. Double would tend to show a strong balanced hand, and partner will probably pass. I don't have a lot of quick tricks and this could easily be making. I chose to double on the strength of my good trump holding and it did go all pass. Dummy was not particularly scary and we took our 5 tricks for a decent score.

The last round saw the opponents bid and make game on the first board but we took all of the tricks to which we were entitled. This was the last board:

7.	8 7 5 4 3 2 K 2 7 2 4 3 2
9 J 7 5 3 K 8 5 4 K 10 6 5		A Q J 10 6 A Q 8 A 10 3 9 8
N-S Vul	K 10 9 6 4 Q J 9 6 A Q J 7

West Pass 1 NT

North Pass Pass

East 1 2 NT

South Dbl All Pass

Trick 1. N 2. E 3. S 4. E

Lead K 6 Q 8

2nd A K 4 A

3rd 4 9 2 5

4th 3 2 A 2

In retrospect, I think I should pass the double of 1S and hope for a penalty at this vulnerability. I didn't want to give LHO an opportunity to bid 1N, so I bid it first. Bill took a conservative view and only invited. The layout is very favorable, but of course I can't see all the cards. The opening lead cleared up the heart position and marked RHO with the rest of the cards. With only 4 spade tricks available, I decided to just give up a trick, using the power of the 9 spot. The king would drop, but note that there are still only 4 spade tricks. RHO returned a diamond, won on the board to preserve entries. At this point, I have 9 top tricks, and can set up a 10th by leading up to the CK. Squeeze play can be tricky, but comes into play often when one defender holds the bulk of the defensive values. This is a somewhat unusual situation in the that RHO guards 3 suits. I won the diamond and tried to sneak a club through. RHO hopped but on the run of the spades could not maintain 2 guards let alone 3 so I emerged with 11 tricks. That would have been a great result had we bid game.

We finished the 3rd session about 53%; dropping into the 30s overall. Still in great shape to advance to the final day. The scoring was much tougher this session. We made a few errors but our opponents played pretty well against us overall, making things difficult for us. The first day we'd seen the opponents stop short of easy games (and slams) on a number of occasions --- that didn't happen for us this session. We'd have to play better and get a little luckier if we were to stay among the leaders.