Bridge Report from Salt Lake City - a Canadian Point of View

Never Say Die
Day 4 Tuesday

By Ray Lee

Halfway through the Men's semifinal, underdogs Canada trailed the mighty Italians by 42 IMPs, and the situation didn't improve when we dropped another 10 on the first board of the third set. Down 52 with 23 deals left was not impossible, but required a major suspension of disbelief from the Canadian supporters. Bit by bit, though, the lead began to shrink, and soon we were watching this result:

               North
               S  9 x x x
               H  J 9 x
               D  10 x
               C  x x x x

West                              East
S  ---                            S  Q J x x x x
H  K x x x x                      H  A 10 x
D  A Q J 8 x                      D  7
C  A Q J                          C  7 x x

               South
               S  A K 10
               H  Q x
               D  K x x x x
               C  K x x

West              North             East         South
Balcombe          de Falco          Campbell     Versace
                                     2S            2NT
Dbl               pass               pass          3D 
Dbl               all pass

Keith Balcombe said afterwards that he wasn't entirely sure about doubling 2NT with a spade void, but he hadn't come all this way to pass. When Versace ran to 3D , Keith knew exactly how to greet that, and Canada picked up a critical 10 IMPs to get the comeback seriously underway.

The fourth and final quarter began with Italy still ahead by 18, but that took only three boards to evaporate. An Italian bidding misunderstanding followed by a second game swing put Canada in front by 1IMP. There followed several flat hands, but then the computer dealer warmed up, and the rest of the way was a plethora of possible slams.

First Italy nosed in front once again when Gitelman and Silver bid to 7C and the Italians reached 7NT on the same cards. Both E-W pairs stayed out of 6D on a (working) finesse on Board 20, for another push. We could have picked up a bunch on the next deal at either table. In the Open Room, Gitelman and Silver stopped in 5C with twelve tricks available, while the Italians ground to a halt in 3NT off the entire diamond suit. There was no diamond lead, and Italy won 2 lucky IMPs to open up a 3-Imp gap.

That was to be their last hurrah though. This was Board 22:

               North
               S  8 5
               H  J 10 7 3
               D  J 10 9 8 6
               C  A 6

West                              East
S  J 3 2                          S  A K 10 9 7 6 4
H  A Q 8 5 4                      H  K 9 2
D  A 4 2                          D  K 3
C  J 10                           C  3

               South
               S  Q
               H  6
               D  Q 7 5
               C  K Q 9 8 7 5 4 2

Again Silver and Gitelman had no trouble with their slam bidding despite the lack of high cards, and reached the cold six spades. When the Italian result went up on the scoreboard as plus 680, there was a huge cheer from the Canadian contingent ç we were ahead by a double-figure margin. Board 23 was yet another slam, pushed in 6C , except that Fred Gitelman didn't know that. At Trick 2, Joey Silver had spread his hand and said jokingly ÎDown one, I guess', and Fred played the last board thinking his partner had meant the comment seriously! With the last board only a partscore deal, it was time to celebrate in earnest.

Now on to the 48-board final ç stay tuned to e-bridge and this site as we bring you the last instalment of these reports, which we shall title "Going for the Gold!"