The first six boards shown on vugraph last night were not the type to grip the audience. A few IMPs had changed hands as the two United States teams faced each other, but the vugraph kibitzers - and the commentators - were looking for an action hand. Board 7 was the answer.

Board 7. Dealer South. Game All ª 8 7 © J 10 6 3 ¨ 9 8 4 § J 10 8 3 ª 10 9 6 3 ª A Q 4 2 © K 9 © A Q 8 ¨ Q J 7 ¨ A K 5 3 2 § A K Q 7 § 9 ª K J 5 © 7 5 4 2 ¨ 10 6 § 6 5 4 2

This was the bidding when USA 1 held the East-West cards. Look at that East hand after partner opens with a strong notrump. Then the response to Stayman shows the 4-4 fit. After checking for aces and kings, John Hurd leaped to the grand, hoping that one of partner's kings was the ªK. Brian Meyer was understandably disappointed when he saw the dummy. When he lost his first trump trick, he felt he was headed for a huge loss - surely USA 2 would bid the small slam at the other table. But when both trump honors were offside, he began to feel a little better - if USA 2 played in 6ª, they would go down and the swing would be only 3 IMPs.

The bidding caused considerable consternation among the vugraph commentators. Was 4§ ace asking or a splinter bid? Was 4© showing one control or was it a cuebid? Did 5NT mean pick a slam, or was it the Grand Slam Force? The answers: 4§ was ace-asking, 4© showed one control and 5NT was pick-a-slam. The slam went down one of course.

Strangely enough, the best contract is 6NT - it's unbeatable with 12 top tricks available. Board 13 was a killer for USA 1, but it could have been a big gain.

Board 13. Dealer North. Game All ª J 9 © A 5 4 2 ¨ A Q 10 8 6 2 § J ª K 8 7 4 3 ª 5 2 © J © Q 10 9 6 3 ¨ — ¨ K J 9 5 4 3 § A Q 10 7 6 3 2 § — ª A Q 10 6 © K 8 7 ¨ 7 § K 9 8 5 4

The Closed Room auction was relatively simple.

North-South have a lot of high cards, but just about everything is lying wrong, so the contract was beaten one trick.

Eric Greco stuck his neck out a bit when he bid clubs a second time. No doubt Kevin Bathurst was licking his lips and ready to reach for that red card. Greco would lose three spades, a heart and some number of trump tricks for a heavy minus. But Michael Kitces decided to bid his diamonds one more time, and Chris Willenken was ready with his own red card.

Declarer ducked the opening spade lead, and Greco cashed the §A, allowing partner to shed his remaining spade. Greco led a spade for partner to ruff, and Willenken returned the ©10 to dummy's king. Willenken ruffed the ªA return and got out with the ©9 to declarer's ace. At this point Kitces conceded down three - minus 800 and 12 IMPs to USA 2.

On the very next hand, Kitces raised partner (who had bid to 5§ on his own in a competitive auction) to 6§ and suffered the embarrassment of having the defense cash their two aces for another 10 IMPs. However, Kitces clearly had a hand that at least suggested such action - ace-queen-third of trumps plus an outside ace after partner opened 1§ and then bid 5§ over spade interference at the four-level. The result was a 25-4 blitz for USA 2.