The second set of boards did not exactly have the spectators leaping from their seats, as a long series of games and part scores saw few points change hands.

The USA were a little more accurate than their opponents, and they picked up a number of small swings to build a small but useful lead well into the session.

This deal helped them on their way:

Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul
	ª A 7 © K Q 3 2 ¨ J 9 7 6 § A 10 7
ª Q 10 9 4 3 2 © 9 8 6 5 ¨ A 3 § 2		ª J © A 10 7 ¨ K Q 10 5 2 § K J 9 3
	ª K 8 6 5 © J 4 ¨ 8 4 § Q 8 6 5 4

East made the perfectly reasonable lead of the queen of diamonds, but that gave declarer a chance. West overtook the queen with the ace, and East cleared the diamonds, declarer winning the fourth round with the jack. A heart went to the jack, and a second one to the king and ace. While all this was going on, West was discarding spades. On the last diamond, declarer parted with a spade from dummy, and a club from hand, while West released a third spade. East exited with a spade to declarer's ace, and she cashed the queen of hearts, discarding a club. These cards remained:

	ª 7 © 2 ¨ - § A 10
ª Q 10 © 9 ¨ - § 2		ª - © - ¨ - § K J 9 3
	ª K 8 © - ¨ - § Q 8

Declarer has made four tricks, and needs three more. She played two rounds of spades, hoping to endplay West into leading away from the king of clubs. That was one down. The winning line, not easy to see, but perhaps indicated by the fact that East had played the two of diamonds on the fourth round of the suit, suggesting an entry in clubs, is to play the ten of clubs. East can win, but the next club will squeeze West.

With her main suit bid against her, Thorpe led the three of clubs, and that ran to declarer's seven. She promptly cashed the ace of clubs and played another one. East went in with the king, and having seen her partner discard the two of spades and the six of hearts, switched to the jack of spades.

Declarer went up with dummy's king, and cashed her clubs before playing the jack of hearts. The play record is incomplete, but clearly East can defeat the contract by winning and switching to a low diamond. She didn't do this, and declarer emerged with an overtrick, and 6 IMPs.

The American lead was up to 18 IMPs when they suffered a severe reverse.

Board 28.Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª J © A 6 ¨ Q J 7 5 4 § K J 9 7 4
ª 10 9 8 7 4 © 9 3 2 ¨ 8 3 § Q 5 3		ª A © K Q 8 7 4 ¨ A K 10 2 § A 8 6
	ª K Q 6 5 3 2 © J 10 5 ¨ 9 6 § 10 2

Two Hearts was a comfortable resting-place. The opening diamond lead was covered by the jack and king, and declarer unblocked the ace of spades before cashing the ace of diamonds and playing a diamond. South ruffed in with the ten of hearts, dummy pitching a club, and switched to the ten of clubs. Declarer won with the ace, and played her last diamond, getting rid of dummy's remaining club when South ruffed in with the jack of hearts. The defence now played two rounds of trumps, so declarer could only ruff one of her losing clubs, so she had to concede a trick at the end. Still, +140 did not look too bad.

You could have a long theoretical debate about the merits of the weak jump response in this situation, but whatever your views, the method did not show to advantage here.

West found the best lead of a heart, ducked to East's queen. She cashed the ace of spades and knocked out the ace of hearts. Declarer played the queen of diamonds, and East took the king and continued hearts. On the fourth round both declarer and West discarded diamonds, and the fifth round was ruffed and overruffed. When West returned a club, declarer was on a guess for three or four down. She put up the king, and that was -1100 and in the context of the set a massive 14 IMPs for Canada.

Board 30. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A 5 4 3 © K 7 5 ¨ 8 § Q 10 8 6 4
ª 10 8 2 © Q ¨ K Q J 10 5 3 2 § A J		ª Q J 7 6 © J 10 9 6 3 2 ¨ 4 § 7 5
	ª K 9 © A 8 4 ¨ A 9 7 6 § K 9 3 2

Two Clubs promised a one suiter. One possible explanation for South's subsequent bid of Two Diamonds is that the double of Two Clubs was 'system on' i.e. Stayman, and the response denied a four card major. Of course, a pass would have the same meaning, but South may have wanted better clubs.

North led the four of clubs for the king and ace, and declarer played the king of diamonds. Ducking this would have enabled South to get some kind of signal from her partner, and perhaps be able to score the spade ruff, but she took her ace and cashed the ace of hearts before playing the two of clubs. North took the queen and tried to cash the king of hearts. That meant declarer could escape for one down, -50.

Not exactly a great result for North-South, with Five Clubs a playable and makeable contract.

West was happy to pass 1NT - she could even lead fourth best of her longest and strongest if she was in a humorous mood! However, her partner protected, and left South with an awkward lead to find.

She decided to underlead her ace of diamonds, and declarer won with dummy's king. The queen of hearts was covered by North's king, and she accurately switched to a club for the king and ace. Declarer played the two of diamonds, and North, not realising what had happened at trick one, ruffed. Declarer overruffed and played a middle trump. South won, and loosing focus for a moment, played another low diamond. Declarer got rid of her losing club, but could not afford to come to hand to draw trumps. She played a spade to her queen and South's king. South could have returned a spade and scored a ruff, but when she played a club declarer could ruff, draw the outstanding trump, and establish her spades. She had emerged with a rather remarkable nine tricks, and Canada went ahead by 2 IMPs. An overtrick on the last board extended the lead by another IMP.

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