Few observers would have picked Canada to defeat Italy in the semi-final round of the 4th IOC Grand Prix, but the underdogs rallied for an exciting victory Tuesday night. Not content with one surprise victory, the Canadians were hard at work on another in the second set of the final against the favored team from Poland. Not only was Canada winning - they were thrashing the strong Polish team. Canada won the second set 44-0 to lead by 46.5 IMPs at the halfway point.

The first deal was a missed opportunity for Poland.

Dealer South Both vul
	ª 9 8 © A J 5 ¨ A Q 6 § A Q J 8 2
ª J © 9 8 4 3 2 ¨ 8 7 4 3 § 10 9 5		ª A K Q 10 6 5 © --- ¨ K 10 5 § K 7 6 3
	ª 7 4 3 2 © K Q 10 7 6 ¨ J 9 2 § 4

In the closed room, Jacek Pszczola played in 2ª, making eight tricks for plus 110. In the open room, Zmudzinski found himself in a vulnerable game that, despite bad breaks, had plays.

West	North	East	South
Gitelman	Balicki	Silver	Zmudzinski
	1§	1ª	Dble
Pass	2ª	Dble	3©
Pass	4©	All Pass

Fred Gitelman led the ªJ, and Silver played the 10, suit preference for diamonds, and Gitelman obliged. Zmudzinski put in dummy's ¨Q and Silver won the king. He then cashed the ªA and continued with the ªQ, forcing dummy to ruff. Zmudzinski cashed the ©A, getting the bad news in trumps, and continued with the ©J.

Looking at all the cards, one can see that the winning line is to play a diamond to the 9, cash hearts, pitching the ¨A and clubs, then the ¨J. East will be squeezed in the black suits on the play of the ¨J. Declarer would hold the ª7 and §4 in his hand, while dummy would be down to the §A Q. East would be holding the ªK and the §K 7 with no good discard.

Zmudzinski, however, apparently decided early in the play that Gitelman was more likely to hold the §K, so after picking up trumps he played a club to dummy's queen. Silver won the king and had a spade to cash for two down and 3 IMPs to Canada instead of 12 to Poland.

Gitelman played expertly on this deal to help his team to a major swing.

Dealer West E/W vul
	ª A 10 © K J 10 7 2 ¨ 7 6 4 § 6 3 2
ª K Q J 2 © A 6 3 ¨ A 10 2 § 9 8 5		ª 7 6 5 3 © 5 ¨ K 9 8 3 § K Q 10 4
	ª 9 8 4 © Q 9 8 4 ¨ Q J 5 § A J 7

West	North	East	South
Kwiecen	Gartaganis	Pszczola	Jones
1§	1©	1ª	2§
2ª	Pass	Pass	3©
Dble	All Pass

This must have been scary for Michal Kwiecen and Pszczola - scoring only five tricks against the heart partial by Nick Gartaganis. Still, the Poles prevailed and scored plus 100. At the other table, Gitelman and Joe Silver found their way to a vulnerable game. All Gitelman had to do was make it.

West	North	East	South
Gitelman	Balicki	Silver	Zmudzinski
1§	2©	Dble	Pass
2ª	Pass	3ª	Pass
4ª	All Pass

Cezary Balicki led the ¨6, and Gitelman studied the dummy for a long time before starting to play. Eventually, he played low, and won Zmudzinski's ¨J with the ace. Gitelman then cashed the ©A, ruffed a heart and played a spade to his king and Balicki's ace. Balicki exited with his ª10 to Gitelman's queen. Gitelman then ruffed his last heart and played a low diamond from dummy. Zmudzinski won the ¨Q and played a fourth round of hearts, but Gitelman was able to ruff, draw the last trump and claim, giving up only the §A from there. That was plus 620 and 11 IMPs to Canada.

Just as Italy had suffered on slam swings against Canada, so did the Poles. The final two deals of the set represented major setbacks for Poland.

Dealer South Both vul
	ª Q 7 © J 4 ¨ A K 7 4 § Q 9 8 6 5
ª K J 8 6 5 4 © Q 6 5 2 ¨ 3 2 § 10		ª 9 3 2 © 10 ¨ J 9 8 6 § K 7 4 3 2
	ª A 10 © A K 9 8 7 3 ¨ Q 10 5 § A J

West	North	East	South
Kwiecen	Gartaganis	Pszczola	Jones
			1©
1ª	Dble	2ª	4©
All Pass

With his good spots and the fall of East's ©10, Peter Jones had no trouble taking 12 tricks for plus 680. Would Poland be able to engineer a slam swing of their own? It turned out that the answer was yes, but not in the way that they wanted.

West	North	East	South
Gitelman	Balicki	Silver	Zmudzinski
			1§
2ª	3ª	Pass	4©
Pass	5§	Pass	6§
All Pass

Zmudzinski's 1§ opener was Polish, meaning it could be a minimum balanced hand or any of a wide variety of strong, unbalanced hands. It appeared that, after the 3ª cuebid, South was to bid 3NT with a minimum and a spade stopper. Zmudzinski's 4© bid, therefore, showed a strong hand. The way the auction developed might have worked out all right for Poland were it not for the terrible break in clubs. Still, it seems that Gitelman's 2ª bid completely derailed North-South in auction.

Gitelman started with a low diamond to the jack and queen. Zmudzinski cashed the §A and followed with the jack, ducked by Silver. Now Zmudzinski was forced to use a diamond entry to dummy to drive out the §K. Silver won the third round of clubs and played the ©10. Zmudzinski took the ©A and, preparatory to squeezing West in the majors, cashed the ªA, before going to dummy again with a diamond. Had that suit been 3-3, Gitelman would indeed have been squeezed in the majors, but Zmudzinski didn't have enough tricks. In the end, because he had failed to unblock the ©J earlier, Zmudzinski could not endplay Gitelman for down one by exiting with dummy's ªQ. He had to settle for minus 200 and a 13-IMP loss.

Looking at all four hands of the last deal, one can see that there is no slam available. Nevertheless, slam was bid and made at four of the eight tables in play (once doubled), including Canada and Poland on Vugraph.

Dealer West None vul
	ª A J 9 8 7 4 3 © 8 5 ¨ --- § Q 8 6 3
ª K © K 10 7 ¨ Q 9 8 3 2 § K 9 7 5		ª Q 10 2 © A J ¨ A K 10 7 6 5 4 § 2
	ª 6 5 © Q 9 6 4 3 2 ¨ J § A J 10 4

West	North	East	South
Kwiecen	Gartaganis	Pszczola	Jones
Pass	3ª	3NT	Pass
4NT	All Pass

Pszczola finished with 11 tricks and plus 460.

West	North	East	South
Gitelman	Balicki	Silver	Zmudzinski
Pass	4ª	5¨	5ª
6¨	All Pass

With one board to play, Poland had not scored an IMP in the set. Balicki's aggressive 4ª bid put his team in position to at least break the shutout. 5ª doubled would have gone for minus 500, but one cannot blame Gitelman for bidding on. His ªK was worthless, but the rest of his hand was potentially very useful to his partner.

Zmudzinski started with the ª5 (leading low from doubletons) to the king and ace, and Balicki had to figure out the best chance to defeat the contract, if indeed it could be defeated. Perhaps it did not occur to Balicki that the slam could be beaten, for he took only a moment to continue with the ©5. Silver claimed at that point - his losing club would go on one of dummy's hearts - the 10 if South covered East's jack, the king if he didn't.

The 10-IMP gain was fitting punctuation to a rousing set by the upstart Canadians.