The meeting of Poland and Indonesia in round nine of the IOC Grand Prix round-robin was an elimination match. The loser would be out of the event, the winner just about assured of a spot in the semi-final round. Indonesia was 1.5 VPs ahead of Poland, but as it turned out they needed at least 17 VPs to make it to the next stage. It was not to be.

Indonesia started with a 3-IMP gain on the first board, but little else went right for them from that point on, starting with board two.

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

West	North	East	South
Kwiecen	Manoppo	Pszczola	Lasut
		Pass	1¨
1ª	2¨	2ª	Pass
Pass	Dble	Redbl	3¨
All Pass

There was nothing to the play in this contract, and Henky Lasut finished with 10 tricks for plus 130. At the other table, Cezary Balickii and Adam Zmudzinski reached a much better spot.

West	North	East	South
Karwur	Balicki	Sacul	Zmudzinski
		Pass	1§
1ª	Dble	2© (1)	Dble
2ª	Pass	Pass	3©
Pass	4©	All Pass

(1) Spade raise.

Zmudzinski's 1§ opener was of the Polish variety, usually showing a balanced minimum, which is what he had on this occasion. The Poles lost their nine-card diamond fit, but they wound up in the heart game, which could not be defeated on the very favorable lie of the cards.

Franky Karwur led his singleton diamond, won in dummy. Zmudzinski followed with the heart finesse, and when it succeeded he may have realized it was the Polish team's day. After picking up trumps, declarer had only to play two more rounds of diamonds to come to 10 tricks. Poland was ahead 7-3. Indonesia got an overtrick IMP back on the fourth board of the set, but they suffered a major blow on board 17, the fifth in the set.

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

West	North	East	South
Kwiecen	Manoppo	Pszczola	Lasut
	Pass	Pass	1¨
1©	1ª	4§	Pass
4©	Pass	Pass	4ª
Dble	All Pass

East led the §K against Eddy Manoppo's 4ª contract, and when the smoke cleared Michal Kwiecen and Jacek Pszczola plus 100. It appears that North has only three losers in 4ª and so should make his contract. A closer look, however, reveals that it's winners declarer needs --- and he doesn't have enough of them on this deal without help from the defense. In fact, that's how Balicki came home with his doubled contract in the open room.

West	North	East	South
Karwur	Balicki	Sacul	Zmudzinski
	Pass	Pass	1¨
1©	1ª	4¨	4©
Pass	4ª	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

The 4¨ bid was a splinter. With shortness opposite his diamond honors, Karwur elected to defend rather than bidding on.

Denny Sacul led his singleton diamond: queen, king, 3. Karwur, knowing his partner's ¨10 was a singleton, made the correct play of returning a low diamond for Sacul to ruff. Sacul returned the §K, taken in dummy. Balicki cashed the ªA and played a diamond to drive out the ace. Karwur won and could have defeated the contract by returning a trump, leaving Balicki with only two trumps in dummy to deal with three heart losers. Instead, Karwur returned another diamond, hoping to induce Balicki to ruff his winner. Balicki had no recourse but to pitch his club loser, however - there was no other place for it to go. When Sacul could not ruff, the contract was home as Balicki crossruffed for the rest of the tricks. Plus 590 helped Poland to a 12-IMP game.

The difference an opening lead can make was clearly illustrated on the following deal, which cost Indonesia another 5 IMPs.

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

The auction at both tables was 1© by South, 2© by North, all pass.

In the closed room, Kwiecen started with the ©J, attacking declarer's entry to dummy's club suit before it could be established. Declarer was able to ruff a spade after taking the finesse, but he lost a club, two diamonds, two hearts and a spade for one down.

In the open room, Karwur led the ¨10 to the 2, 7 and ace. Zmudzinski immediately played the §K to Sacul's ace. Sacul cashed the ¨K and played a low spade. Zmudzinski took the right view by finessing, then entered dummy with the trump ace to cash two high clubs, pitching his losing diamond and a low spade. He then played a spade to the ace and ruffed a spade. In the end, he gave up two trump tricks but finished with nine tricks for plus 140 and a 5-IMP gain.

On the next-to-last board, Indonesia managed a vulnerable game swing, giving them a chance at the match.

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

West	North	East	South
Kwiecen	Manoppo	Pszczola	Lasut
			1¨
Pass	1©	Pass	1ª
Pass	1NT	Pass	3©
Pass	4©	All Pass

Manoppo was not terrified by Pszczola's lead of the ©9, and he soon was scoring up plus 620. Balicki and Zmudzinski took a decidedly different view of the North-South hands.

West	North	East	South
Karwur	Balicki	Sacul	Zmudzinski
			1¨
Pass	1©	Pass	1ª
Pass	1NT	Pass	2©
All Pass

With Zmudzinski's 2© bid, Balicki knew his partner's hand included a singleton club, not a tremendous holding opposite his K J 9 5. Balicki made one more trick than Manoppo for plus 200, saving an IMP, but Indonesia had closed to within 11 IMPs, so there was a chance for them if the final deal could provide a swing. Unfortunately for Indonesia, it was a relatively flat board, and when Poland actually managed a 2-IMP swing, they were into the semi-final round with a 26-13 victory.