Meckstroth and Rodwell took on Helgemo/Helness in the Open Room and produced a very sound set. Allied to a good card from their team-mates, it resulted in a second successive blow to the Norwegians' hopes.

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Game A Q 7 5 2 J 10 7 6 5 3 A 8 J 9 6 4 3 8 Q 2 9 8 7 5 3 4 A Q 2 Q 9 7 6 4 K 10 3 2 K 10 A K 6 4 K J 10 9 8 J 5

Different partnerships have different ideas about the right way to handle the South cards. Geir Helgemo opened a 15-17 no trump and Tor Helness transferred to spades then bid 3NT. On the automatic club lead, this led to a swift three down when Helgemo won the club and finessed in hearts - his best chance.

By contrast, Dick Freeman opened 1 and rebid 2 over the 1 response. When Nick Nickell raised to 3, Freeman tried 3 and Nickell bid 3NT. Erik Saelensminde led the 9 and when Nickell played the ace from dummy Boye Brogeland elected to play the queen. Nickell, charmed, crossed to hand in hearts and played a diamond to the eight, making no less than eleven tricks for an 11 IMP pick-up.

Then Jeff Meckstroth took a good view with:

His partner opened a Precision 1 and rebid 1NT to show 11-13 over Meckstroth's 1. Meckstroth ran to 2 and made it on an unchallenging defence, while 1NT was going two down in the other room. Then it was Eric Rodwell's turn to be set a problem. He opened a mini-no trump at favourable vulnerability with:

and Helgemo doubled for penalties. Meckstroth jumped to 3, pre-emptive, and Helness bid 4. What to do? Rodwell passed and led spades, setting up a force to beat the contract by a trick. The bad news was that, facing:

was cold - in fact it made eleven tricks in the other room, so Norway had reduced the USA2 lead to 10 IMPs. But it would be a while before there was any more good news for Norway, while USA2 put together a string of good results. First of all, Helness had:

and heard Rodwell open 4 in front of him, vulnerable against not. The auction came round to him and he passed it out, while Nickell doubled in the other room and eventually defended 5. The defence had three tricks available to them on the correct lead and duly took them at both tables for 12 IMPs to USA2.

Then Rodwell found himself in a testing contract:

Board 8. Dealer West. Love All 9 8 6 7 A Q J 6 5 3 10 6 3 A K Q J 7 2 A K Q 6 4 J 8 2 K 10 7 4 A J 8 7 Q 5 4 2 10 5 4 3 10 9 8 5 3 2 9 K 9 West North East South Meckstroth Helness Rodwell Helgemo 1 3 3NT Pass 6NT All Pass

Geir Helgemo (Norway)

Helgemo led a diamond and after a lot of thought Helness took the ace and returned the suit. Helgemo could perhaps have worked out to pitch a spade on this (his actual choice of a heart was, in my opinion, a little naïve).

Rodwell took the club finesse, unblocked the spades and crossed to the J to cash the remaining spades. In the ending he had to make a discard from dummy on the fourth spade and to guess whether Helgemo had 4-5-1-3 shape or 4-6-1-2.

He got it right by throwing a heart, and that was 11 IMPs to USA2 instead of the loss of a similar number.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Game K 8 4 2 J 9 8 3 10 3 7 4 2 J 7 6 5 3 Q 10 7 A K 5 A 4 2 Q J 8 7 K J 8 A 10 9 6 3 A 10 9 Q 6 4 2 K 9 6 5 Q 5

This hand was a similar exercise for Norway, a loss which could just as easily have been a big pick-up. Helness and Helgemo bought the hand in 3 down three after using their patented 2 opening to show both majors.

In the other room, Saelensminde was able to open a strong no trump on the East cards and played 3NT on a diamond lead. He won in hand and misguessed the clubs. Freeman shifted to a heart and declarer knocked out the K. He now had nine tricks, but Freeman found the shift to the A, allowing the defence to cash out for one down.

Board 10. Dealer East. Game All K 7 5 3 K 8 K J 9 7 4 3 2 10 4 A 9 8 Q 3 J 10 6 5 2 5 A 10 2 A J 10 9 7 6 5 4 K 8 Q J 6 2 A 9 7 4 Q 8 6 3 Q

This deal showed Meckstroth at his devious best. While 3NT is cold for East/West (and Saelensminde/Brogeland had reached it) Meckstroth over-ruled his partner and found himself in 5. He got his first reprieve when Helness led a diamond, and Meckstroth put in the ten! Helgemo might have worked out to shift to spades but he actually played back a diamond and now Meckstroth was home. He pitched a heart from hand, won the A and led a heart from the dummy. He could now build a discard for his spade loser whatever the defence did next.

Dick Freeman (USA2)

The Norwegians dodged a bullet on the next hand when Rodwell misguessed a queen to go down in 4 after some deceptive defence by Helness, while Nickell/Freeman had bought the hand in 3 making the other way. However, on the next board Rodwell was more successful in finding another queen than his counterpart. That was worth 10 IMPs to USA2 who were now leading by 50 IMPs after only twelve boards.

Fortunately for Norway, the USA2 flow of IMPs dried up at this point. Both North/South pairs flattened a series of boards with some substandard results - three down in 3NT with 4 cold, one down in 3NT with 4 cold, and staying out of a perfect fit grand slam which is about a 65% chance, amongst others. The Norwegians picked up a few partscore IMPs to reduce the damage to 43 IMPs, a 6-24 loss.