The first match of the day was not against one of the higher seeds, but it was a tough team who had done quite well in recent high-level competition. The play was a little ragged to start the match. Our opponents missed a slam on the first board, when the cards happened to be very friendly. We missed a close game on the second board, which also happened to make. The third board we had a costly mixup on our NT interference. We bid a nice game which I hoped was a pickup and thought we were pretty close heading to the last board. It was a wild one, though it looked fairly ordinary from my perspective. This was my hand: K65 KJT3 KQ985 6
I opened 1 as dealer (we play 4 card majors when we have an unbalanced hand). When the auction came back to me it was at the seven level!
Here was the full auction:

Me	LHO	Bill	RHO
1	5	6	7
X	All pass

Bill made a nice pressure bid, forcing RHO into a decision. Since we were vulnerable, and they were not, he chose to believe we could make slam and took out "insurance" by bidding 7. It might be a very cheap save, even going down less than a potential game. I was forced to double, pass would promise first round club control (inviting Bill to bid 7) and a better hand than I held. This was the full hand:

---- Q JT764 KQT9832
K65 KJT3 KQ985 6	AQJT7 A976 32 A5
98432 8542 A J74

With the balanced of power on our side, Bill led trumps to cut down ruffs. This proved a very effective defense and we picked up 1100. Slam could have been defeated as it turned out due to the opponents distribution. This type of pressure bid can be very effective and proved so here. An up and down match for both sides; it figured to be pretty close either way. We feared our team might be penalized had our teammates not arrived on time but there was nothing we could do about it. We set our sights on the next match.

We drew the Welland team next, one composed of multiple national champions. They had struggled in the 1st round robin but did advance and were an extremely dangerous opponent. The first board turned out to be a routine game. When dummy came down, there was a combination of plays that I feared could threaten the contract. Sure enough, the defenders found that exact sequence. The contract turned out to be safe anyway, the feared distribution did not exist. This was a sign that we were in for a struggle. The 2nd board came up I had a chance to make a fine play. I'll give you the hand as a declarer play problem. This was the auction:

N	E	S	W
1	2	2(1)	X
P	P	3N	All Pass

7642 JT AQ95 A96

KT AK832 J2 KJ87

(1) Shows hearts

The opening lead was the Q. Plan the play.
The hands fit awkwardly and communication is dicey. This contract will require some good fortune. We start with 6 top tricks (better take this one!).
If the Qxx is onside, that will get us to 9 tricks. What about our other chances? If RHO has no more spades, we can set up an additional diamond trick, but that's a big gamble. Though chances are not great, our best bet is to go after hearts. The natural line is to win and cross to dummy in clubs.
The first two tricks proceed:
Q, 2, 9, K
7, Q, A, 2

Well, that Q is a surprise. That gets us up to 7 tricks; and 8 if we can pick up the entire suit. If RHO is out of spades, we can give up a diamond, that will get us up to 9. The heart finesse is still a possibility, but looks extremely unlikely if LHO is short in diamonds and clubs. If we want to pick up the club suit, we don't have the communication to play a high club first, we have to finesse now.
The time for a decision is here: the heart finesse or the club finesse (for the T)?

This is the full hand:

7642 JT AQ95 A96
AQJ853 765 --- QT53	9 Q94 KT87643 42
KT AK832 J2 KJ87

Did you take the club hook? I was West on this deal. With no entry (and no good alternative), I hoped to find Bill with a doubleton spade to establish the spade suit. When dummy came down, I could see that was not going to happen. Declarer took some time to ponder his options. I could see that just about anything he chose to do would work. The hearts were splitting and any finesse was onside. Bill was out of spades so he could set up an additional diamond as well. A good defensive tip: if declarer is headed down the path to success, try to dissuade him with an unusual play. I visualized a layout where I could give declarer a guess; and was fortunate enough that it existed. Declarer won the A and thought for a long time. Ultimately he chose to believe my card and took the club finesse. I had my entry and ran the spades to defeat the contract. That board gave us a boost of momentum. Needing a big win, our opponents took some chances, but won no huge swings. It looked like we had a big upset on our side.

The third match of the day was against the surprise leaders of the first round-robin. It was another four man team; a local pair and one from New York. We got one poor result when my RHO, thinking I was a passed hand, made several unusual decisions on one board. I had to guess who could make what and was wrong. We defeated an aggressive game when I found the killing lead and had a couple plus positions (opponents had missed an iffy vulnerable game that required guessing trumps). I thought it was another close match. According to my estimates, heading into the last match against Grant Baze's team; if we avoided a big loss, we would advance to the knockout stage.

We took our seats and were facing Bart Bramley, one of the world's best, and John Kranyak, a young player who had proved his talent at the highest of levels. The first board I faced a crucial decision. Bill opened an intermediate 2 and I held: KT97 T A853 K743
A very nice hand. Certainly we will play at least game. I could choose to splinter, and most of the time I would do just that. Bill would need the perfect hand for slam though and the risk of a splinter is 2-fold. The opponents might find a good save (by allowing a save-suggesting double) or it might deter a heart lead resulting in a potential killing minor suit lead. I opted to raise to game. Bill did have that perfect hand and slam was very good. The distribution was unkind though, and while slam was makeable double-dummy, in practice it would fail. Perhaps that justified my choice, since Bill had a dream hand and slam still didn't make. Nevertheless, we were fortunate that slam was beatable. As the match progressed, no swings really materialized. I was feeling confident of advancing. This one clinched it (in my mind):

J94 K8742 A9 J52
2 AQ KQJ8432 KQ9	AT876 J T765 T64
KQ53 T9653 --- A873

Our system proved useful here. This was the auction at our table:

RHO	Me	LHO	Bill
P	1(1)	P	1(2)
X	3(3)	3	3
4	5	All pass

(1) Our multi-purpose club
(2) Negative 0-6
(3) Shows diamonds, and 9 tricks or so on offense (not forcing)
Bill had a great hand for diamonds and cuebid looking for a potential slam. The auction had worked out well for us; Bill had a very good picture of my hand. More importantly, I knew that Bill could not have 2 aces after his negative response so I knew slam had no chance. The contract made on the nose for +600. 3N could be defeated with precise defense. We might not gain but didn't figure to lose IMPs. The last board was uneventful and after 126 boards we had finished the qualifying stages.

We knew we had a chance, but weren't sure what had happened with Tony, whether he had arrived on time. Our teammates were waiting for us. They looked pleased though the matches did not quite go as expected. Our teammates had arrived on time but were understandably a little rattled, driving like crazy to make it to the site. They hadn't played their best over the first three matches. While the players had no idea of the results, those watching online certainly did. After our 3rd match was posted we were in 10th place; one spot out of qualifying, a fraction of a VP behind 9th place. I felt OK about our last match but didn't know if we had done enough to make up ground. Our teammates were happy about their last round results and felt very confident. We'd have to wait for all the scores to be reported to know for sure. On the hand I guessed not to try for slam, the opponents did get there, and we were fortunate to win 10 IMPs when we might have lost the same. On the other hand above, in the competitive auction, our opponents judged to bid slam again, this time off 2 aces and with no chance. That was another big swing our way and we posted a solid victory. We had moved to 6th place in the standings. Even had that first slam made, we still would have advanced.

It was very chaotic in the results areas; players were milling around trying to find out if they'd qualified for the KO phase or not. Equally uncertain was how the matchups in the next round would be made. Though the scores were not final, it became apparent that we had advanced, though we did not know whom we'd face. We grabbed a quick bite to eat while it got sorted out. As it turned out, 2 other "surprise" teams made the field, though our team was the lowest seed to get through. The matchups were posted and we had drawn a very tough assigment, the Meltzer squad, 4 of whom were the defending world champions. To make it even tougher, they had received a bye to this stage and were well rested.

Read about the KO stage in the final chapter.