Wow! What an exciting set of boards for Day 1 of the Semifinals. USA II began the day with an 11 imp lead over China from the Round Robin carryover. As you may recall, USA II beat China by 22 imps in the qualifying round. Since USA II finished ahead of China in the overall rankings, USA II receive 50% of the total imps.
USA II won the first segment of the day 38-23; adding 15 imps to the 11 imp carryover. Then came the second segment where their were five slam hands in 16 boards! The good news about lots of slam hands is that the segment can create BIG scores. USA II was on the receiving end for the most part and won the segment 68-11. So after two segments USA II was up 84 imps and hoping that the hands would be flat (balanced) for the remaining 64 hands. Unfortuanately, segment three had its own set of crazy hands including a single hand where 27 imps were swung on an opening lead. UGH. Can you guess who won those imps? Instead of winning 13 imps…USA II lost 14! As a result of this hand, USA II did not reach the century mark and instead ended the day up 56imps with 48 hands to play.
BREAKING NEWS: certain members of USA II declined the dinner buffett and enjoyed peanut butter sandwiches in the team suite while watching THREE (not two) episodes of “2 1/2 Men.” These shows were particularly funny and I think my sandwich was the best sandwich I have ever had!
USA II called it an early night. One might think 56 imps is a big lead but with 48 hands to go and the potential for a swingy set…USA II is all business! Segment 4 which starts at 9am Dallas time is on the China version of BBO. Go to http:/worldbridge.ourgame.com and download the software. It takes about 2 minutes and you are there! Segments 5 and 6 are TBD.
Other USA Results
In the Venice Cup: USA I has taken a large lead over USA II – 146.5 – 69. USA II is looking for flat boards while USA II is looking for swingy boards.
In the Senior Bowl: USA 2 took the lead over Poland 128-106.
Go USA!
