Sao Paulo – Sr.Bowl -Last day and last gasp

Last night with 3 matches to go we were approx. 10 VP out of a playoff spot. Today we had to play USA2, India and Japan, not an easy schedule. Our first match was against USA2 and our line-up was Arno and Marty against David Berkowitz and Mark Lair, JC and Joey vs. Dan Gerstman -John Sutherlin. We had to win to keep our hopes alive. Arno and Marty had plenty of opportunities to use their system gadgets and they did very well in the slam hands. The set contained 4 slams (3small and one grand slam) and produced 26 IMPs for our side. In the end we won by 10 (first morning victory since day one).  Here is the grand slam auction:

                                                                    4♥                     4NT (RKC)

                                                                    5♥                     5NT (we have them all-specific K’s)

                                                                    6♣                     7♠ (you must have more than AK,A)

North (Arno)
♠	1084
♥	K53
♦	A7
♣	AKJ108
South(Marty)
♠	AKQ92
♥	AQ74
♦	Q2
♣	Q7

Unfortunately we had a small loss vs. India and our chances to qualify for the KO stage diminished. With one match left vs. Japan we had only a small chance left. In the end that proved to be only an illusion and in fact the result did not matter at all (other than for personal records). Boris and Michael finished the tournament as one of the top pairs in the Butler scoring. As for me, as the NPC of a team that came here with plenty of hope, I can only state my disappointment.

Boa noite! and see you back in Canada

Dan