USA II showed why they are the best in the world during yesterday’s play. Katz-Nickell played lights out while Meckstroth-Rodwell and Zia-Hamman played their usual high-level game. USA II won segment four 57-14 to extend their lead to 52.33 imps. Having a 52 imp lead sounds like a lot but against the strong Italian team – no lead is safe so I sent the guys back in for another 20 during segment five and they came back plus 24 imps. USA II was now up 76 imps with 48 hands to play. Needless to say, our strategy was to hold the lead and hope for flat hands. Well flat boards they were not but USA II extended their lead to 90 imps on the first 8 hands only to see Italy come back with 24 unanswered points to win the segment 36-28.
USA II finished the day up 68.33 imps with 32 hands to play. Understanding that Italy is capable of wiping out this lead in one segment if there are swingie hands, USA II is cautiously happy with the lead. Not wanting to change the routine at this point, it was time for the dinner buffett in the hotel. A few of us opted for the peanut butter sandwiches in the team suite so that we could fit in a fourth “2 1/2 Men” episode to ease the tension.
It is a sunny day in Sao Paulo. Thank you all for your warm wishes and for cheering USA II to this point. In the Venice Cup, USA I finished with the Silver. So now the only question is whether or not the USA will win Gold at the 2009 World Championships. The final two segments are at 9am and 12:30pm (Dallas time) and will be shown on BBO. Please join us for the last stand against Italy and hopefully see us to the GOLD!
