Event Inflation ... 1830 ... 1856
.... 1870
29 railroad managers turned out for this year's 18xx tournament,
a drop of eight from last year. Five players were new to the
tournament, joining 24 returnees. Three of the new players made
the semi-finals, but none made it to the final. The tourney featured
the games 1830, 1856, and 1870, with all
the preliminary round winners (and enough non-winners to complete
the field) advancing to a sixteen-player semi-final. 1830 remained
the most popular preliminary round game (32 plays), with nine
choosing 1856, and 14 playing 1870 at some point
(numbers reflect that most players participated in multiple heats).
Continuing the trend from 2004, the 1870 games in each round
easily fit into the six-hour time limit.
The first heat Wednesday morning was designated as the 1830
round, but one five-player 1870 was played along with
four four-player 1830s. Two player bankruptcies ended
games in the first round, and all the winners had at least 110%
margins above the second place score. Results favored tournament
management, with the GM and both assistant GM qualifying with
wins, as well as perennial contender Jim McDanold, and returning
player Mike Brophy. GM Pierre LeBoeuf eked out a 10% win in one
game over newcomer (to 1830 circles) Gary Fortenberry,
in a four-player 1830 featuring last year's champ Rick
Fox, and returnee Mark Neale. Jim McDanold easily won his game
against three closely bunched contenders, each with about 80%
of his winning score. Mike Brophy's first win came when newcomer
Dave Norman went bankrupt. Barrington Beavis's win occurred on
Henry Richardson's bankruptcy. In the only five-player game,
Bruce Beard enjoyed an easy 1870 win over four closely
grouped opponents. The results from round 1 are shown below.
1830 Games
Barrington Beavis (2338), Clifford Smith (1734), Ray Stakenas
(1512), Henry Richardson (100)
Jim McDanold (10490) , Tom Sessler, (8875), Dave Fox (8737),
Chip Eastman (8399)
Mike Brophy (1573), Lane Newbury (1273), Chris Hancock (1105),
Dave Norman (210)
Pierre LeBoeuf (7676), Gary Fortenberry (6920), Mark Neale (6579),
Rick Fox (5058)
1870 Game
Bruce Beard (6428), Dave Fritsch, (5100) Rick Dutton (4943),
John Haas (4402), Herbert Gratz (4353)
The second preliminary round on Wednesday night was designated
for 1856, but only five players signed up to play it.
In addition to those five, 13 others split up into a five-player
1870 game and two four-player 1830 games. Bruce
Beard won his second 1870 game over four other players,
comfortably beating Jeff Bowers by 19%. Barrington posted a narrow
(5%) win over newcomer Chris Robbins in the 1856 game,
in a game which saw the Great Western run by three different
players. Defending Champ Rick Fox qualified with an extremely
narrow win in one 1830 game, besting Chris Hancock by
only $34. The other 1830 game was also close, with Jim
McDanold edging Rick Dutton by only $167 (out of nearly $10,000).
In this round, all players avoided bankruptcy.
1830 Games
Richard Fox (6911), Chris Hancock (6877), Tom Sessler (5167),
Henry Richardson (3350)
Jim McDanold (9854), Rick Dutton (9687), Lane Newbury (8719),
Chip Eastman (4865)
1856 Game
Barrington Beavis (4572), Chris Robbins (4346), David Metheny
(4338), Pierre LeBoeuf (3451), Mark Neale (2349)
1870 Game
Bruce Beard (9518), Jeff Bowers (7994), Herbert Gratz (6499),
Ben Foy (5719), Gary Fortenberry (4691)
The last preliminary round on Thursday evening was designated
for 1870, with a longer period (nine hours) allotted to
complete the longest of the 18xx games. Once again, one four-player
1870 game, one four-player 1856, and two four-player
1830 games were played. As in the other 1870 games,
Bruce Beard kept things moving quickly enough so that extra time
beyond six hours was not needed. Once again, Bruce won the 1870
game, with an easy 23% win over 18xx tourney newcomer Herbert
Gratz. The other assistant GM, Barrington, also completed a three-win
preliminary round sweep with a win in another 1856 game,
convincingly beating Dave Metheny by 27%. Rick Dutton qualified
with a close 1830 win by $405 over Joe Gunderson. GM Pierre
won the other 1830 contest, edging Lane Newbury by $525.
Second place finishes by Herbert Gratz, Joe Gunderson, and Dave
Metheny in the last preliminary round enabled them to qualify
for the semi-finals as alternates.
1830 Games
Rick Dutton 10408), Joe Gunderson (10003), Johnny Hasay (9976),
Henry Richardson (6283)
Pierre LeBoeuf (9812), Lane Newbury (9487), Anthony Daw (8673),
Mark Neale (8602)
1856 Game
Barrington Beavis (10690), David Metheny (8408) , David Fritsch
(8018), Chris Robbins (5414)
1870 Game
Bruce Beard (8936), Herbert Gratz, (7258), Jeff Bowers (6998),
Frank Haskell (6548)
The 13 preliminary round games (down from 14 last year) produced
two triple winners (Barrington Beavis and Bruce Beard), two double
winners (Jim McDanold and Pierre LeBoeuf) and three winners of
one preliminary round game (Mike Brophy, Rick Fox, and Rick Dutton),
all of whom appeared for the semi-final round. This left nine
other places for the semi-finals, but when several of the runner-ups
failed to appear, the tournament organizers were forced to take
three players who never finished better than third in the preliminaries.
The semi-finals nearly were started with an open slot, but at
the last minute, Rick Fox was able to locate his son David, who
was able to parlay his single third place result into a seat
at the semis. The players were seeded into the semi-finals based
on the results of preliminary round play, with the triple winners
seeded first, followed by the double winners, and then the single
winners. Each grouping of winners was ranked by their largest
percentage margin of victory. Alternate slots were occupied by
the others who attended seeded first by best overall placement,
and by percentage of the winning score within that placement.
This produced the top 25 players listed by ranking with their
score, and their seeding in the semi-finals. If a ranked player
did not show up for the semifinals, this is shown with dashes
in the seeding column and with non-boldface type in that table
row.
Ranking and Player Preliminary Round Score Semifinal Seeding
1) Barrington Beavis 3 1st places, best @ 135% 1
2) Bruce Beard 3 1st places, best @ 126% 2
3) Jim McDanold 2 1st places, best @ 118% 3
4) Pierre LeBoeuf 2 1st places, best @ 111% 4
5) Mike Brophy 1st place, 124% 5
6) Rick Dutton 104% 6
7) Rick Fox 101% 7
8) Chris Hancock 2nd place, 99.5% -
9) Lane Newbury 96.7% 8
10) Joe Gunderson 96.1% -
11) Chris Robbins 95.1% 9
12) Gary Fortenberry 90.1% 10
13) Tom Sessler 84.6% -
14) Jeff Bowers 84% -
15) Herbert Gratz 81.2% 11
16) David Fritsch 79.3% 12
17) Dave Metheny 78.7% 13
18) Clifford Smith 74.2% -
19) Johnny Hasay 3rd place, 95.8% 14
20) Anthony Daw 88.4% -
21) Mark Neale 85.7% 15
22) David Fox 83.2% 16
23) Ray Stakenas 3rd place, 64.7% -
24) Chip Eastman 4th place, 80.1% -
25) Frank Haskell 73.3% -
Table 4 - Player Ranking and Semifinal Seeding
A new wrinkle for 2005 was the secret ballot vote for which
18xx each person wanted to play. Allowing a vote enabled those
with preference for 1856 or 1870 to have a chance
to play their favorite in the semis. It was stipulated that it
would take at least four votes for an alternate game to get in,
and both 1870 and 1856 got only three votes, so
all games used 1830. Placement in the semifinal round
used the formula 1st - 8th - 9th - 16th seeds in game 1, 2nd
- 7th -10th -15th in game 2, 3rd - 6th -11th -14th in game 3,
and 4th - 5th - 12th- 13th in game 4. With only seven preliminary
round winners, nine alternates moved up, yielding four four-player
1830 games.
Three of the semifinals ended in bankruptcies, with only Bruce's
game on board 2 going until the bank broke. As a result, scores
tended to be very low in the other games. On the first board,
Lane won by $88 over assistant GM and top seed Barrington when
Chris Robbins went bankrupt. Key to Lane's victory was a 17 to
15 share advantage and substatntial holdings in Barrington's
two high priced companies. On the second board, Bruce earned
a narrow 6% ($519) win over Mark in the only game to go the distance.
Bruce attributed his margin of victory to dumping the C &
O on Gary, freeing up $1700 to stock his Penn and Erie with trains.
Mark snagged 5 trains for his B & O and CanPac lines, and
kept the CP in the yellow to increase his stock holdings. Mark
was able to make up some of Bruce's large cash advantage in stock
value, but not enough to win. On board 3, Jim McDanold edged
Rick Dutton by only $76 in another bankruptcy game. Herbert Gratz
went under to end the game, at a point where several railroads
had become penny stocks (Pennsylvania was $10, the B & M
ended at $30, and the B & O and CP finished at $40). On board
4, GM Pierre tried to rack up big profits by putting a 3 and
a 4 train in each of his railroads, while past champion Dave
Fritsch took over the B & O with $100+ in the treasury and
a single 4 train when he already had two railroads. Dave Fritsch
tried to force Pierre into bankruptcy by consolidating his funds
and trading in for a diesel, killing all of Pierre's trains,
but Pierre was able to buy the last 6 train for one of his railroads,
giving him a train to swap. Dave would have lost his diesel had
he tried to swap his trains among his railroads, since his $30
B & O could not be protected in the upcoming stock round,
so he opted for bankruptcy. Mike Brophy and Dave Metheny managed
to put permanent trains in their railroads, and it was Mike that
prevailed, by just $36, over Dave M.
1830 Semifinal Games
Lane Newbury (2198), Barrington Beavis (2110), David Fox (1627),
Chris Robbins (250)
Bruce Beard (8814), Mark Neale (8295), Rick Fox (7914), Gary
Fortenberry (6607)
Jim McDanold (906), Rick Dutton (830), Johnny Hasay (306), Herbert
Gratz (140)
Mike Brophy (957), Dave Metheny (921), Pierre LeBoeuf (590),
David Fritsch (300)
These four semifinal winners advanced to the 18xx final on
Saturday night, a four-player 1830 game. The final matched
(listed in turn order) Mike Brophy (his first final), Bruce Beard
(assistant GM and 5th place Laurelist last year), Lane Newbury
(also in his first final), and Jim McDanold (who finished out
of the money the last two years, but was the runner-up in 2002).
Bruce, Jim and Mike were undefeated to this point, with three,
two, and one preliminary round wins respectively, while Lane
qualified with two seconds and a third in his preliminaries.
The private company auction had Mike bidding on the Camden
& Amboy, Champlain & St.Lawrence, and Delaware &
Hudson, Bruce bid on the C & St. L and Mohawk & Hudson,
Lane bid on the D & H and C & A, and Jim bid on the M
& H. Bruce took the Schulkyll Valley, and after the auctions,
Mike got the C & St.L at $50, Lane got the Delaware &
Hudson for $90, Bruce took the Mohawk & Hudson for $145,
Jim got the Camden & Amboy for $220 and took the Baltimore
& Ohio private at cost, setting the share price at $100.
With the option to buy the first public company, Mike chose the
New York-New Haven at $76. Bruce bought up shares of the B &
O and won the presidency from Jim. Lane started the B&M at
$67. After a few rounds, Jim dumped stock to open the Pennsylvania
at $90, and Lane took out the president's share only of the New
York Central at $67. For his second railroad, Bruce opened the
Chesapeake & Ohio at $100, followed by Mike's start of the
Canadian Pacific, also at $100. Lane completed his start of the
NYC, then started the Erie at $82. The opening of new railroads
and selling of stock to better position players for train buying
left a total of 28 shares in the bank pool at one point. Jim
used the share sales to seize both the NYC and B & O, attempting
to hold onto four railroads at once to slow the train purchases
down, but Lane then took the Penn from him. The permanent trains
fell to Jim with 5 trains in the NYC and B & M, and just
$2 in the B & O, Mike with a diesel in the CanPac and a 6
in the NYNH, Bruce with a 6 in the C & O, and Lane with a
5 in the Penn, and $100 in the Erie. Unfortunately, Lane could
not afford another permanent train for his Erie railroad, and
his bankruptcy ended the game. With so much selling to buy diesels,
ending stock values suffered, with three railroads leading the
pack with a share price of only $69. Bruce held on for an $87
win over Jim.
Thanks again to all of the participants for an entertaining
tournament. I hope the drop in participants was a reflection
on the new location, and that we can increase our numbers again
next year. There has been discussion about adding a fourth preliminary
round, and opening it up to any 18xx game. I think we will keep
the four-player final next year, and we may look at reducing
the number of semifinalists to twelve, since we've had trouble
getting 16 to contest it the last two years. If you would like
to participate in the discussion on ways to improve the 18xx
tournament in 2006, drop me an email at PierreMLeBoeuf@excite.com
.
1830 Final
Bruce Beard (987), Jim McDanold (900), Mike Brophy (471), Lane
Newbury (160)
5) Dave Metheny 2nd (96.2%) in semifinal, 2nd and 3rd in preliminaries
6) Barrington Beavis 2nd (96.0%) in semifinal, 3 1st's in preliminaries
7) Mark Neale 2nd (94.1%) in semifinal and 3rd, 4th, & 5th in preliminaries
8) Rick Dutton 2nd (91.6%) in semifinal, and 1st, , 2nd , & 3rd , in preliminaries
9) Rick Fox 3rd (89.8%) in semifinal and 1st & 4th in preliminaries
10) David Fox 3rd (74%) in semifinal, and 3rd in preliminaries
11) Pierre LeBoeuf 3rd (66.7%) in semifinal, and 1st , 1st & 4th in preliminaries
12) Johnny Hasay 3rd (33%) in semifinal and 3rd in preliminaries
13) Gary Fortenberry 4th (75.0%) in semifinal, and 2nd & 5th in preliminaries
14) David Fritsch 4th (31.3%) in semifinal, and 2nd & 3rd in preliminaries
15) Herbert Gratz 4th (15.4%) in semifinal, and 2nd , 3rd , & 5th in preliminaries
16) Chris Robbins 4th (11.4%) in semifinal, and 2nd & 4th in preliminaries
17) Chris Hancock 2nd (99.5%) & 3rd in preliminaries, did not show for semifinal
18) Joe Gunderson 2nd (96.1%) in preliminary, did not show for semifinal
19) Tom Sessler 2nd (84.6%) & 3rd in preliminaries, did not show for semifinal
20) Jeff Bowers 2nd (84.0%) & 3rd in preliminaries, did not show for semifinal
21) Clifford Smith 2nd (74.2%) in preliminary, did not show for semifinal
22) Anthony Daw 3rd (88.4%) in preliminaries, did not show for semifinal
23) Ray Stakenas 3rd (64.7%) in preliminary
24) Chip Eastman 4th (80.1%) & 4th in preliminary
25) Frank Haskell 4th (73.3%) in preliminary
26) John Haas 4th (68.5%) in preliminary
27) Henry Richardson 4th (60.3%), 4th , & 4th in preliminaries
28) Ben Foy 4th (60.1%) in preliminaries
29) David Norman 4th (13.3%) in preliminary
|
Pierre LeBoeuf [5th Year]
3043 Telegraph Rd,
Elkton, MD 21921-2333
(410) 392-3094