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Ra
is typical of many multi-player games that use multiple heats
to generate many games and game winners who fail to pursue advancement
opportunities. |
By using tie-breakers and advancing
only the optimal number of players for the next round, event
lengths are trimmed and players are free to experience other
events sooner. |
Advancing all winners leaves
an event's schedule up in the air until players appear at the
next round. This would play havoc with both player and facility
schedules. |
100 + Again
Ra
attendance increased for the third consecutive year as 125 would-be
Pharoahs vied for the coveted sceptor of power. There were 9,
12, 9 and 13 tables respectively for the four heats or a total
of 43 winners. From these 43 games, there were 26 first heat
winners. So if all 26 appeared for the semi's one of them would
be turned away. Three of the first heat winners, ex-champ Michelle
Hymowitz, Jeff Meyer and Mark-Andre Imbeault also won their second
heat making them the top seeds for the next round.
Defending
champion Alex Bove also won two heats, but since he won in
his third and fourth tries, he came in as the 27th seed.
For those of you keeping track, that leaves 13 other winners
for a total of 39. So the magical question is how long a
list of qualifiers do I make realizing that in all probability
some of the top 25 won't show for the semi's. To make this
list I had to go by all the tiebreakers and that would take
some time. But I wanted to be prepared so that alternates
who would not be needed could rush to another event. I stopped
working on the list at 1:30AM after seeding the top 65. As
it turned out I only needed half that many, but who was to
know? Two years ago I was seeded 48th and ended up winning
the entire event. Lucky for me that 23 qualifiers seeded
ahead of me didn't show for the semi's. You just never know.
Arthur Field accumulated the tournament high game score of
71 pts in his qualifying heat.- besting the second highest winning
score by 13 pts.
The semi's consist of five tables of five qualifiers each.
What table you are assigned is completely random. What are the
odds that the defending champion, the only two-timne champion
and 2004's runner-up would be at the same semi-final table? That's
exactly what happened to Alex Bove, Tom Dunning and Winton Lemoine.
Winton prevailed by 10 pts. Jeff Meyer continued his streak from
the qualifying heats as he took out 2004 champion Steve Scott
for his third win. Dave Rohde edged Arthur Field by turning over
the higher sun after a regulation tie. That tie earned Arthur
6th place laurels for the closest semi loss. Tom Browne nudged
by Martin Sasserville 39-37. And Chris Terrell rounded out the
Final 5 having no problem at all in his semi-final winning by
25 pts.
Chris's 25-point semi victory proved to be no fluke as he
became the 2006 champion by besting Tom Browne in the last round
by four points.
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