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Clockwise from left, Stuart
Tucker, Paul Haynes, Mark Yoshikawa, Grald Lientz and Rob Flowers
exhort their horses in Round 1. Rob won but withdrew from the
Final. |
GM Pete Stein (right) keeps
a watchful eye on the finalists, clockwise to his left: Tony
Vickery, Lance Fogel, ean Mcculloch, Lisa Gutermuth, Marilyn
Flowers and Stuart Tucker. |
Last call for Royal Turf?
Last year Royal Turf was a surprise Century addition
with 53 participants. Unfortunately, fame was fleeting and this
year it didn't draw half of that. It did make things easier for
the GM as only two rounds were needed to come up with a winner.
At Table #1 Marilyn Flowers pulled away from the pack with
a big third race payout for the win. Sean McCulloch edged out
John Welage for second by $50.
Table #2 saw Lisa Gutermuth and Lance Fogel wind up tied for
first so they both advanced. Frank Cunliffe came back from last
after two races and missed out by $50. The GM limped home in
fourth, apparently having used up all his luck at Kremlin
(ahem, ahem). Yes, Pete, we got that one covered. Everyone
go read the Kremlin page now.
Tony Vickery was the runaway winner at table #3 with $2800,
the highest score of the tournament. Defending champ Rebecca
Hebner finished a distant second.
Table #4 Rob Flowers and Stuart Tucker pulled away from the
rest of the field, with Rob winning by $200.
Rebecca decided to go to other events, though she had finished
far enough behind that she probably wouldn't have advanced anyway.
Rob also declined to advance, thus avoiding having to face his
wife in the Final. This left three winners and three runner-ups
for a six-person Final.
In the first race of the Final, Stuart was successful in getting
Sahara Wind into first, but Albino came in second despite Stuart's
attempts to stuff him (it was his zero bet). After the first
race Marilyn had a healthy lead at $650. The table did succeed
in having the horse that nobody had legitimate bets on come in
last.
Unfortunately in Royal Turf, a first race big payout
often results in pain in the second race. Marilyn found out the
hard way as she only earned $50 in race #2. This race featured
Sean repeatedly having little choice stuffing Carmelo, which
resulted in a last place for the horse. Meanwhile Earl Grey
and Albino were pushed ahead of the pack, with Earl getting the
win. The players who did poorly in race #1 did well in #2.
When the money was totalled after the second race, all six
players were within $300 of each other. Everybody was still in
the running
In the third race Sahara Wind got off to a big start and was
never caught. Unfortunately its backers were numerous and only
gave a small payout. Meanwhile the rest of the field got stuck
in a big mudpatch as players repeatedly doinked their opponents'
horses. While Sahara Wind almost won on turn 3, Albino (2nd)
and Nougat (3rd) didn't get across for another three turns. The
big key was Albino only had two real bets on it so it gave its
backers a big payout. That gave Lisa Gutermuth the victory, as
Albino was her 2-bet horse, while 2nd place finisher Tony Vickers
had a 1-bet on Albino. Sean McCulloch had led after two races,
but wound up getting no money in race 3 and finished last.
The final scores: Lisa Gutermuth 2100, Tony Vickers 1750,
Lance Fogel 1650, Marilyn Flowers 1500, Stuart Tucker 1400, Sean
McCulloch 950.
The poor attendance probably will be the end of Royal Turf
as a Century event. Why it did so poorly I have no idea.
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Peter Stein [1st Year]
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