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All of the preliminary winners showed
for the semis - a rare occurance. |
The Finalists battle for wood. |
Renaissance in half the time
I was very happy with the ratio of tournament entrants to
semi-finalistsa to finalists. Roughly 1/3 of each group advanced
to the next round, very symmetric.
The semi-finalists included all nine of the preliminary winners:
Lauren Vessey, Joe Pabis ('05 Champion), Brian Farrelly, Jimmy
Fleckenstein ('04 Champion), Bruce Bernard ('05 & '06 Finalist),
Fred Schachter, Peter Perla, Sean Vessey, Liz DiSandro and three
runner-ups: Paul McCarthy ('06 Champion), Ed Kendrick ('06 Semi-Finalist)
and Brandon Bernard. I prefer to advance a number of runner-ups
from each round to encourage competitive play until the end of
the game. If players have a hope of advancing with a close second
place then they will try to maximize their scores at the end.
Having three semi-final games definitely made for a more exciting
second round finish than heretofore. Previously I would have
two 5-player games with the top two players from each game advancing.
This year I had three 4-player games with the winner from each
game and the closest runner-up advancing. This year my players
put my tie-breaking skills to the test as each semi-final ended
with a 4-point spread between first and second. I had to resort
to my next tie-breaking
measure of reverse turn order. Next year I think I'll add yet
another step to my tie-breaker table based on points ahead of
third place..
The Final included the three semi-final winners Paul McCarthy,
Brandon Bernard and Fred Schachter along with the "closest"
runner-up Jimmy Fleckenstein. Joe Pabis and Liz DiSandro were
the other hard luck runner-ups eliminated by the tie-breakers
who had to settle for 5th and 6th place laurels.
The Final ended with Jimmy cashing in on his second chance
in first with 123, a point ahead of Brandon (122) to become our
first double champion. Fred took third laurels with 108 and Paul
fourth with 106.
The only change I envision is the added tie-breaker step.
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