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"Anybody here want to play Liar's
Dice?" With 195 players, the dice game has overtaken
Slapshot as the WBC late night entertainment king. |
Kaarin's either doing a little double
dipping with Battleline or passing time after her ouster
as the survivors at her table finish the round. |
Attendance Champ of 2007
Liar's Dice grew to new heights in it's fifth year
at WBC. 195 crazed liars came to the event with hopes of becoming
the ultimate champion, breaking the previous best attendance
by a whopping 50 liars, and in so doing setting the benchmark
for the best attended event in 2007. The festivities started
off with the traditional 195-person cup shake and smash to the
tables.
31 survived the opening round and embarked on the semis. Defending
champion Dan Hoffman made it out of the preliminary and seemed
poised to defend his crown, but was defeated in the semi-finals
just as his namesake "Legend" Dan Hoffman was the year
before. This year your happy GM was eliminated in the first round
again -- a tradition all its own. The Final consisted of Matt
Calkins, Danielle Zack (our youngest finalist ever at 14 years
old, using her lucky Pirates Dice cup, Bruce Reiff (he of a thousand
plaques; boo!), Vassili Kyrkos, our token Californian Patrick
Havert and Tom Browne.
The Final got off to a rousing start with an opening bid of
14 4's by Patrick. Tom called and there were only 10 showing
so Patrick lost four dice out of the gate - and clinging for
deal life to his last die. 13 4's by Bruce drew the next blood
and it was another gusher. Vassili's calle found only nine showing
so Bruce joined patrick in the low rent district with but a single
die to his name. Patrick made a quick exit on the next bid when
Thomas called his nine 6's. At least he went out in style - with
another four dice loss while he had only one to lose! That earned
him the traditional "Kiss Him Goodbye" serenade.
Bruce's relief at not being first out was short-lived as he
got the boot next when he made the mistake of challenging Danielle's
bid of nine 4's with 11 present. Bruce - proud holder of 36 championship
plaques - gets the distinction of being eliminated by the youngest
player ever. It would be a record that would not last long, though
... heh, heh. Bruce was also dismissed with a rousing rendition
of the "Kiss Him Goodbye" song - but one sung with
more gusto than is usual.
Now it was Danielle's turn to feel the pain. Her bid of four
stars cost her two of her skull dice when Vassili called. Matt
lost his first die challenging Tom's bid of 7-4's. Danielle lost
her third die calling Matt's seven 6's . Tom finally joined the
casualty list when he lost a pair to Matt's challenge of his
four start bid.
Vassili was now the only player without a loss but his lead
was short lived - losing a pair on each of the next two rounds
as Tom called him successfully twice on seven 3's and four stars.
From penthouse to outhouse in the blink of an eye, Vassili now
clung to life with a single die and his was the next challenge.
Unfortunately, for Danielle, he got this one right and her bid
of five 6's proved two too many and she and her last two skull
dice were gone with only 4th place laurels and memories to show
for their night's work. At this point each of the surviving trio
knew they were going to get wood of some sort...but who would
get the shield?.
For Vassili, the wait was short. In the very next round his
bid of three 3's fooled no one and Tom called with none showing,
making it a two-man contest. Matt had four dice remaining to
Tom's three. At this point we got our first exactor when Matt
called Tom's two stars. All even at three dice each.
Here is where the game went from interesting to historic.
Tom made an opening bid of three stars. Matt looked under his
cup and found no stars so Tom would have had to roll three out
of three - a 1 in 216 chance.. Matt called. and Tom revealed
our second exactor to gasps from the gallery. Advantage Tom:
3:2. Tom bid three 4's and when Matt called there were only two.
All even again.
It gets better. Matt, seeing that he had no stars, decides
to bluff and start the bidding with a star. Tom raised the bid
to two stars, reveals one and re-rolls his last die under his
cup. Matt quickly calls this bid and Tom lifts his cup to show
a second star on the reroll - eliciting yet more exclamations
from the crowd. 2:1, Tom.
By this time, there seems little doubt what kind of finish
we'll have. This thing is going down to the wire and sure enough,
Tom calls Matt's bid of two 3's to discover the third exactor
of the game. Each player has but a single die. It doesn't get
any better than this. The next round ends it.
Matt starts the bidding with a 5. Tom goes into doublethink
mode. He has a 3 under his cup and decides to call Matt thinking
he bluffed the 5. It proves a decision worthy of Solomon as Matt
reveals a 4. It was without doubt the best Final ever as we crowned
our fifth champion in as mnay years.
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Dice Shaking 101: |
"But my mom told me never
to lie ..." |
Liar's Dice Junior
32 little liars ... er exaggerators, participated in the Juniors
version with Hannah Navolis being the best truth stretcher, and
taking home the wood. More importantly, everyone had a great
time shaking the dice cups and making noise. Other finalists
included:
2nd: Alyssa Mills
3rd: Rebecca Melton
4th: Derik Galullo
5th: Drew Doughan
6th: Danny Lewis
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Jason Levine [4th Year]
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