vinci  

Updated 11/26/2008

 2008 WBC Report  

 2009 Status: pending December Membership Trial Vote

Curt Collins II, PA

2008 Champion

Offsite Links

 

Event History
2000    Jason Levine     36
2001    John Charbonneau     32
2002    Bob Heinzmann     34
2003    Mark Neale     29
2004    Jimmy Fleckenstein     36
2005    Joe Pabis     38
2006     Paul McCarthy     37
2007     Jimmy Fleckenstein     35
2008    Curt Collins II     31
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Jimmy Fleckenstein VA    07     60
  2.  Bruce Bernard      PA    08     57
  3.  Joe Pabis          VA    07     57
  4.  Brandon Bernard    PA    07     45
  5.  John Charbonneau   NH    01     40
  6.  Jason Levine       NY    08     39
  7.  Paul McCarthy      NY    07     39
  8.  Curt Collins II    PA    08     30
  9.  Mark Neale         RI    03     30
 10.  Bob Heinzmann      FL    02     30
 11.  Brian Carr         VA    05     27
 12.  Keith Layton       NJ    01     24
 13.  Mark Pitcavage     OH    05     21
 14.  Alan Kaiser        OH    05     18
 15.  Henry Rice         NM    01     16
 16.  Boaz Gura          NJ    08     12
 17.  Fred Schachter     NC    07     12
 18.  Joe Collinson      MD    06     12
 19.  Jim Castonguay     PA    04     12
 20.  Gary Carr          VA    03     12
 21.  Sean Vessey        PA    02     12
 22.  Frank Cunliffe     PA    01     12
 23.  Chris McDermott    NY    00     12
 24.  Ed Kendrick        UK    08      9
 25.  Benoit Groulx      QC    06      9
 26.  Gordon Elgart      CA    02      9
 27.  Daniel Karp        MD    00      9
 28.  Paul Skrabut       FL    01      8
 29.  Brian Farrelly     IL    08      6
 30.  Kaarin Engelmann   VA    06      6
 31.  Ben Foy            MD    05      6
 32.  Roderick Lee       CA    04      6
 33.  Paul Murphy        UT    02      6
 34.  Roy Gibson         MD    00      6
 35.  Frank Schmitt      NJ    01      4
 36.  Liz DiSandro       PA    07      3
 37.  Ashley Collinson   MD    06      3
 38.  Jason Robar        WA    03      3
 39.  Jim Reasoner       OH    02      3
 40.  Robert Hooper      NJ    00      3

2008 Laurelists                                                 Repeating Laurelists: 0

Bruce Bernard, PA
2nd

Boaz Gura, NJ
3rd

Ed Kendrick, UK
4th

Brian Farrelly, IL
5th

Jason Levine, NY
6th


Past Winners

Jason Levine, NY
2000

John Charbonneau, NH
2001

Bob Heinzmann, FL
2002

Mark Neale, RI
2003

Jimmy Fleckenstein, VA
2004, 2007

Joe Pabis, VA
2005

Paul McCarthy, NY
2006

Curt Collins II, PA
2008
   

Games were played as 3-, 4- or 5-player.

The Finalists battle for wood.

Renaissance in half the time

This year it was winners only for the Vinci tournament. 31 players generated 12 games in 49 starts to determine the rightful owner of the wood. Nine games were played in the two heats to advance nine players to the semi-finals. One winner declined to pursue other options so only eight advanced. Two semi-final games were played with the winners and single closest runner-up advancing to a 3-player Final.

The introduction of the "winners only" rule was new this year and I believe it made the tournament more exciting and competitive. This only applied to the preliminaries since I had to advance the closest second from a semi-final game to fill the Final table. This worked well since no one could coast because the runner-ups were in competition with each other to determine which would advance. There were also three pieces of wood at stake this year. I planned for a 3-player Final so that everyone at the table knew they were getting a prize. They just had to fight it out to see what color they got.

At semi-final table #1 was Jack Stalica, Jason Levine ('00 Champion), Bruce Bernard ('05 & '06 Finalist, '07 Semi-Finalist) and Ed Kendrick ('07 Semi-Finalist).

At semi-final table #2 was Brian Farrelly ('07 Semi-Finalist), Brandon Bernard ('07 Finalist), Boaz Gura, Curt Collins II.

Rick Dutton had also earned a spot in the semi-final round but had a scheduling conflict. If all nine semi-finalists had been available then I would have used three 3-player semi-final games with only winners advancing .

The finalists were Bruce Bernard and Boaz Gura who each won their semi-final games and Curt Collins II with the best 2nd place (one point behind Boaz). The final was about as close as it could be. Curt & Bruce were tied with Boaz just one point behind. The tie breaker (reverse turn order) worked in Curt's favor.a

I did like the addition of the "winners only rule this year for the preliminary rounds. If this remains in effect it might be wise to have three heats instead of two. I've had a great time GMing Vinci the last four years. Although I am still hoping to attend WBC in 2009 I'm not 100% certain that I'll be able to make it. Since I can't guarantee my attendance I'll be stepping down as the Vinci GM. Someone else will need to step up to bring it back.

 GM      Mark Neale [4th Year]   NA  
    mark_neale@acm.org   NA

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