Four former champs were in the field including Dave Gantt (left) and Matt Calkins (rear, right) pictured here. None made it back to the Final.	Kelsey Lee was one of only two ladies present. She won not only laurels, but also bragging rights over both Arthur Field and her dad. Not many of us can claim as much.

40 . . . 60 . . . 80 . . . 93 ... 31

Acquire is a timeless classic whose attendance fortunes have ebbed and flowed from year to year as GMs come and go and formats change. In 2008, it was left without a GM as the deadline expired and was about to get the axe when the CD strong-armed a volunteer at the 13th hour as he is wont to do to bring it back from the grave. Shoe-horned into the only remaining space on the schedule, a stream-lined format without heats or adequate playing time left the "volunteer" with his hands tied so it is not surprising that the event's attendance slipped precipitately from a record high in 2007 to a near record low in 2008. It was also nearly axed again when said GM failed to provide the necessary report. Thankfully, Matt Amitrano, the victor, was good enough to favor us with the following recollection of events to save the event from the "wrath of Don" at the 11th hour. Obviously, Acquire needs a dedicated enthusiast to ride herd on the event if it is to remain at WBC.

The original format was to have three rounds in the Swiss Elimination format, but many games went over the expected one hour time limit. This development caused the tournament to only have two Swiss Elimination format rounds instead. One of the more interesting twists in the event was that 2006 Champion Matt Calkins had to face his local gaming club member Matt Amitrano twice. The first meeting was in the second round, where Calkins squeaked out a win with $700 to spare. For the semi-final round, the luck of the draw created a rematch. Amitrano dominated the next contest by merging more than the other three players and maintaining his liquidity while investing in the stronger hotels. Afterwards, Amitrano admitted that this was the first time he had bested Calkins in Acquire. As they say, timing is everything. Amitrano joined Steve Shambeda, Arthur Field, and Robert Buccheri in the Final.

Even with just two rounds and a semi-final, the finalists agreed to postpone the Final until later in the day due to scheduling conflicts. Surprisingly, none of them were able to found hotels in the first turn. The game turned into a heated match between Steve and Matt. Shambeda counted cards flawlessly, but was having little luck with the tiles. Amitrano erred on the stock count, which allowed Arthur to tie him in Fusion, but as in his semi-final victory, he was able to merge more. This allowed him to surpass Shambeda by nearly six grand to win with $43,700.