Liar's Dice anyone? The dice/bluff game has overtaken Slapshot as the WBC late night attendance king.	Well, GM Jason Levine ain't the master of Slapshot, but at least he's easier on the furniture.

Liar's Dice remained a great success in it's sixth year at WBC. 212 crazed liars came with hopes of becoming the best fibber, claiming the attendance title for the second straight year. The festivities started with the traditional, yet larger than ever, synchronized massed cup shake and smash to the tables.

35 of the 212 made it to the semi-final round. This year your happy GM advanced to the semi-finals only to lose to Harry Flawd in a two-man showdown to reach the Final. Another semi-finalist who almost advanced in a 2-person showdown was 11-year old Nicole Reiff who also earned my sportsmanship nomination for having to deal with the nagging of finalist Jeff Meyer while keeping her spirits high.

The Final consisted of six survivors: Haim Hochboim, Harry Flawd, Scott Buckwalter, Josh Lanham, Jeff Meyer, and Josh's father Chester. There were n repeating laurelists or returning ones for that matter. Only one person has ever made it to the Final round twice in six years of Liar's Dice. No wnder they call him legend Dan Hoffman. We did have the first father-son duo though. Haim started the bidding and the smiles changed to bluff mode.

In the first round the bid went to twelve 5's by Harry. When Scott called there were 13 so Scott lost the first die. A bid of eleven 4's by Jeff cost Chester the next two dice. But the third play turned out to be a nuclear strike. Harry bid eleven 1's and when Scott called there were only six showing so Harry lost all fivr of his dice in one play. It was the first time that someone lost all of their dice at once, and caught the crowd by surprise. We were almost too stunned to sing him the traditional "Kiss Him Goodbye" song. Almost ...

Haim lost the next two dice on a bid of thirteen 3's to scott's call. Jeff lost two also on a bid of seven 5's to Chester's call, leaving him with but one left. Jeff appeared to be the next one to leave when Chester called his bid of nine 5's only to lose one of his own. It proved prophetic because instead of Jeff, Chester was destined to be the next to depart. His bid of seven 5's proved disastrous when Haim called and found only three so Chester lost all four of his dice and claimed 5th place.

Jeff's last die was proving to be an elusive target. He next bid seven 4's and three 5's which Haim called only to discover the game's first two exactors. Everyone at the table but Jeff lost two dice and Haim joined Jeff in the intensive care ward with but a single die remaining. At this point, Jeff had just eliminated twelve enemy dice whle clinging to his last die on his last three bids. Again Jeff placed Haim on the hot seat with a bid of four 4's. Haim surely must have asking "why me?", but he nonetheless called again with his survival on the line. This time there were only three showing and Jeff had to settle for a 4th place finish. At this point the three remaining players knew they were going to get wood of some sort.

Josh bid three1's and Haim called only to discover yet another exactor and 3rd place wood. Scott was down to his last die, while Josh still had three. Josh started the bidding with one 5 and Scott raised to a pair of 5's. Josh then bid 3-5's and revealed two of them. Scott (knowing he had a 5 under his cup) was forced to go to four 5's and hope that Josh had rolled another 5 or star during his re-roll. Josh called, raised his cup, saw his last roll and smiled the grin of a champion with three dice in reserve.

So is Chuck Foster pleased with what he has under the cup? He certainly has Andy Gardner's attention with the bid heading his way.	Diabolical minds at work. No less than 46 ladies graced the field. It would seem the female of the species is at ease with Liar's Dice.

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Liar's Dice Junior

Bluffing is sort of like telling a white lie.	"But my mom told me never to lie ..."

19 little liars ... er exaggerators, participated in the Juniors version with James Confoy 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 for the second year in a row

3rd: Brian Sherwood

4th: Nicole Reiff

5th: Thomas Melton

6th: Ben Gardner