medici  

Updated 11/30/2008

2008 WBC Report  

2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Carmen Petruzelli, PA

2008 Champion

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Event History
1999    Kevin Wojtasczyk       86
2000    Harald Henning       84
2001    Doug Galullo       95
2002    Ann Cornett     115
2003    Thomas Stokes     118
2004     Peter Staab     109
2005     Gary Noe       98
2006     Jeff Cornett       87
2007     Harald Henning       91
2008    Carmen Petruzelli     105

Euro Quest Event History
2003    John Adams     26
2004    Thomas Browne     18
2005    Arthur Field     20
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Harald Henning     CT    07     82
  2.  Tom Stokes         NJ    07     55
  3.  Gary Noe           FL    08     48
  4.  Bruce Reiff        OH    07     42
  5.  Ann Cornett        FL    02     40
  6.  Jeff Cornett       FL    06     38
  7.  Carmen Petruzelli  PA    08     30
  8.  Peter Staab        PA    04     30
  9.  Doug Galullo       FL    01     30
 10.  Kevin Wojtaszczyk  NY    99     30
 11.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    06     29
 12.  John Kerr          VA    04     26
 13.  Jeff Mullet        OH    02     24
 14.  Fred Minard        PA    05     23
 15.  Ilan Woll          CT    08     21
 16.  Arthur Field       SC    05     20
 17.  Thomas Browne      PA    04     20
 18.  John Adams         MD    03     20
 19.  Tom Dunning        NJ    07     19
 20.  Steve Shambeda     PA    08     18
 21.  Rich Roberts       PA    06     18
 22.  Kathy Stroh        MD    05     18
 23.  Eric Brosius       MA    05     18
 24.  Eugene Lin         WA    04     18
 25.  Daniel Broh-Kahn   MD    05     16
 26.  James Pei          VA    05     16
 27.  Lance Ribeiro      NH    03     16
 28.  Brett Mingo        MD    02     13
 29.  Kate Taillon       SC    06     12
 30.  Tom DeMarco        MD    05     12
 31.  Marty Hoff         TX    04     12
 32.  George Sauer       OH    03     12
 33.  Gary Carr          VA    03     12
 34.  Scott Cornett      FL    02     12
 35.  Roy Gibson         MD    01     12
 36.  Jeff Meyer         MA    08      9
 37.  Marc Houde         VA    05      9
 38.  Ben Foy            MD    04      9
 39.  Alfred Wong        IL    99      9
 40.  Joe Jaskiewicz     MD    04      8
 41.  Mike Kaltman       PA    07      6
 42.  Charles Faella     RI    05      6
 43.  Gary Presser       NY    04      6
 44.  Jenn Thomas        NY    01      6
 45.  Virginia Colin     VA    05      4
 46.  Sceadeau D'Tela    NC    08      3
 47.  Terri Wicks        CT    07      3

2008 Laurelists                                                Repeating Laurelists: 0

Steve Shambeda, PA
2nd

Ilan Woll, CT
3rd

Jeff Meyer, MA
4th

Gary Noe, FL
5th

Sceadeau D'Tela, NC
6th


Past Winners

Kevin Wojtasczyk, NY
1999

Harald Henning, CT
2000, 2007

Doug Galullo, FL
2001

Ann Cornett, FL
2002

Tom Stokes, NJ
2003

Peter Staab, PA
2004

Gary Noe, FL
2005

Jeff Cornett, FL
2006

Carmen Petruzelli, PA
2008


GM John Pack (bottom right) keeps an eye on his finalists.

Attention is focused on the game with the clock running.

Sprint Medici

The Medici champion, Carmen Petruzelli, had to stage a dramatic comeback to claim victory. After the first buying session, Carmen wasn't in first place or second or even third! However, by the end of the second session, Carmen had climbed into second place to set the stage for his victory. Such comebacks weren't very common - 50% of all winners were in the lead at the end of the first session and 61% were in the lead by the end of the second session.

It's a good thing for Carmen that the Final was a five-player game - because there were ZERO players in four-player games who overcame a deficit after the second session! The Final almost was a four-player game. With 19 winners reporting for the semi-final, the GM determined to play four five-player semi-finals and a four-player Final. However, at the end of their semi-final, Jeff Meyer and Ilan Woll found themselves tied with 94 points apiece! The official Medici rules contain no tie-breaker, and the GM was loathe to eliminate a player based on the scores from earlier sessions, so both advanced, and unbeknownst to them sewed the seeds of Carmen's comeback. The game plays better with five, so it was an easy decision.

The Final's first buying session ended spectacularly with Gary Noe filling his boat free-of-charge with cards that not only gave him three of one color but the highest boat total as well. Gary had 51 points after just one session (which is right on the median for all winners but slightly ahead of the 50.5 median for five-player games). However, Gary spent heavily for his goods and only improved his score by 7 points during the second session (compared to a median gain of 23 points by all winners). Steve Shambeda, the leader after the second session and second-place finisher with 96 points, miscalculated during the final session when he overbid on a set that was ideal for Gary Noe and was stuck with it. On the other hand, without that set Gary finished fifth. One other unusual Final occurrence saw the gold card, by itself, sell for17 florins.

Carmen finished with a score of exactly 100 after his earlier sessions ended at 38 and 72. Interestingly, the average winner finished with 113.9 (109.4 in five-player games). However, compared to Carmen's gains of 8, 34, and 28 during the three buying sessions, the average winner gained 20.4, 25.1, and 38.3 (with 20.1, 24.1, and 35.5 in five-player games). Carmen really hit the accelerator during the second session. That momentum carried him over the finish in first place!

The biggest change of the year was the move to a one-hour timeframe. Over-all, the change was met with appreciation with more than a dozen players going out of their way to let the GM know. More importantly, the surge in total participation shows the effect of the shorter playing time and the guarantee that players will reach their next event on time.

With a rush of players showing up right after pairings were made, the first heat had a few games taken by surprise when the final scoring deadline hit (at 53 minutes after the hour). That final rush of players caused many games to receive a new player (resulting in many six-player games). Fortunately, after the experience of the first heat, the remaining three ran without a hitch. To ensure speedy play, the GM reminded all available players about the time guidelines two minutes before pairings were assigned. In addition to the 20- and 35-minute warnings, a "five minutes before final scoring" deadline was added. I also ensured that every copy of the game available was set up - such that no further six-player games were played. That was enough for all games (except one semi-final) to finish their third session before the final scoring deadline. I encourage the next GM to stick with the one-hour format (I also recommend running a heat right before the semi-finals). Players will handle the speedy play more easily once accustomed to it. I thank everyone in the first heat for their patience while we all learned what it took to finish the game in a bit less than an hour. Thank you!

 GM      John Pack [1st year]   11213 Keota St, Parker, CO 80134
    john@gameaholics.com   NA

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