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Ben Gardner and Lissa Rennert renew
old Juniors battles as graduates of the WBC Juniors program. |
Harry Flawd and the Bells are obviously
playing some sports variation of Can't Stop. |
Playing the WBC Lottery
Let's see ... six tournaments ... 36 laurelists. Welcome to
the WBC Lottery where your odds of winning are akin to hitting
the jackpot. When Can't Stop was first introduced to WBC
in 2006, we thought it might get 20 or 30 people, and be a nice
distraction at the end of the night. Instead it has exploded
into a huge night-closing event which threatens to break 200
entrants. The 2011 edition continued this fine tradition, with
lots of games starting late because we ran out of copies and
had to double up. The Ballroom was rocking as roving crowds of
people watched each game and yelled at each player "YOU
CAN'T STOP!! DON'T STOP!!". Even if the player was a stranger,
they still drew a crowd screaming "YOU CAN'T STOP!! DON'T
STOP!!" With that kind of peer pressure, lots of players
pushed their luck a lot further than they should have. The normal
response from the crowd was to groan, make an embarrassed mumble
of "Guess you should have stopped. Oh well." Then,
the crowd would find a new favorite, and start the process anew,
yelling for them not to stop.
Eventually, the tables dwindled down, and the victors assembled
for the quarter-final round. The crowds had less tables to watch,
so focused on a few favorites. The ruckus got even more intense
as the four semi-final tables played, with the winner of each
advancing to the Final. One notable entrant in the semi-finals
was Adina Weiss, a charming young girl who brought her whole
cheering section with her. Her backers would wander around looking
at other tables, but when it was her turn, they'd all shout "IT'S
ADINA'S TURN!! GO ADINA!!" and cheer her through her turn.
The attention may have pushed her adrenaline levels too high
though, as the conflicting advice from her backers and the overall
excitement caused her to take a few too many risks, resulting
in her losing the game. The beneficiary of that errant strategy,
Sean McCulloch, entered the Final to a chorus of boos from the
Adina fan club.
As most of the rowdy Can't Stop masses shuffled off
to bed, four survivors remained and wouldn't you know that two
of them would be Cabbies:
Rob Drozd, veteran attendee and powerful force to be reckoned
with.
Josh Githens, a young mafiosa who proved his late-night abilities
by winning the 2010 Slapshot tournament.
Sean McCulloch, still hurting inside from beating a little
girl and having to deal with the boos of her family.
Jeff Mullet, who like his famous sidekick, was having an uncharacteristic
down week and looking for some easy pickins'.
Josh started by best exemplifying the "Can't Stop"
strategy - no matter what his numbers, he refused to stop until
he finished a column. Luck deserted him, as he busted on every
turn. After a few turns, Rob had a really good run, capping his
second column and placing another marker one space away from
his third. Rob played it safe and stopped in expectation of winning
on his next turn. But Sean had a similar run, capping his second
column and only one space shy from his third. Sean decided to
play it safe (or, "wimp out") and hope that Rob would
not be able to roll his final number on his next turn. Following
them was Jeff, who went on a nice run to finish his second column,
but would need a lot of help to have a chance.
After Josh busted yet again, Rob took the dice in control
of his own destiny. His first roll did not produce the winning
number, and hope sprang eternal around the table. But the hope
was in vein, as his second roll finished his third column, and
allowd him to cash his ticket to collect his second WBC wood.
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The next generation gets their probability
training on Wednesday night. |
The littlest Wojtaszcyk holds his
own vs dad, Craig Moffit and Henry Richardson. |
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What? Me stop? |
Seamus gets his plaque from Ast GM
Rich Shipley. |
Can't Stop Junior
In the Juniors event 20 kids showed very little procliviy
to stop at anything until Seamus Parauda had won it all. Nipping
at his heels were Wes Lewis, Dagny Lytle, Brett Fox, Mandy Mossman
and Adam Wojtaszczyk.
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