acquire   

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

2013 WBC Report     

 2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

Anthony Lainesse, qc

2013 Champion

Event History
1991    Forrest Pafenberg      28
1992    Michael Anchors      28
1993    Steve Packwood      38
1994    Bernard Norton      49
1995    Steve Koleszar      43
1996    Al Bingamen      32
1997    Chuck Nail      56
1998    Justin Childs      48
1999    Gary Moss     40
2000    Justin Childs     41
2001   Justin Childs   45
2002   Jon Shambeda    86
2003   Phil Bradley    51
2004    David Gantt    52
2005    Ed Kendrick    67
2006    Matt Calkins    54
2007   Jason Ley    93
2008   Matt Amitrano    31
2009    Dan Eshleman    65
2010    Joshua Cooper    72
2011    Joshua Cooper    83
2012   Ken Richards    77
2013   Anthony Lainesse    73

 Laurels

 Rank Name              From  Last  Total
   1. Justin Childs      FL    01     88
   2. Joshua Cooper      MD    12     69
   3. Matt Calkins       VA    12     60
   4. Steve Shambeda     PA    13     54
   5. Gary Moss          MO    13     51
   6. Jason Ley          WA    11     45
   7. David Gantt        SC    08     44
   8. Phil Bradley       IL    07     38
   9. Anthony Lainesse   qc    13     30
  10. Ken Richards       SC    12     30
  11. Dan Eshleman       NC    09     30
  12. Matt Amitrano      VA    08     30
  13. Ed Kendrick        uk    05     30
  14. Jon Shambeda       PA    02     30
  15. Malinda Kyrkos     NY    10     24
  16. Arthur Field       SC    08     24
  17. Bruce Reiff        OH    01     24
  18. Cheryl Mallon      MD    11     21
  19. James Pei          VA    11     21
  20. Paul Klayder       KS    13     18
  21. Fadi Deeb          NC    10     18
  22. Marc Beauregard    qc    09     18
  23. Rich Atwater       WA    05     18
  24. Al Mink            VA    04     18
  25. Justin Thompson    VA    02     18
  26. Rob Flowers        NC    00     18
  27. Jason Levine       NY    01     16
  28. Steve Packwood     MN    02     15
  29. Davyd Field        SC    09     14
  30. Kevin Broh-Kahn    MD    13     12
  31. Ray Stakenas II    CA    12     12
  32. Cliff Ackman       PA    09     12
  33. Jeff Meyer         MA    06     12
  34. Don Lubreski       NJ    04     12
  35. Chuck Nail         GA    02     12
  36. Mike Wooden        NY    99     12
  37. Nick Smith         uk    03     12
  38. Dylan Routh        MD    10      9
  39. Robert Buccheri    MD    08      9
  40. Jim Garvey         NY    07      9
  41. Jason Brown        NJ    06      9
  42. David Fritsch      VA    05      9
  43. Craig Moffit       NJ    04      9
  44. John Morris        MD    02      9
  45. David Brooks       TN    00      9
  46. Will Wible         VA    01      8
  47. Glenn Massey       MD    13      6
  48. Brad Raszewski     MD    12      6
  49. Ticy Schaffer      FL    10      6
  50. Bryan Berkenstock  NJ    07      6
  51. Debbie Davidson    NE    06      6
  52. Steve Koleszar     VA    04      6
  53. Bruce Young        SC    03      6
  54. Joe Bellizi        NJ    03      4
  55. Steve Wolfman      WA    01      4
  56. Eric Ritter        PA    12      3
  57. Eyal Mozes         MD    11      3
  58. Yoshiya Narita     jp    10      3
  59. Pete Gathmann      NJ    09      3
  60. Kelsey Lee         PA    08      3
  61. Ken Lee            PA    07      3
  62. Bill Alderman      VA    05      3
  63. Luke Koleszar      VA    04      3
  64. Charles Goodwin    OH    00      3
  65. John Zahorsky      NJ    99      3

2013 Laurelists                                                  Returning Laurelists: 0

Paul Klayder, KS
2nd

Kevin Broh-Kahn, MD
3rd

Gary Moss, MO
4th

Glenn Massey, MD
5th

Steve Shambeda, PA
6th

Past Winners

Forrest Pafenberg, VA
1991

Steve Packwood, MN
1993

Bernard Norton, MA
1994

Steve Koleszar, VA
1995

Al Bingamen, PA
1996

Chuck Nail, GA
1997

Justin Childs, GA
1998, 2000-2001

Gary Moss, MO
1999

Jon Shambeda, PA
2002

Phil Bradley, IL
2003

David Gantt, SC
2004

Ed Kendrick, uk
2005

Matt Calkins, VA
2006

Jason Ley, WA
2007

Matt Amitrano, VA
2008

Dan Eshleman, LA
2009

Joshua Cooper, MD
2010-11

Ken Richards, SC
2012

Anthony Lainesse, qc
2013
 

David Rohde, Daniel Broh-Kahn, and Bruce Young

Gordon Stewart, Paul Klayder, Brad Raszewski, and Jennifer Thomas

A couple former champs in Gary Moss and Steve Packwood oppose Max Jamelli.

So Trella ... run out of train games? The Train Games Ass'n honcho can play Acquire too.

First to Merge ...

Like most games Acquire is exciting while you're playing. Not so much if you're watching.

Being that the game has been around over 50 years, the players run the tournament. I just hand out the cards. Rounds were very balanced with ten games - 40 players in the first heat, nine games - 37 players for Heat 2 and ten games - 40 players again for Heat 3. As GM, I answered all of three questions over the course of the tournament. Of course, there were the innocent mistakes that I attribute to be caught up in the moment ... a player buying four shares during the game, or forgetting to take an initial share when starting a chain. Casually watching tournament play, I corrected a player when they paid too much, another when they paid too little and of course I was corrected more than once when a player was accurate and I miscounted. The biggest mistake this year was a submitted scoresheet listing James Pei as being third rather than winning the game. A rather big mistake, that. This was corrected when determining semifinalists.

This year was better than most in that the 16 semifinalists were drawn from the top 20 qualifiers with less schedule conflict dropouts than usual. Anthony Lainesse made the most of his first semifinal, winning by a comfortable margin. Kevin Broh-Kahn coasted as well. With the highest score of post tournament play (54,000), Paul Klaydor still only won by $200 over 4th ranked Steve Shambeda who thus added to his laurel totals but still has yet to win it all. 1999 champ Gary Moss had the same margin over the #1 seed, 1993 champ Steve Packwood, and a scant $600 lead over Mark Love in third. A close game indeed.

The Final started off slowly with no chains being formed the first go around. Then five chains erupted in the next six plays. When all chains were accounted for, Anthony had the advantage by starting three while a matching tile still evaded Gary. Play was balanced with everyone running out of money about the same time. From first takeover to first safe chain was four plays. Anthony benefited by being majority shareholder in the first chain to be sold as well as the first safe chain. Rather than invest in emerging markets, he used his wealth to cement his majority status in expensive, but safe, chains.

But Paul wasn't to be outdone so easily. He continued to start chains and managed to be the sole owner of a chain taken over late in the game. The end was called with three safe chains. Anthony's hot start bested Paul by the same squeaker margin of $200 that he had enjoyed in the semis and resulted in his first WBC shield as he became our 19th Acquire champ in 22 years.

The Final has been developed into a 50 second video available for viewing here: http://youtu.be/VQS4qTG4spo

Carl Sykes and friends had their hands full with 2006 champ Matt Calkins. Lots of past champs populate the field.

So what do a pair of multi-year Caesars who dominate CDWs and Euros respectively play head to head? Acquire.
 GM      Cliff Ackman [7th Year]  NA 
   Cliff006@Frontier.com   NA

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