Palaces R Us
This was the second year for Alhambra at WBC. We had
27 tables during the two preliminary heats with every winner
advancing to the semi-final round. The winning scores in the
preliminary rounds ranged from a low of 45 (Joe Nearet) to a
high of 138 (David Buchholtz).
In all the rounds, the gamers attempted to build the biggest
and best palace in the "Paradise" room. The first
heat had 10 tables of gamers.
At the first table, Barbara Flaxington pulled off the highest
lead over the rest of the table with a 27 point margin of victory
over runner-up Andy Lewis. It must have been too easy because
she did not attend the semis.
At another table, Mark Delano also pulled off a very high
lead to win by 23. This was especially gratifying since the
runner-up was moi, the GM. This must have been enough for Mark
as he also did not attend the semi-finals.
The third biggest margin of victory went to Katie McCorry
who won by 20.
Katie's Mother, Kathy did not fare so well as Rich Meyer pulled
out the win at that table. However, Kathy was undeterred and
played much better in the second round.
At another table, a family rivalry between the significant
others of our Board was won by Rhonda Reiff pulling out a win
over Lisa Gutermuth.
The most efficient win went to George Sauer who edged Jason
Levine by a single point.
Chaka Benson schooled Tom Dunning in winning his table as
the latter recorded the second lowest overall score of 61. Not
one to be discouraged, Tom returned for the second heat.
Vassili Kyrkos used his lead in the purple buildings and a
very long wall to earn his win.
Matt Calkins showed a different strategy can provide the same
winning results by not leading in the purple buildings, but the
smaller groups of blue and red. However, he too built a long
wall.
Sean McCulloch showed no mercy in scoring his win over runner-up
Pamela Gutermuth, a Junior player while Skip Maloney won his
first game ever at WBC in three years of trying.
The second heat had 15 tables.
Ilan Tadmor pulled off the largest margin of victory with
a 33-point lead over runner-up Tom McCorry.
Eric Brosius had the second highest margin of victory with
a 26-point win over Stephen Fitchett. This table also had the
lowest score for the heat with Robert Drozd scoring only 54.
David Bucholz took the bronze in the margin of victory contest
with a 22-point win over his nearest competition; Kate Taillon.
But David Gagne earned the best bragging rights tby denying
returning champ Bruce Reiff his only chane to defend his title.
This also gave wife Rhonda Reiff bragging rights over Bruce
as she had advanced by winning her table in the first heat.
David was now 2 for 2 as he had won in the first heat as well.
Kathy McCorry joined her daughter Katie who had advanced in
the first heat by winning her second go 'round while Joshua Cooper
denied Katie's chance for a double win in the preliminaries.
The most efficient win in this heat went to Patrick Gorman
who edged out Debbie Gutermuth by a single point - sending the
GM to the showers for the semis.
Tom Dunning showed his low score in the first heat was either
a fluke or a real learning experience as he came back to qualify
in the second heat with a win over Charles Drozd.
Nate Hoam saved his best for later by qualifying with the
lowest winning score of 83 to edge Eric Freeman by only 2 points.
We had 26 different winners in the two Preliminary heats so
when two failed to attend the semi-final round, Jason Levine
advanced as the first alternate - taking the sting out of that
1-point loss.
At the first Semi table, Eric Lenhart and Craig Moffitt forged
into an early tie for the lead after the first scoring round.
Eric retained the lead through the second scoring round with
Nate Hoam second. In the final scoring round, the hard charging
CABS president completed his surge to the front, overtaking Eric
and proving you don't need to have the longest wall or the lead
in purple to win.
At the second table, Chaka Benson led early. In the second
scoring round, there were three different colors with ties for
first place. This left David Buchholz and Joshua Cooper tied
for the lead. By the final round, David was able to gain the
lead in two of the three earlier ties which gave him the win
over Joshua.
Perrianne Lurie and Katie McCorry both led early at the third
Semi table. By the second scoring round, Tom Dunning had built
a good wall and enjoyed the lead in two different colors to pull
ahead of Perrianne. Aaron Fuegi came on strong in the third round,
but it was too little too late and he came in second as Tom punched
his ticket to the Final - his record low score in the first heat
now just a distant memory.
At the fourth table, Richard Meyer grabbed a sizeable early
lead over Jennifer Drozd. David Gagne had a strong second round
but was unable to overtake Richard and had to settle for sixth
place as the closest Semi runner-up.
At the last Semi contest, Ilan had the luck of buying right
before the scoring card came out which gave him a commanding
lead of 10 points over Eric Brosius. Ilan had the scoring figured
out such that if it worked out right the first time, why not
a second. Ilan had the luck of again buying right before the
scoring card appeared, alloweing him to keep his lead - this
time over the oncoming Matt Calkins. Illan did not press his
luck, but just stayed the course and held off Matt for the final
seat at the big game.
The Final's first scoring round found Richard Meyer and Nate
Hoam both with big walls. Tom Dunning had the lead in Green,
Nate in Purple, and Nate and Tom shared the lead in white. This
gave Nate the early lead. In the second scoring round, Richard's
wall had surpassed the rest. David Buehholtz now held the lead
in blue, Ilan Tadmor led in brown, and Nate in white. Red and
purple were shared by Richard and Nate while David and Ilan tied
in green so Nate held a 10-point point lead over Richard. In
the final round, Richard proved he at least knew how to build
the best wall. Purple was shared three ways by Ilan, Richard,
and Nate. David and Ilan maintained their respective leads with
blue and brown. Richard pulled ahead in Red over Nate and David
gained the lead in Green. This left Tom and Nate tied in white.
Adding it all up, it proved a good week for the CABS' hierarchy
as Alhambra became Nate's third and final championship
of the week!
The very cool Hoam family ... it's
a good thing Mrs Hoam didn't have quadruplets or dad would have
had to win a fourth plaque!
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