royal turf [Updated October 2007]  

2007 WBC Report  

   2008 Status: pending December Membership Trial Vote

Doug Galullo, FL

2007 Champion

 

Event History
2004    Luke Koleszar     34
2005    Rebecca Hebner     53
2006    Lisa Gutermuth     26
2007     Doug Galullo     24

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Rebecca Hebner     CO    05    30
  2.  Doug Galullo       FL    07    20
  3.  Lisa Gutermuth     TX    06    20
  4.  Luke Koleszar      VA    04    20
  5.  Andy Dolan         MI    05    18
  6.  Gregory Kulp       NJ    70    12
  7.  Tony Vickery       BC    06    12
  8.  Phil Shea          VA    05    12
  9.  Rhonda Reiff       OH    04    12
 10.  Greg Berry         VA    05     9
 11.  Debbie Gutermuth   TX    07     8
 12.  Lance Fogel        PA    06     8
 13.  Lyle Wenger        PA    04     8
 14.  Tim Rothenhoefer   MD    07     6
 15.  Marilyn Flowers    MD    06     6
 16.  Tito Sierra        NC    05     6
 17.  John Welage        OH    04     6
 18.  Luke Koleszar      VA    07     4
 19.  Phil Bradley       IL    04     4
 20.  Stuart Tucker      MD    06     4
 21.  Roy Gibson         MD    05     3
 22.  James Allaire      CT    07     2
 23.  Sean McCulloch     OH    06     2
 24.  Mathieu Yuill      ON    04     2

2007 Laurelists

Gregory Kulp, NJ
2nd

Debbie Gutermuth, TX
3rd

Tim Rothenhoefer, MD
4th

Luke Koleszar, VA
5th

James Allaire, CT
6th


Past Winners

Luke Koleszar, VA
2004

Rebecca Hebner, CO
2005

Lisa Gutermuth, FL
2006

A short game on Saturday night slotted before Slapshot should do well, but Royal Turf has been unable to duplicate its initial draw nor has any of its finalists been back for more laurels.

 GM Frank Cunliffe observes his finalists going for the wood.

Last call for Royal Turf?

Changing Royal Turf to a Coached event brought seven rookies to the track, and their results were on par with that of the veterans, two novices even reaching the Final table. At the other end of the spectrum, neophyte Steve Scott began his preliminary game with such a ridiculous blunder that he good naturedly begged me to report it here. On Steve's first turn he moved a horse 14 spaces when all five of his opponents had bet on it and he hadn't. In spite of that, he recovered to tie with the defending champion for third place in their Heat.

Other amusements from the preliminaries included a race where Earl Grey crossed the finish line on Turn 3 and had to wait until Turn 6 for Nougat and Caramello to Place and Show, respectively. Another game saw its third race (where payouts are doubled) feature four double bets on Caramello who then failed to win.

Winning their preliminary game and advancing to the Final were 2004 Champion Luke Koleszar, Debbie Gutermuth, Doug Gallulo and Jim Rothenhoefer. Joining them were the closest also-rans, James Allaire (£50 behind Debbie) and Gregory Kulp (£250 behind Jim). Curiously neither Jim nor Greg had ever played the game before. Although the original Royal Turf was used for all preliminary games, the revision Winner's Circle was used for the Final.

In the first race of the Final three horses had all six players put betting markers on them, and, not surprisingly, those horses finished one-two-three. Regret triumphed in but three turns, thanks to its 20-space move when a Helmet is rolled. The steadier Twilight Tear and Colin respectively Placed and Showed. Alsab, whose single bet was a fake, brought up the rear. Among the gamblers, Doug took the lead with £700 to Luke's £600, closely followed by Greg and Debbie's £550.

The second race saw five betting chips on both Devil Diver who won and Assault who finished second. Curiously the third place Top Flight had but a single chip, and that a fake bet! As for their human supporters, Greg and Debbie caught up to Doug, all three at £1050, with Luke in fourth with £900.

The last race featured three horses named after flesh-and-blood Triple Crown winners: Whirlaway (1941), War Admiral (1937) and Sir Barton (1919). The game's plastic horses were as fast as their namesakes, taking the top three places in the aforesaid order. Just as this race showed which horse was the best of these Triple Crown winners, it also showed who the top bettor was, with Doug collecting £100 more than the two players with whom he was previously tied. He finished with a total of £2250 to £2150 for Greg and Debbie. The rest of the field was Tim £1850, Luke £1600 and James £1200.

Thus Doug won the wood. But who was second? The game rules have no provision for tiebreaking. A sensible tiebreak is the player with the most money at the end of the second race, but Greg and Debbie were tied then. A second tiebreak of the player with the most money at the end of the first race still saw the two equal. This year the GM arbitrarily declared Greg to be the runner-up, as he had just learned the game at the event, but next year a random system will be used.

 GM      Frank Cunliffe  [1st Year]   NA
   fhc2@hotmail.com   NA

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