adel verpflichtet [Updated June 27, 2008]  

2007 WBC Report  

 2008 Status: pending December Membership Vote

Tom DeMarco, NJ

2007 Champion

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Event History
1991    Ray Pfeifer      23
1992    Terry Tegler      34
1993    Tom DeMarco      55
1994    Ralph May      49
1995    Beth Zhao      65
1996    Ray Pfeifer      32
1997    Thomas Stokes      54
1998    Marc Geary      64
1999    Ray Pfeifer     46
2000    Richard Irving     40
2001    John Pack     58
2002    John Pack     47
2003    Thomas Browne     60
2004    Marc Houde     52
2005    Ray Pfeifer     35
2006    Mark Geary     31
2007     Tom DeMarco     51

 

PBeM Event History
2008     Ken Gutermuth     34

 

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Ray Pfeifer        MD    07    104
  2.  John Pack          CO    08     73
  3.  Thomas Browne      PA    08     72
  4.  Tom DeMarco        NJ    07     72
  5.  Mark Geary         OH    07     57
  6.  Marc Houde         VA    04     42
  7.  Nick Henning       CT    05     36
  8.  Abby Cocke         MD    05     33
  9.  Ken Gutermuth      NC    08     30
 10.  Richard Irving     CA    00     30
 11.  Ben Foy            MD    02     24
 12.  Sharee Pack        CO    08     18
 13.  Anne Norton        NJ    07     18
 14.  Greg Crowe         VA    05     18
 15.  Tom Stokes         NJ    01     18
 16.  Scott Cornett      FL    99     18
 17.  Alex Bove          PA    08     15
 18.  Luke Koleszar      VA    07     12
 19.  Karl Henning       CT    06     12
 20.  John Weber         MD    04     12
 21.  Patrick Mitchell   DE    03     12
 22.  Derek Landel       NJ    07      9
 23.  Carolyn DeMarco    NJ    03      9
 24.  Alan Moon          MA    99      9
 25.  Frank Cunliffe     PA    03      8
 26.  Steve Cameron      PA    03      8
 27.  Greg Thatcher      FL    08      6
 28.  Alexandra Henning  CT    04      6
 29.  Jean DeLattre     Belg   00      6
 30.  Eyal Mozes         NY    99      6
 31.  Shea Lawson        MD    06      4
 32.  Frank Arndt        MD    01      3
 33.  Wendy DeMarco      NJ    00      3
 34.  Christine Frattali WA    99      3

2007 Laurelists

Ray Pfeifer, MD
2nd

Luke Koleszar, VA
3rd

Derek Landel, NJ
4th

Anne Norton, NJ
5th

Mark Geary, OH
6th


Past Winners

Ray Pfeifer, MD
'91, '96, '99, '05

Tom DeMarco, NJ
1993, 2007

Ralph May, SC
1994

Beth Zhao, DC
1995

Thomas Stokes, NJ
1997

Mark Geary, OH
1998, 2006

Richard Irving, CA
2000

John Pack, CO
2001-2002

Tom Browne, PA
2003

Marc Houde, VA
2004


Rallying from a first ever fall into the Trial ranks, Adel posted a 64% attendance gain to return to the Century.

One of 11 tables in the opening preliminary round ... the first of 36 games played in the tournament.

And Other Equally Unpronounceable Stuff ...

In the first round, every entrant can play up to four games, scoring points based on finishing position (1st=5 points, 2nd=4, 3rd=3, 4th=2, 5th=1). The ten players with the highest total points advance to the semi-final. Each semifinalist plays two more games, with the four winners and the best second place finisher advancing to a single winner-take-all Final.

The big news was this year's dramatic attendance increase of 64%, mostly due to the change from its former semi-final-rich (and Slapshot-overlapping) Saturday night timeslot to Friday evening, and the change from a Class "A" to a Class "C" (coached) tournament. These changes will be carried forward into the 2008
tournament. Thanks to Frank Cunliffe, who ran the demo session, and who, due to other commitments, did not get to play in the tournament itself.

The first round was all ready to begin and we were one player short of having all 5-player games. Luke Koleszar was passing by, and was recruited to fill out the tenth board. The ten winners (with five points each) were ranked by the first tiebreaker (spaces past the finish line), giving Tamara Houde (wife of 2004 champ Marc) the lead at ten spaces past, followed by Anne Norton (4th place finisher in 2002) at nine spaces past, four-time champ Ray Pfeifer and Jeff Finkeldey at eight spaces past, Angela Collinson at six spaces past, and Jessica Hardesty at five spaces past.

The second round consisted of nine games. Ray was the only repeat winner, moving into the lead with ten points. Ray won by having the largest set at game end and using the 8-space bonus to advance from fifth place to first. Tied at nine points were Paul Weintraub (12 spaces past), two-time and defending champ Mark Geary (eight spaces), Jessica Hardesty (seven spaces with 20 cards in sets), Derek Landel (seven spaces with seven cards in sets), and Rob Brode (four spaces). Rob's win was one of the closest, with a tie at the finish broken by Rob's 14-card set beating Mark's 5-card set. The 14-card set was also the largest set at a finish in the tournament.

In the third round seven full games were played. Ray kept up his winning ways, pulling away from the pack with15 points, and virtually guaranteeing a semi-final berth. Rob grabbed his second win in another tiebreaker win over 2006 runner-up Karl Henning to keep pace with Ray at 14 points. At 13 points were Paul and Derek, who won his game while finishing without a set. At 12 points were Jeff, Luke, Andrew Sinigaglio, Jonathan Izar, and Bruce Bernard. On the cusp of filling out the 10 semi-final qualifiers slots were Jessica and Josh Weintraub with 11 points.

22 players comprised the seven games for the fourth and final preliminary round. Paul and Derek were the top two finishers with 18 points. Derek won his game with the largest lead, finishing 12 spaces ahead of Jim Vroom. Ray and Luke finished with 17 points. Mark beat Bruce in another close tiebreaker in their game that saw all four players crossing the finish and with Mark and Bruce only one space ahead of Jeff and 1997 champ Thomas Stokes. But Bruce ended with a total of 16 points, while Mark, along with Rob, totaled 15 points. Four players tied at 14 points vied for the last three semi-final slots. Spouses Anne Norton and Tom DeMarco, along with Jim V had the best tiebreakers, just edging out 2003 champ Thomas Browne. Tom D's win also saw all four players crossing the finish on the last turn and ending within a span of three spaces.

In the first semi-final round, Ray cruised to a win, finishing at least eight spaces ahead of Mark, Anne, Bruce and Paul. All four of Ray's wins were as the red player. Luke won the other game, beating Derek, Rob, Tom and Jim. In the penultimate round, Tom edged out Derek, Bruce, Jim and Ray, while Luke won again, edging Anne in a tiebreaker and beating Rob, Mark and Paul. Since Luke won in both semifinal rounds, the top two second place finishes would advance. Anne's second was at three spaces past, while both of Derek's seconds were at two spaces past. Mark was edged out with a second place finish four spaces short of the finish, but good enough for sixth place laurels.

In the Final, Ray triggered the end of the game by crossing three spaces past the finish. But, in an unusual move for him, Tom had the largest set at the finish (he is more prone to finish with no set than the largest). The 8-space bonus allowed him to advance from second (just short of the finish line) to eight spaces past the line to win his second championship. Ray bettered his third place 2006 finish, finishing second, followed by Luke at two spaces past, Derek at one space short, and Anne in fifth, ten spaces short of the finish.


PBeM Tournament 2008 

"No one here for to see my pretty things." - Bob Hamel [all alone at the castle]

At the end of five preliminary rounds where 34 players each played five games against 18-20 different opponents, Thomas Browne emerged as the leader with 23 of 25 possible points. Each game was worth a maximum of 5 points. Alex Bove and Sharee Pack each finished with 21. The final five was rounded out with two of the players who scored 20 points, Greg Thatcher and Ken Gutermuth. Naturally, one of them would "steal" the tournament in the all important Final round. The sixth place player, GM John Pack, also had 20 points but only finished with a total of 9 spaces across the finish lines (vs. 25 and 19 for Greg and Ken respectively).

The tournament was lively -- with many players in three or four games simultaneously. I've interspersed some of the lively dialogue throughout this report. Needless to say, the players had a lot of fun!

"Oh, that was a great round. Bunch of thievin' varmints around this place." - Anthony Daw
"That may be the first time I've seen a double thief-convention..." - John Pack
"Looks like I have to play something other than a thief now." - Greg Thatcher
"Come on folks, I need my thieves back!" - Greg Thatcher
"Thanks for that file in the cake guys!...I'm free!!" - Bob Hamel

The Final played so quickly, taking just two weeks, that the champion is already determined! Congratulations to Ken Gutermuth who prevailed by a single space over Sharee Pack. Four of the five players still had a chance to win on the last move. Sharee was just two spaces from the finish and although she had five cards, her set was the bare minimum of three. She elected to exhibit and charge across. Darn the thieves, full speed ahead! If no one beat her exhibit, she'd have a lock on victory. Alex Bove and Ken Gutermuth played thieves to maximize their sets for final advancement. Ken would have the biggest set (ten cards). Eight spaces would put him ahead of Sharee if she got three or fewer spaces for exhibiting. Ken needed someone else to beat her exhibit. Greg Thatcher played a detective - sending the thieves to jail and moving forward five spaces (a move which brought him into the pack and which would have made him a contender if the game had lasted another turn). Greg needed two people to beat Sharee's exhibit and keep the game going. Unfortunately for Greg and Thomas, only Thomas Browne exhibited against Sharee - taking the five space reward. However, the thieves took his set down from 7 to a mere three of his five remaining cards, guaranteeing that Thomas would not advance again. Sharee finished with no set whatsoever. Ken got the 8 space final reward to finish three spaces across the line. Sharee finished two spaces across. Thomas finished one space short. Alex, who got the four space reward, finished three spaces shy, and Greg finished 5 spaces out for a very tight finish. Congratulations to Ken Gutermuth for besting a fine field! Also taking laurels were Sharee Pack, Tom Browne, Alex Bove, Greg Thatcher, and John Pack for finishing 2nd thru 6th respectively.

"It's the Secret Policeman's Ball!" - Rob Seulowitz
"Guess it was time for the annual detective's convention. I went to the panel on proper use of the magnifying glass. It was very educational!" - Greg Crowe
"Wow, THREE detectives...Guess I'm going to prison for a LONG time...." - Bob Hamel

The next BPA Adel Verpflichtet PBeM competition on SpielByWeb will get underway this October 1st. Check www.gameaholics.com/adv_tournament.htm for details of all the tournament games and scoring!

"How much will you give me to Exhibit???? I take PayPal. :-)
"JUST KIDDING...of course...we're in it 'TO THE DEATH.'" - Bob Hamel

 GM      Tom DeMarco [1st Year]  720 Wood Lane, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077-3976
    TomAnneTim@comcast.net   NA

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