titan: the arena  

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report   

 2010 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Greg Crowe, MD

2009 Champion

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  Laurels Laurels

Event History
1997    Peter Staab        72
1998    Brian Sutton      178
1999    Kaarin Engelmann     115
2000    Alan Witte       97
2001    Rebecca Hebner       56
2002    Joe Sposito       45
2003    Brenden Coomes       47
2004     Devin Flawd       63
2005    Robert Kircher       79
2006     Olin Hentz       74
2007    Harry Flawd       89
2008     Matt Calkins     116
2009     Greg Crowe       91
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1. Rebecca Hebner      CO    09     57
  2. Alan Witte          NJ    00     50
  3. Harry Flawd         PA    07     42
  4. Joseph Sposito      NJ    02     40
  5. Devin Flawd         PA    09     38
  6. Bruce Monnin        OH    06     38
  7. Dan Eshleman        NC    08     36
  8. Kaarin Engelmann    VA    00     35
  9. Robert Kircher      RI    06     33
 10. Greg Crowe          MD    09     30
 11. Matt Calkins        VA    08     30
 12. Gerald Lientz       VA    07     30
 13. Olin Hentz          CT    06     30
 14. Brenden Coomes      OH    03     30
 15. Buddy Sinigaglio    CO    00     30
 16. Evan Hitchings      DE    09     18
 17. Ewan McNay          CT    07     18
 18. Keith Levy          MD    01     18
 19. Jerry Ohlinger      NY    99     18
 20. Rodd Polsky         PA    02     16
 21. Eric Gorr           VA    00     15
 22. James Hopkin        CA    02     14
 23. Rebecca Melton      VA    09     12
 24. Jordan Flawd        CT    06     12
 25. Greg Thatcher       FL    06     12
 26. Rob Schoenen        PA    04     12
 27. Josh Campbell       NY    03     12
 28. Arthur Field        SC    02     12
 29. Ken Sheffield       VA    01     12
 30. Craig Melton        VA    99     12
 31. Josh Githens        SC    00     10
 32. Greg Zegalia        PA    09      9
 33. Steve Cameron       PA    08      9
 34. Jim Garvey          NY    07      9
 35. Carmen Petruzelli   PA    05      9
 36. Chris Greenfield    NY    03      9
 37. Scott Buckwalter    MD    01      9
 38. John Coussis        IL    99      9
 39. Abby Cocke          MD    04      8
 40. Brooks Beyma        MD    08      6
 41. Dennis Mishler      CT    07      6
 42. Nick Henning        CT    06      6
 43. Morio Taketori      jp    05      6
 44. Mark Love           MD    04      6
 45. Rob Brode           MD    03      6
 46. Randy Jackson       OH    99      6
 47. Tracy Graf          MD    04      4
 48. Lance Ribeiro       NH    02      4
 49. Greg Thatcher       CA    08      3
 50. Jean-Francois Gagne qc    07      3
 51. Mark Mitchell       VA    03      3
 52. Gordon Elgart       CA    01      3
 53. Jason Ley           WA    99      3
 54. John Poniske Jr     PA    05      2
 55. Joe Nemet           PA    04      2

2009 Laurelists                                              Repeating Laurelists:

Evan Hitchings, DE
2nd

Rebecca Melton, VA
3rd

Greg Zegalia, PA
4th

Devin Flawd, PA
5th

Rebecca Hebner, CA
6th


Past Winners

Peter Staab, PA
1997

Brian Sutton, MD
1998

Kaarin Englemann, VA
1999

Alan Witte, NJ
2000

Rebecca Hebner, CO
2001

Joe Sposito, NJ
2002

Brenden Coomes, OH
2003

Devin Flawd, PA
2004

Robert Kircher, RI
2005

Olin Hentz, CT
2006

Harry Flawd, PA
2007

Matt Calkins, VA
2008

Greg Crowe, MD
2009
   

 

Jim Bell, Cally Perry and Ben Gardner place their bets at one of the three qualifying heats.

GM Greg Crowe is another of the dedicated WBC GMs who has invested in customized table markers for his event.

Always a titanic struggle ...

The Con's record attendance didn't translate to higher attendance at Titan: The Arena this year. In the three preliminary heats we had only 26 games, seven less than last year. Not only did we have 25 fewer unique players, but the number of people who played more than one heat also dropped. Hopefully next year's economy will have improved to the point where we get numbers like in 2008.

The new tiebreaker seemed to work just fine. All told there were four ties for first place, and seven for second or lower places, and everyone seemed to accept the outcomes without any objections. At all of the games accurate and complete betting and creature elimination history were kept, making it easy to determine the winners of all the ties. Let me take this opportunity to thank my players for being willing to keep track of this vital game information.

Anyway, 20 qualifiers and three alternates partook in the semi-final round with two seats going begging (again, it pays to show up). There was no shortage of interesting results at this level. In one game a secret bet on the Hydra was exposed during the second round, yet it managed to live through the entire game. At another table, there was no less than a 4-way tie for first, which gave Rebecca Hebner the consolation of at least getting 6th-place Laurels for coming in second on the tiebreaker.

It should also be noted that, with the GM playing at the Final table (for the first time in seven years of GMing), Rebecca H. also volunteered to fill in as assistant GM, and referee at the Final. She made it clear that no shenanigans would be tolerated, and highly encouraged interesting and entertaining table talk. Also notable was the presence of another Rebecca - Melton - recently graduated from the WBC Juniors who had rolled her three straight Junior TTA titles into a seat at the big Final table without breaking a sweat. Welcome to the bigs.

The 5-player Final started fairly idyllically, with each player only making one first round bet (in addition to their secret bet), and one of the un-bet-upon creatures - the Hydra - being eliminated. The second-round elimination of the Dragon also left all first-round bets intact, though Greg Z.'s second-round bet became the first casualty. With the elimination of Evan's Unicorn (and the accompanying bets of both Gregs), things started to get a little dicey. It was an unusual game with almost all of the powers that manipulate the playing area gone, and both powers that affect other players' hands remaining. Rebecca M.'s Ranger was next to go, eliminating her chances of victory. In the last round, if any of the remaining creatures save the Warlock died, Devin would have won, and his plays seemed to indicate he knew it on some level. Unfortunately, Evan and Greg C. both had nothing on the Warlock, and conspired to kill it. Evan had to hope that Greg C.'s secret bet was already dead, as he was one point ahead of Evan on the table. As it turned out, Greg C.'s secret bet was on the surviving Titan, allowing him to squeak out a win.

Thanks to everyone who came out to play this year, and hope to see even more of you next year, and more ofte

 

Virginia Melton, making her first appearance in the adult tournament, goes all the way to the Final after three straight years of Junior wins.

GM Greg Crowe holds off a pack of young challengers in the Final to strike a blow for the Baby Boomer generation.


 Titan: The Arena Junior

In the Juniors event 15 kids reported for mayhem in the ring this year, with Gregory Breza winning. The other finalists were:

2nd: Katie Breza (something tells me they play some Titan Arena in the Breza household).

3rd: Matthew Roizin-Prior

4th: Brian Sherwood

5th: Jeremy Rice

6th: Thomas Melton

The Juniors played three games in the first round. The three first-round winners and the two runner-ups who scored closest to their table's winning score went on to play a 5-player Final. Two of the first-round games resulted in ties for first place, so both pairs of winners - Katie Breza, Brian Sherwood, Matthew Roizen-Prior, and Jeremy Rice - joined Gregory Breza, who won his first-round game without the need for a tiebreaker.

The play of the Final was interesting, with all creatures having a first-round bet. Finally, after much negotiation, Katie's Dragon was eliminated. In the second round, Katie decided to support Brian's Ranger, while Matthew threw in with Katie's Warlock. This set up a sort-of-three-way alliance while Gregory and Jeremy decided to consolidate their hold on their own creatures. This made Jeremy's Unicorn vulnerable, and it ended up perishing second. In the third round, both Jeremy and Gregory saw the value in betting on other player's creatures, while Katie seized backership of the Ranger, although she was unable to use its power very often. The Titan, which had only Matthew's first-round bet, was the next to fall.

Brian's bet on the Warlock meant that all but one player had a visible bet on it, which would make it hard to kill. Further, Matthew's second bet in a row on Gregory's Troll further weakened that early three-player alliance. Since he was one of two players with two first round bets left, Brian found himself with suddenly fewer friends at the table, and his vulnerable Cyclops went next. In the final round, the triumvirate of Katie, Brian, and Matthew returned, and although they couldn't kill the Troll, they managed to kill the Hydra, which was the other of Gregory's first-round bets, as well as Jeremy's only remaining points. However, Gregory had enough points to tie his sister for first, and because he had more points bet on the last creature to die than her, he won the tiebreaker.

Congratulations to Gregory Breza, and good luck to everyone next year!

 GM     Greg Crowe  (6th year)   NA
   gregcrowe@mindspring.com   NA 

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