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Dave Metzger and Winton Lemoine rooting
for different Ra draws. |
Eric Freeman and Marissa Bianca vacation
on the Nile. |
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Air fare from Israel? Many shekels.
WBC competition? Priceless |
Norwegian Gudny Osk Scheving
does some sun worshiping. |
Man Killer ...
Ra's attendance remained stable as we passed the 150
mark for the fifth straight year to remain among the top tier
of popularity at WBC. I was expecting a much bigger increase
as we began with a record 20 tables on Monday night. The rest
of the tournament wasn't too shabby either as we filled a consistent
14-14-12 tables in the remaining three heats. Even 12 tables
for a 9 am start on Friday was more than expected. But apparently
58 Would-be Pharoahs wanted one more crack at "wood".
Or more probably wanted one more chance at the fabulous prizes
that were donated once again by the great philanthropist John
Jacoby, the fabled GM of Circus Maximus. I would also
like to take this time to thank the GM of Ticket to Ride
- Claire Brosius, for graciously allowing us to use a few tables
off to the side in the ballroom as her railroad conductors overran
the building.
The
biggest change this year was returning to the back-to-back format
of playing the Final immediately after the semifinals. There
was a little "discussion" from my regulars about splitting
the elimination rounds last year, not to mention the late (11
pm) starts. It didn't seem to matter though as we only had five
dropouts for the semifinals. Not counting the no shows, it took
a win in your first heat played and a 4th in a second heat to
make the top 25. Including the no shows, it took a win in your
second heat played as well as a 3rd and a 4th in two other heats
to make the semifinals. There were 13 double winners but no triple
winners. 35 players won in their first attempt. So to make the
top 25 you would have had to have played in at least two heats.
The first semifinal was an easy 8-point win for Janet Ottey
over four male opponents who included the frustrated defending
champion. The second semifinal was a 3-point win for David Platnik
over Jeff Meyer, who gained 6th place laurels as a consolation
for his narrow defeat. Semifinal 3 was a 9-point win for Lyman
Moquin over Jason Levine. The largest margin of victory, however,
came in Semifinal 4 as tenth ranked Rich Meyer bested #7 Mike
Kaltman by ten points. The last semifinal was a 6-point win by
James Freeman over Angela Hoffman.
Congratulalations are in order for Rich and Jeff Meyer as
the only father and son duo to earn laurels in the same year.
Rich made it back to the Final for the second time in the last
three years. More kudos for James Freeman who held up the family
honor by replacing his 9th ranked son Eric at the Final. But
the biggest congratulations goes to our Champion, Janet Ottey,
who again bested four men with a 4-point win over David Platnik.
Thanks to evryone who played RA this year. It was another
great tournament. I'll be better prepared next year when I bring
the "wood" to the Final. My apologies to those who
had to wait for me to turn in the results last year.
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