Fortunes made and lost with a roll
of the dice ...
After a record attendance last year, $Greed returned
to its 2002 level with 86 players competing for the best score.
The tournament continued to use the same format with each player
getting two dice roll series, and then the leaders advancing
to the final round for two more turns. This year, eight advanced
to the final round.
The game was again run at four tables , with turn order randomly
decided. The event began strongly with Jason Levine posting a
score of 1500 as the very first player. This score seemed to
set the mark for the rest of the competition, with everyone taking
chances to try and catch Jason rather than rest on their initial
scores.
Only 25 players actually managed to post a non-zero score;
71% ending with a score of 0, zip, nada - much higher than the
59.8% of zilch scores in 2003.
The first player to challenge Jason's score ended up being
Brooks Beyma, a past champ, who put up a score of 1700 about
a third of the way through the competition. Brooks' score seemed
to energize his table as the next three players (Katie McCorry,
Bill Place, and GM Tom Browne) all put up high scores (1500,
2150 and 2100 respectively).
When the competition was over, Jason's initial score of 1500
which had started the scoring frenzy placed him in ninth (after
losing the tiebreaker to Katie McCorry), resulting in him just
missing the cut to continue.
Joining Brooks, Katie, Bill and Tom, the other finalists were
Jonathan Lockwood (2050) from table 2, Nate Hoam (1600) and Greg
Schmittgens (1750) from table 3 and former GM Peter Staab (1850)
from the last table. These scores were slightly lower than the
preceding year, but with the early high score, and the lower
number of competitors, the totals are not surprising.
Other statistics from the first round include fourrolls of
$GREED (Jason Levine, Brooks Beyma, Bill Place and Tom Browne),
one roll of four Diamonds (Lisa Guttermuth) and three recorded
scores of zero on a roll of all six dice.
The order of play for the final round was from the lowest
to the highest qualifying score. The players thus proceeded to
roll in the following order: Katie McCorry, Nate Hoam, Brooks
Beyma, Greg Schmittgens, Peter Staab, Jonathan Lockwood, Tom
Browne and Bill Place. The finals were more dynamic than usual
with many players taking the lead at different points. Nate Hoam
made
an early attempt to take the lead with a score of 600, to put
him at 2200. His lead was short lived though as Greg scored 700
points two turns later, to post a new high score of 2450. Jonathan
made a play to stay close with 350 points, to put him at 2400,
just 50 points behind Greg. Tom then posted 450 for yet another
lead change, with a total of 2550. Bill then posted 400 as well,
to give him 2550 as well (and thanks to the tiebreaker, the lead
position). After three turns, Bill led with 2550, followed by
Tom with 2550, Greg with 2450, Jonathan with 2400 and Nate at
2200. Peter, Brooks and Katie all remained the same after scoring
0 on their third turns.
Starting the final turn, things were looking good for the leaders
as Katie, Nate, Brooks and Greg all posted zeroes in pursuit
of the leaders. Peter then rolled the only 6-die zero of the
finals, leaving just three players left to compete for the top
placement. Jonathan put himself into contention with a roll of
450 points, giving him 2850, and a 300 point lead. Tom rolled
then, and could have taken 250 points (and a total of 2800) in
a bid for second. In an attempt to win though, he kept just one
Diamond, and rolled five dice over, only to end up with a zero,
leaving him in third place. Jonathan's hopes were short lived
though as Bill put up 300 points, to give him 2850 as well, and
the tiebreaker giving him the win and his second BPA wood.
While the scores needed to advance to the finals this year were
lower than in 2003, competition was tough because of the early
big score that was posted. The final scores were also lower this
year, with only 700 points being scored by Bill in two rolls
to maintain his top position.
The tiebreaker was very important, and ended up working in
exactly opposite the manner I had hoped, so you can expect to
see some changes in that area again next year. Once again I would
like to thank those who ran the game tables: Ewan McNay, Vince
Collura, and Peter Staab.
Come join us next year for another good time of dice rolling
in $Greed!
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