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1998 champion Joe Dragan returned
to WBC after an eight-year hiatus. He is shown at left in action
against Bob Jamelli. |
Meeting of champs: Defending
champion Andy Gardner (left) opposes Rob Flowers, the current
BPA email champ. |
Rising Sun II
This year's Pre-Con
saw players face off in 91 games, up from 89 last year. Champion
Ed Menzel (6-1) took the honors by way of his head-to-head tie-breaker
victory over Andy Gardner (6-1) in Round 4.
The Nagumo Award (Best Japanese Player) goes to Andy Gardner,
with an IJN record of 5-1, closely followed by Mike Kaye's 5-2
IJN mark.
The Halsey Award (Best Allied Player) goes to Champion
Ed Menzel, with his 4-0 score for Allied play. Also in the
running were John Sharp (Allies 4-2), James Eliason (Allies 4-2)
and Joe Dragan (4-3 as Allies).
The IJN won 48 of 91 games, or 52.75% (2005: 50.56%). The
Allies won 42, or 46.15% (2005: 49.44%). One game ended
in a tie (1.10%).
Bids were a bit higher this year. Average bid overall:
3.105 (2005: 2.66). The average bid in no-bid games was
3.576 (2005: 3.35). Bidding was more prevalent, with 79
games featuring bids (2005: 71), and 12 games with no bids (2005:
18). This year, 12 victories were changed by the bid (2005:
5; 2004: 3), so bids are becoming more important as the raw POC
scores drop and fail to maintain winners.
First round matches were determined by random draw, giving
newer players a chance to go up against the top AREA VIP admirals. In
this year's opening round, Scott Beall played Mike Kaye, Rob
Beyma played Ed Menzel, Kirk Butler played Jim Eliason, Bob Jamelli
played John Sharp, and Mark Booth played Mike Ussery. Next
year, random matching will NOT be used in the first round. All
players will be ranked by AREA rating, and the bottom half will
be matched against the top half. Example: 20 players, 1
plays 11, 2 plays 12, 3 plays 13, and so on (as the later rounds
are matched within their win brackets).
By the end of the third round, only three players were undefeated:
Gardner, Menzel and Sharp. In the 4th, Menzel topped Gardner
to break that clinch, and Sharp squeaked by Rob Flowers to stay
at 4-0.
In Round 5, Menzel made mincemeat of Sharp to stay atop the
pack with the only undefeated record, dropping Sharp to 4-1.
Round 7 saw three players at 5-1: Andy Gardner, Ed Menzel
and Mike Kaye. Menzel drew Rob Drozd, whose match ended
in an IJN victory for Ed in an IJN knockout. Mike and Andy's
game went a full eight turns, with Andy pulling out the Allied
win.
Victory In the Pacific Play By Email
The Third Victory in the Pacific PBeM tournament has come
to a wild end. Rob Flowers USN defeated the highest remaining
seed (#7), Tim Tow in the semi-finals while Michael Ussery bucked
tournament omens to win as the high seed as the IJN over Darren
Kilfara by five POC in eight turns. In the consolation match,
Darren claimed third place as the USN in a close game (winning
by just 1.5 POC after the bid) over Tim Tow. In the championship
match, Rob Flowers (orignally the 14th seed) took command of
the Imperial Japanese Navy. He locked up the northeast corner
of the ocean and ran the score up high enough that, after seven
turns, the US Navy, under Michael Ussery (seeded 11th), had no
hope (despite a bid of 4). Congratulations to Admiral Flowers
who wins the BPA plaque and an automatic invitation to the next
Top 10 Invitational. See the details at http://www.gameaholics.com/vitp_bpa/vitp_bpa_single_elim_03.htm.
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