victory in the pacific [Updated October 2006]  

2006 WBC Report    

 2007 Status: pending 2007 GM commitment

Ed Menzel, CA

2006 Champion

Offsite links:

 

 

Event History
1991    Dave Targonski      36
1992    Wes Erni      39
1993    Alan Applebaum      36
1994    Dave Targonski      36
1995    Dan Henry      45
1996    Robert Kondracki      46
1997    Ed O'Connor      42
1998    Joe Dragan      48
1999    Alan Applebaum     48
2000    Andy Gardner     50
2001    Dan Henry     48
2002    Dan Henry     50
2003    Ed Menzel     39
2004    Michael Kaye     44
2005     Andy Gardner     32
2006     Ed Menzel     41

PBeM Event History
1999    Nick Markevich      20
2001    Ed Menzel      32
2004    Rob Flowers      32

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Dan Henry          IL    03    228
  2.  Ed Menzel          CA    06    214
  3.  Andy Gardner       VA    06    174
  4.  Michael Kaye       CA    06    168
  5.  Alan Applebaum     MA    05    113
  6.  John Pack          CO    06     66
  7.  Ray Freeman        CA    04     60
  8.  Rob Flowers        MD    04     50
  9.  Charlie Drozd      IL    05     42
 10.  Michael Ussery     MD    04     42
 11.  Tim Tow            TX    04     39
 12.  Jim Eliason        IA    06     36
 13.  Bob Hamel          CT    00     30
 14.  Darren Kilfara     UK    04     20
 15.  John Sharp         FL    06     18
 16.  John Strand        CO    02     18
 17.  Eric El Osta      BELG   00     18
 18.  Ken Nied           KS    03     14
 19.  Joe Powell         VA    99     12
 20.  Larry Meyers       AZ    04     10
 21.  Nick Markevich     CA    99     10
 22.  John Sharp Jr      FL    03      6
 23.  Michael Day        AZ    01      6
 24.  Casey Adams        MN    00      6
 25.  Joe Dragan         MI    99      6
 26.  Brad Solberg       CA    99      6
 27.  Meng Soon Ong    MALAY   01      4
 28.  Bobby Clinton      CA    01      4
 29.  Max Zavanelli      FL    99      4
 30.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    99      3
 31.  Vince Meconi       DE    99      2
 32.  Glenn McMaster     ON    01      1

2006 Laurelists

Andy Gardner, VA
2nd

John Pack, CO
3rd

John Sharp, FL
4th

Mike Kaye, MD
5th

James Eliason, IA
6th


Past Winners

91, 94: Dave Targonski, DC
1992: Wes Erni - WI

Alan Applebaum, MA
1993, 1999

Dan Henry, IL
1995, 200l-2002

Robert Kondracki, PA
1996

Ed O'Connor, NJ
1997

Joe Dragan, MI
1998

Andy Gardner, VA
2000, 2005

Ed Menzel, CA
2003, 2006

Michael Kaye, MD
2004


 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.

 GM      John Sharp [3rd Year]   4701 Hamlets Grove Dr, Sarasota, FL 34235 
    aefajohn@gte.net  NA

2006 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page