Family Ties

Ra set a new attendance record for a single heat with 103 players on Monday night. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there as overall attendance fell 6%. The heats drew 21 tables for Monday night, 14 on Tuesday night, only eight for Wednesday’s 9 am wakeup session, and 13 on Thursday for a total of 56 preliminary games. The early heat always has the lowest attendance, but can we justify eliminating a fourth heat if we still get 40 players? That’s more than many tournaments get in their entirety.

Bobbi Warczak and Dave Brown led the way with three wins each. Bobbi became the top qualifier by finishing second in a fourth heat. There were ten other double winners for a total of 38 qualifying winners. It took a win in your first try and two other games to make the top 25. That was up from a win and a second game last year. Just winning your first heat only ranked you 33rd. However, as usually happens, that would have been enough as No Shows brought the last qualifying semifinalist down to 34th place which was a win in your second heat along with a second place.

In semifinal #1, Jefferson Meyer prevailed by 12 points over defending champion Ryan Romanik and also ousted 2015 finalist Kevin Wojtaszczyk. In semifinal #2, Dr. Greg Thatcher barely topped Andrew George by two points and also ended triple winner Brown’s tournament. The close finish earned Andrew sixth place laurels and a share of the John Jacoby prizes. He chose the King Tut and Nefertiti salt and pepper shakers that the GM donated. In semifinal #3, 2013 champ Janet Ottey won by five over Eric Brosius, who finally made it to the semifinals after years of trying. In semifinal #4, David Borton had an easy time of it beating Dave Wolfe by 15 points and double winner Larry York by 23. In semifinal #5, Chad Martin also coasted, topping Derek Glenn by 16 and triple winner Warczak by 27.

Five new finalists played a very exciting championship game. First through fourth were separated by only five points. In the end it was Jefferson Meyer winning his first ever Ra title by a mere two points to tie his dad with one title each.