I learned two very important lessons today.
- If you have 17 people show up for a tournament, there is no reasonable way to get them done in just 3 hours. Break it into a couple of brackets?
- When you print out a 17 person bracket, make sure the font on the numbers is large enough to read, or you are going to screw up some of the moves to the consolation bracket!
Let me spell out the impact of the logistical challenges – at one point I put someone into the wrong line, which meant when the next person moved down, there was already a match happening there, which meant that there was a cascade effect. The worst impact of which was that I ended up playing Mark F twice, and got eliminated. Sad!
Nevertheless, I did give him a pretty good run. Here’s a position that came up in our second match, when we were 1 each in the 3 point match.
Here I’m black and Mark is red. I offered the cube. Good move? Take or a drop?
My probability of winning is about 70% according to GnuBG. If it were a 0-0 score, this would be a take. But given that the match results would depend on it, it is a pass. Mark correctly dropped, then gammoned me in the next game. Smart move, eh?
The group was a good mix of new people and returning players, with a couple of folks who hadn’t been around in quite a while – looking at you, Ed. Most people went for the side pools, and so the first place ended up being worth over $100 – $125 I think. Second went home with $60, third got their ante back. Ed took third. Newcomer Kevin and returning player Dick were in the running for 1st/2nd, but Dick made a concession to the logistics of their respective drives and conceded – they’d already played once, which was how Dick had got started in the consolation bracket. ANYWAY, Dick and Tim had a drive back to Astoria, and Kevin and Sharon had a drive back to Coos Bay (!!!!), and it was 7:30 and my wife was texting to ask if I’d died in a car wreck on the way home. So, that was that.
In spite of the anticlimax of the ending, it was a heck of a day of backgammon. Hope you’ll make it back next month, when I promise to do something different to make it run more quicker.
Here’s the ratings going into/out of tonight. See you next month!
| Player | Initial Elo Rating | Matches Played | Matches Won | Final Elo Rating |
| Bryan | 1486.2 | 6 | 4 | 1505.61 |
| Dick | 1500.0 | 6 | 5 | 1541.41 |
| Ed | 1500.0 | 5 | 3 | 1518.88 |
| Emerald | 1500.0 | 2 | 0 | 1471.76 |
| Jarom | 1513.0 | 2 | 0 | 1488.73 |
| Julie | 1485.0 | 4 | 2 | 1488.42 |
| Kevin | 1500.0 | 4 | 4 | 1543.48 |
| Kirstin | 1500.0 | 3 | 1 | 1493.10 |
| Larry | 1500.0 | 3 | 1 | 1494.13 |
| Mark | 1600.7 | 3 | 1 | 1578.71 |
| Mark F | 1500.0 | 6 | 4 | 1529.69 |
| Matt | 1500.0 | 3 | 1 | 1493.67 |
| Michael | 1500.0 | 3 | 1 | 1532.10 |
| Paul | 1500.0 | 2 | 0 | 1471.71 |
| Sharon | 1500.0 | 4 | 2 | 1511.45 |
| Tim | 1553.2 | 4 | 2 | 1546.33 |
| Trish | 1476.6 | 2 | 0 | 1454.43 |