We had a fair showing for this afternoon’s tournament – 13 players on a cold, wet day. A comment was heard about how come more people weren’t there, given it was cold and wet – what else are you going to go do on such a day? But nevertheless, that’s how it turned out.
In part, it might be because I had thrown the schedule off. Usually the tournament is the 3rd Sunday of the month, but I pushed it to the 4th Sunday this month because I wanted to go to the Bellingham Winter Classic, which was on the 3rd Sunday this month. Tim and Bodger went as well, and Bodger even did fairly well, making it to the final 4. I, on the other hand, got to get home earlier than I otherwise would have, which was also nice. So, a small abuse of my role as tournament director – apologies to anyone who showed up on last week, but I haven’t heard from anyone who did.
Anyway, with an odd number, I split us into a 7-person “A” bracket and a 6-person “B” bracket.
In the “A” bracket, round one had Larry over Jim, Kyle over Bodger, and Howard over Dave. I took the bye, and then also considerable feedback about that. Final came down to Larry and me, and I outrolled him in DMP – very tight match, I look forward to reviewing the tape. Howard won the consolation bracket.
In the “B” bracket, round one had first-timer Peyton over Mark A, Tim over first-timer Caryl, and Steve over second-timer Karen. Steve won the bracket, with Peyton taking second and Tim winning the consolation.
Next regular tournament is coming up on March 15th, and there are two special events to get on your radar as well. First, the first 2026 Championship Qualifier is scheduled for March 28th. Come fight for a spot in the 2026 Championship Match! Second, the second ever Portlandia Spring Invitational is scheduled for May 2nd. The survey I did last fall showed a lot of interest in a higher equity event, and this is it! It was a lot of fun two years ago when we had the first one, and it’ll be a great warm-up for the Denver ABT at the beginning of June, which I hear a fairly high number of Portland players will be attending.
See you at the next one!