Charlotte tidbits
I'm waiting for the official results before uploading my games, so any of you loyal fans (assuming there's more than one of you) will have to wait a bit longer to see them. In the meantime, some random notes from the weekend:
joescrab became the sixth player in history to go 3-0 against me in a tournament. Oddly enough, he still finished out of the money. Even more oddly enough, the same fate happened to scrabblek8 when she pulled off the same feat at the 2009 Cape Cod tournament. The previous four players to record the hat trick against me did quite well:
05/26-28, 2007 (Nathan Benedict, 1st place)
11/24-26, 2000 (Matt Graham, 2nd place)
03/04-05, 2000 (Bob Prentiss, 1st place)
10/23/25, 1998 (Alan Frank, 1st place)
But it hasn't worked lately, so find someone else to beat up on for money. :)
I also had a four bingo game in which I didn't break 400. I did defeat a player rated over 2100 for the first time ever, assuming that his rating reached that mark after the first half when I played him. I also improved to 6-0 against Joe Edley in Charlotte, but I went 0-4 on final games of the days. Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was a belated birthday dinner with GIJoel666, along with joescrab, aegmnst, and Joe Edley. Great company, and the food was fine (Pizza kitchens are nice and safe for me to eat at). He thanked each of us for impacting his life, and my parents remember just as well as I do when he accepted a game with me on the old marldoom server in July of 1995. I think that was one of the most nerve wracking hours of my life, even though it was only virtual rating points on the line.
All in all, a fun time was had. Enjoyable outcomes were often not - not without effort, but often without enough efficiency. That being said, I'm glad to be done with tournaments until the BAT, when I won't be such a profitably rated player anymore.
Lastly, major congrats to robinpd and meezerman on their thrilling finishes in Las Vegas. Now that the Charlotte tile gods have turned on me, maybe I'll try my luck in Vegas in 2013.
joescrab became the sixth player in history to go 3-0 against me in a tournament. Oddly enough, he still finished out of the money. Even more oddly enough, the same fate happened to scrabblek8 when she pulled off the same feat at the 2009 Cape Cod tournament. The previous four players to record the hat trick against me did quite well:
05/26-28, 2007 (Nathan Benedict, 1st place)
11/24-26, 2000 (Matt Graham, 2nd place)
03/04-05, 2000 (Bob Prentiss, 1st place)
10/23/25, 1998 (Alan Frank, 1st place)
But it hasn't worked lately, so find someone else to beat up on for money. :)
I also had a four bingo game in which I didn't break 400. I did defeat a player rated over 2100 for the first time ever, assuming that his rating reached that mark after the first half when I played him. I also improved to 6-0 against Joe Edley in Charlotte, but I went 0-4 on final games of the days. Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was a belated birthday dinner with GIJoel666, along with joescrab, aegmnst, and Joe Edley. Great company, and the food was fine (Pizza kitchens are nice and safe for me to eat at). He thanked each of us for impacting his life, and my parents remember just as well as I do when he accepted a game with me on the old marldoom server in July of 1995. I think that was one of the most nerve wracking hours of my life, even though it was only virtual rating points on the line.
All in all, a fun time was had. Enjoyable outcomes were often not - not without effort, but often without enough efficiency. That being said, I'm glad to be done with tournaments until the BAT, when I won't be such a profitably rated player anymore.
Lastly, major congrats to robinpd and meezerman on their thrilling finishes in Las Vegas. Now that the Charlotte tile gods have turned on me, maybe I'll try my luck in Vegas in 2013.