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NY Metro Open 2016 Recap/Review - Long - PII
Posted By: Stick In Response To: NY Metro Open 2016 Recap/Review - Long (Stick)
Date: Wednesday, 13 January 2016, at 10:24 p.m.
And we return to Zion.
Mishypoo aka Michelle Steinberg
Rick already hijacked my idea in this post but that shouldn't stop me from pouring on the accolades.
Over the past year + I have known that Michelle helped a lot with getting matches transcribed etc...but I didn't know to what point and what lengths she goes until this tournament since I had been off the scene. What she managed to pull off was getting all of the important matches recorded, streamed, commentary done, and dealing with backgammon players! I'm not sure if she was officially paid or not, I hope so perhaps via the USBGF streaming fund. I remember seeing a tip jar on the counter in the main room of the tournament for tips going towards that or something similar. I was thinking to myself Michelle should put a tip jar in the side room she was working in all weekend and she'd have made mad bank.
She didn't play in the tournament itself and instead spent time basically organizing when and where the big matches would be played and how they would be presented to the world. She did an excellent job and that is something every tournament should have and the person/team involved should be paid. Imagine if we had funding to do this, the quality of everything would sky rocket. As it stands now, we hope to have a volunteer or two do something or perhaps a couple of matches might get streamed from a tournament. If we had the funding we could have a dedicated team to get everything done professionally. We could pay for wifi and a streaming service that didn't lag so the commentary would be a million times better. Matches would be transcribed before the weekend tournament was even over! Etc...
Mike Senkiewicz
Senk won the main event and finished second in the Liberty Cup Masters. (Super Jackpot) I don't even know if Senk entered any other events!? We haven't heard a word about this great showing and nobody even saw the main finals which had an amazing finish. I can't wait to see that match file. It was a heartbreaker at the end for Frank DiMaggio.
I don't really know Senk. I know he was big from the hey day of bg, but how does he play now? Guess we'll have a better idea shortly. In any case, congrats on a great showing!
Intermediates/Beginners
The community as a whole needs to pay more attention to these events, esp. the finals I'd say, on the whole. I'm very guilty of this myself. If possible, they should play in a clear area, the 'finals area', so that people know where to go to watch the important matches. They should also be recorded and streamed if possible. The intermediates especially I feel are players who if given the proper amount of attention they deserve, will frequent tournaments more often.
Let's take the winner and runner up of the NY Metro, Jordan Schwitzer and Michael Shmuely. I met them both for the first time at this tournament, they're friends and live in NY. What a great run and bit of luck to meet your friend in the finals! Jordan did record his match for later analysis though we couldn't get it streamed because there were too many other 'more important'(?) matches keeping the streams busy.
I know Jordan is going to invest some of the money he made in buying a nice, new, professional board. Once someone gets a quality board like the one he gets he's almost certain to show up at more tournaments. It takes the game to another level. Before that it may have been that game you learned to play on that thing you pulled out from under grandma's couch and now it has turned into something really competition via an equipment change alone.
There really wasn't anyone watching their match either other than Eve, Jordan's gf, and myself popping in and out. Again, a shame. Any major tournament final should have some type of audience I would think. I almost consider it a prerequisite of the Giants in attendance to make an effort if they're otherwise free to watch some of these matches. Afterwards the players will want to discuss certain decisions and it would be great for them to be able to get useful feedback from a Neil Kazaross or Steve Sax.
One piece of advice on the side for intermediates or anyone playing in an event without a clock. Do not let your opponent rush you into making your decisions. The opponent may not even be consciously doing this but a lot of what I saw happening was this: Player rolls, player thinks for a few seconds then sets up a play that will likely be made. The other player, knowing that's likely the play he would make or expects his opponent to make, starts shaking his dice assuming his opponent is done and will be picking up his dice soon. On roll player now unknowingly finishes his play, rushing to pick up his dice, because the other guy was shaking his.
Now, when I have to play without a clock which hopefully won't happen again anytime in the future for anything over 5pts, and someone does this I take extra long when the person starts shaking their dice and I'm clearly not finished thinking/with my turn. It may take a couple/few times of doing this but trust me, they do eventually stop shaking their dice early while my dice are still down. You could also simply ask them. My way may seem childish but asking them doesn't hammer home the point for their future matches the way requesting it does ...or maybe I'm just an ass.
The Draw aka The Donkey Rush
It's 2016, at least a decade that I know of past when we should have this figured out. When the draw for the main event is released why do we only post it in one spot?? Can't we have it in two (or more) places initially? It will have to be condensed to one for reporting results of course but that's not an issue. I would even prefer if someone could perhaps use a projection screen to post the draw or put it online somewhere!? It's 2016!!
Table Numbers
This is something I am really a fan of. Every table is assigned a number and when the draw is released all you need to do is look at the number beside your name and go to that table to find your opponent. Unfortunately I can see drawbacks to this too. Since you can't easily find who your opponent is on the drawsheet it's possible that you don't check who your opponent is and in an odd scenario have someone sit at the wrong table and start a match you shouldn't. I always scan through the numbers and find my opponent but a lot of people don't mainly because of the above mentioned donkey rush. They feel they need to get out of the way quickly.
One way to make this better that may or may not be possible is to also have the names of the players listed at the table. Perhaps preprepared scoresheets?
Another drawback given the number of players who now record matches is these players can't set up their board and recording devices prior to knowing their table assignment. Hopefully there is either extra space where they can set it up and move once they find their opponent at said assigned table or worst case scenario, figure out a way to do it once it is assigned.
That's it for now. As always, sure I'm forgetting something but slowly making it the length of one of Jake's Facebook posts.
Stick
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