We arrived a couple of days early. Last year San Antonio was the only tournament I attended and I was disappointed I both didn't get there in time to play in the Dual-Duel and I didn't have any time to visit the city. This year I got to do both. The post will jump around, I'm not going to take time to organize much. Sorry, time crunch.
It was disappointing this year that the Gibraltar tournament so closely followed San Antonio. That understandably caused quite a few international players not to make the journey. Perhaps because of attendance being down they allowed rebuys. Lucky for me because much like NY, I needed to rebuy. Unlucky for me because much like NY, the rebuy cost me more money.
While it was an absolute pleasure to escape the dismal and abysmal weather of Ohio, I was unimpressed with San Antonio on the whole. First, let me say I enjoy history but am not a buff. I visited the Alamo, it's a great story and piece of history, but on site was a yawn to me. We looked for other things to do but came up surprisingly short. There were things like Madame Tussaud's or Ripley's Believe it or not. I had already seen the former in London and the latter didn't interest me much. There were boat rides on the 'river' or double decker bus tours. I've done both in other cities and was never a big fan of the bus tour. The boat rides I generally like but I'll bitch and moan about that in a separate paragraph. There's a zoo, a botanical garden, a mediocre museum. Things it's nice they have but other cities have them and are often better. There was nothing that really reached out and slapped me in the face that this is San Antonio and this is why you're here!
I had fully intended on doing a boat ride/tour with Jill (the other half of 'we') when we were there. Then I got more familiar with the 'river' and the 'boats'. The river part of the riverwalk was man made from the San Antonio river. Not a big deal until you see that it's only a couple/few(?) feet deep. You can see the bottom at most parts meaning you can see the debris that has collected. It doesn't really give off the feel of a river. Top that off with the boats which came across as a poor person's pontoon boat and all of a sudden I wasn't so thrilled about the boat tour. So we skipped it.
As for the Riverwalk and surrounding area itself it's sweet to have an area like that you can walk around, enjoy the outdoors, the weather, and grab something to eat. I wasn't impressed with the choices of restaurants there though. Part of it is likely my fault, I'm not big on Mexican food. Still though, I felt like most restaurants were chain restaurants. The area is supposed to be local, something different. I don't want to have Hooters on the Riverwalk.
We discussed why we were both so unimpressed with San Antonio because we had both come into it with a good attitude, looking to have a great time. We came to the conclusion that we're probably travel snobs. Once you've taken boat rides on the Seine in Paris or gondolas around Venice you expect a bit more from your boat tours for example. I'm pointing his out because I don't want my two cents worth to deter anyone else from going in the future. I plan on attending the tournament again myself. I'm also sure there will be many people who speak up telling you what a great time they had there or informing me of having missed seeing or doing this or that while I was there. Please do, I'd love to see or do this and that next time I'm there.
My Matches
On to my matches. First up was the Dual-Duel. Going in to this event I felt pretty confident since I could play for PR only and never lose in theory but learned that I need to focus quicker or to get settled in more quickly. The first game wasn't the easiest game and I just felt unsure of some choices I had. I was also pretty sure that Kit had butchered some things and that I was well ahead on the PR...which I was, until I puked one game back to back to back. This battle of 'who is the worst' was close with myself dinging in at a 4.23 and Kit a 4.16.
Within' this match was the following cube:
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| XGID=-BDBBB---------a--ddbbCb--:1:-1:-1:00:0:7:0:11:10 | |||||
| Blue on roll, cube action? | |||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.206.pre-release
I estimated my take point at ~11% and thought I had 10%. I use something similar in my holding game lessons so it wasn't that hard to make an estimate. After I heard the final analysis I was betting XG thought this to be a take and a rollout would deem it a pass and since the PRs were so close that would be the difference and really piss me off. First, it would tick me off because it shouldn't come to that. I should have easily outplayed player X and it wouldn't be an issue. Secondly of course, if XG misunderstands something on ++ there's nothing I can do about it and feel slighted. Fortunately this rolls out to a smaller take but remains a take and is not a big enough change to reverse the PR winner. I can keep my bitching to a minimum.
I'm not going to say much more about the rest of my matches. Michelle has already put them out there for anyone who wants to take a look at them. Here they are specifically in case you don't have them or want to isolate my matches to know how to take advantage of all my weaknesses when you play me.
- Stick (1.1) v. Ed O'Laughlin (2.3) - Last Chance
- Stick (1.1) v. Steve Sax (1.3) - Consolation
- Stick (1.6) v. Ed O'Laughlin (4.5) - Masters Jackpot
- Stick/Rory (1.7) v. Michelle/Gary (10.8) - ToS
- Stick (2.7) v. Nick Blaiser (7.8) - Consolation
- Stick (3.0) v. Nick Baliser (3.4) - Last Chance
- Stick (3.6) v. Steve Brown (3.2) - Main
- Stick (4.2) v. Kit Woolsey (4.2) - Dual-Duel
I will say this about my doubles (tournament of stars) match. I turn around for one gdmf second and Rory can't play an opening roll correctly. We're at gammon go, he opens with a [54] and plays 20, 8!? I turn back around, see the position, recreate what must have happened in my head and wtff. Only Rory. I should have known better than to think he could handle the opening roll all by his lonesome. Here is an interesting cube decision we faced:
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| XGID=-a---BDaCA--bD--bbbcb--A--:0:0:-1:00:4:1:0:7:10 | |||||
| White on roll, cube action? | |||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.206.pre-release
While I don't have much more to say because I generally lost quickly in everything I did once again (except the last chance) I did pull a (insert player name here) and buy myself into the quarterfinals of the Masters Jackpot. First, I entered it normally, played the early start, and lost. I came down to the tournament room the next day and noticed they had 28 players and asked if I could buy the other 4 spots which would put me in the quarterfinals. Everything was okayed and before you know it Chuck was posting that I was in the quarters. These types of moves are what can often let certain players look like they have better results than they actually do. I have nothing whatsoever against someone buying their way to this round or that round, they paid up to do so, all fair as far as I'm concerned. The part that gets on my nerves is that when the results are posted all anyone sees or knows is that Player X cashed or won or whatever. It's much less impressive if the actual details are known sometimes.
Hotel horrors
Oh, and the 'hot tub' at the hotel should have been labeled a 'luke warm tub' instead. The temperature hovered around 97 degrees. You need at least triple digits and most people like about 103/104. It makes a much bigger difference than you might imagine. The hotel itself is old so while in some respects it gives it character, in other respects it can just suck like maintaining a certain temperature in your room or having a shower that isn't awkwardly constructed and can easily flood the floor if you don't use magical powers to get it started.
Dinner debacle
Another story about dinner one night. (told you this would be unorganized) We had maybe an hour and a half for dinner on one of the first days so we decided to go to the nice steakhouse that is so close to the hotel most people think it's actually part of the hotel. Morton's was able to get us in, quickly seated, served, food was good, service was decent. All that you would expect. The bill came and in the interest of speed and often someone wanting to get the points on their credit card we told the waiter/bartender we'd take one check.
There are 8 of us and I won't name names but we got the bill and I took it and did our portion first. (Jill and myself) I then passed it along letting everyone know that gratuity wasn't included as it often is in such a nice restaurant and with a party so large. I also reminded everyone to figure in the tax. Yada yada yada...we were sixty dollars short! What normally happens at least in my experience is that when everyone says they'll pay in cash most people over pay by a small amount and you easily have too much. Not here, wth was going on. These are backgammon players, they should be able to figure out a bill.
The gratuity wasn't included so I guess you can tip whatever you please but again, the service was good, it's a nice place, and 20% is the minimum default in my opinion since that's what would have been charged had they added it for a large party. We gave everyone their money back, tried it again, and only came up $30 short this time! What a time saver...there were some people who also suggested that when we were short either time that it was 'fine' and that was 'good enough'. You know who shouldn't suffer for your ineptitude with basic math? The server.
Now things get even messier. Someone innocently suggests "Why don't we all just toss in an extra $5? It was an okay idea and in certain groups would have solved the problem but in another respect you shouldn't offer up other people's money. While $5 to you may be completely meaningless, to someone else it may make a difference and putting that pressure on them to cough up money when they have possibly already paid their share seems unfair and can easily create ill will even though none was intended. (Yes, I realize that if that sum of cash makes a difference maybe they shouldn't be eating in such a nice steakhouse...) Personally I didn't want to toss in $5 myself either because I know I didn't screw the pooch on the math! It wasn't because I care about $5 but I was annoyed that this couldn't be figured out. Eventually one person realized they were short and another person tossed in money they didn't owe or need to to equalize the bill. #Clusterfuck.
During all of this it was noted on the back of the check who originally paid what so of course I took this copy and later on figured out who was short and by how much. 3 out of 8 mfers were short! Unreal. A headache where one wasn't needed.
As always, it's much easier to complain than to pick out everything that went well. I will say Bill worked tirelessly. Every time I saw him it seemed like he was working whether he should have already been asleep or on dinner break. I'm sure his staff did much of the same. Almost all of my matches were clock and most events were clock preference. The Dual-Duel had a big hitch because there was nobody around to input the matches immediately which held up things. I'm not sure where the fault lies but that kind of sucked. It was fantastic though all the recording and streaming that was done. I'll certainly attend this tournament again even after all my bitching and complaining. That's how good the tournament itself is.
I did not attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. It's not my thing. I always feel bad about not going (as I also didn't go last year) but excuse #1, excuse #2, excuse #3, and excuse #4. I doubt they matter to you so I won't list them. I did watch the video of last year's and it went off really well.
Shit, this is so well organized...as for the Superbowl party I didn't make it. I had lost to Ed in the Masters getting crushed as I have been in basically everything this year (11-0) and then I lost to him right behind that in the last chance. When I lose important matches knowing I played well and significantly better than the other person I get in a mood. That mood is not wanting to be around people so I skipped the Superbowl party and headed to the new neighboring Dave and Busters, found a seat at the bar, and ate. Eventually Ben and ScottyK joined me. We met some people at the bar and hung out all night. So if you want feedback on the Superbowl party(s) or the HoF dinner you'll have to ask someone else. Anything else I may have left out give me a nudge and I'll offer up my thoughts.
Stick