| |
BGonline.org Forums
Read my post- no 2-point matches
Posted By: Albert Steg In Response To: Read my post- no 2-point matches (Barry Silliman)
Date: Friday, 13 January 2017, at 5:01 p.m.
I find the 2-pt match kind of fun to play precisely because I often encounter opponents whose knowledge of or approach to 2-pt matches I'm unsure of. It makes it interesting to weigh the likelihood of my losing my market against the likelihood that my opponent has a greater chance of doing so.
It's true that relative beginners are at a much bigger disadvantage in the 2-pt format, and 1-pointers would serve better for having one event where experts and amateurs can meet over the board with the closest odds possible.
If you're really aiming to make things more "sporting" for less experienced players, you might also want to look at the tradition of allowing repeated buy-ins in these kinds of events. This year's 2-Pt mini-match final at the New York Metro last week, between me and Ed O'Laughlin, was a repeat of last year's final -- and on top of that, Ed's semi-final against Tony Wuersch was also a re-run of last year. Quite extraordinary for a 128-player event! Both years, there was $1000 USBGF money added, and you could buy back in as many times as you like with a max of 2 'live' slots at a time. With the added money incentive and the relatively low entry fee, experts see this as an equity-positive proposition worth hammering away at, while beginners are less likely to keep throwing money at it -- so the likelihood of a less-experienced player actually cashing in what turns into a 128-draw event is very very small, and probably still would be if it were 1-pt matches.
Between the 4 semi-finalists this year, we had at least 13 of the 128 entries between us (Ed entered 7 times, I entered twice, not sure about the others but John Klein emerged with two spots in the quarterfinals). It would be interesting to know the breakdown of the 128 slots by experience level (Open / Advanced / Beginner).
I think it's a really fun event as it is, and I know that certain beginner/intermediate level players I've met through this event have really enjoyed talking about the cube strategy with me after the match -- it does lead to some worthwhile learning exchanges that would be lacking without a cube involved -- but I also think Barry is right when he points out that there's an element of 'soaking the beginners' by having them compete at such a peculiar score when so many of them barely seem aware of the concept of a market loser to begin with.
Albert
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.