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A clock (lack of) story from this past weekend's CSI
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: A clock (lack of) story from this past weekend's CSI (neilkaz)
Date: Tuesday, 12 March 2013, at 1:18 a.m.
I could add several more, similar stories from all events. At DMP I watched someone playing my friend, Yan (who was blind and couldn't imagine what the problem was until he asked) playing someone who was not rolling the dice. Why? She wanted to count the pips on both sides to get an accurate count in case she rolled a number where she might be able to race to see if she should race or not. She would have to roll two numbers higher than a 3 in order to race without leaving a direct shot, and if she didn't the play would be automatic. She was very far down in the race, and probably would not run unless she rolled high doubles, but she decided to take the time to get a full count before rolling, just in case.
She finally explained what she was doing, as Yan did not know what was going on or why and couldn't imagine why his opponent wasn't rolling, and then later, after she rolled, to Bill's credit, he explained to the lady that it is simply not fair or right for her to take this kind of time up when she could first roll and see if she really did need to make a full count. The problem was not just that she was doing the count that was probably unnecessary, but she was a very slow counter and was getting confused and had to recount several times.
If the match had been clocked, no one would care or be irritated if she took as much time as she liked to count. In fact, if you have a clock, and you decide not to roll simply because you want to relax and think, no one can or will object. But this was ridiculous, and one of the reasons Bill was at that table at that time was because the bracket was dragging because that particular match was taking a long time to finish.
I, myself, had a real problem in one of my matches. I had an opponent who was consistently taking an excessive amount of time to make decisions that I consider quite simply for an Open Division player. The decisions were mostly obvious, and after a long time, he make the obvious play or cube decision. What am I supposed to do when playing someone like this? Should I "punish" them by doing the same thing and showing them how it feels? That would punish me, too, by making my own match run late as well as putting me at fault for holding up others and holding up the tournament. Do I play extra fast or let him see I am irritated? Do I complain to him and tell him he's being unfair and discourteous to me and the rest of the tournament by playing so slow on relatively simple decisions? Who am I to make that judgement and why should I be put in the position of having to monitor my opponent? Clocks solve all those, and many more problems. The case is so strong it amazes me that reasonable, intelligent people don't agree.
Does it sound like me, and Neil, and others who feel this way are losing their patience with this issue. We are. The debate has gone on far too long. If the ABT won't make a ruling on this, and the USBGF has no authority or desire to, then truly the only recourse is to vote with our feet, and that's a shame. I really will miss going to several tournaments next year and I am sorry to be a part of the group of people that hurts attendance when I really want to support these wonderful tournament directors who do so much for the game and work so hard to put on great events, but refuse to change with the times and do things that many of us feel strongly is for the benefit of the game...for the players, the spectators, and for the overall growth of the game.
Time's up. Next year, no clocks, no Phil. I know many others who feel the same, and several who will do the same. This is not a "boycot," as I am not telling anyone else what to do. I am just not going if the main event does not require clocks.
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