| |
BGonline.org Forums
Thanks and...
Posted By: Chuck Bower In Response To: Congratulations to Chuck Bower! (Jason Lee)
Date: Wednesday, 1 June 2011, at 2:44 a.m.
I like to recognize members of the BGOline community for strong performances and that usually means those who post here, since it's hard to know who's just reading but not posting. Besides those mentioned so far, congratulations to Mary for winning the 16-player Taki Board side event, Jeb for his second place finish in the 32-bracket Seniors, and Lucas Bauer for 1st Consolation in the 42-player Intermediate. Lucas consistently posts his views on the daily quizzes and many other positions here and his enthusiasm for and study of the game has in a relatively short time revealed itself in his results.
Winning money is great. Winning a trophy is great. Winning ABT points is great. But, the congratulations and good wishes of peers, in person, by e-mail, and on this forum are a big part of the enjoyment of winning. Thanks to all of you.
One more thing that sets this finish apart for me has to do with the Calcutta. This year the format was similar to the way Peoria (Illinois State) does their Calcutta, where the players are broken into categories and each round the highest bidder gets to choose one from the A-group (seen as the strongest players by those who make up the Calcutta sheet) and one or (in this case) two from the B-group. (Phil has been given credit for this format although I sat with the Central Illinois contingent and they said Ed Zell had a part in its inception as well.)
With a field of 57 (actually expanded to 58 with a very late entry), the field consisted of 19 A-players and 38/39 B-players resulting in 19 lots at the final gun. The 19 A-players were the 16 who played in the Giants Invitational plus John O'Hagan, David Rockwell, and Dennis Culpepper. Larry Liebster (as typical) set the standard high by winning the first bid and taking Mochy, Frank Frigo, and Howard Markowitz.
Many know that Steve Sax and Bob Glass are longtime friends. They collaborate in the Calcutta with Bob doing the bidding and Steve staying in the background, but their handicapping is done jointly, usually prior to the actual auction. Two or three times in the past I've been flattered to be bought by this consortium and have always felt badly when I've failed to perform. They may still be in the red picking me but I felt really good about finally bringing them a return on investment. As Bob mentioned, I was the only one on my team (which included Stick and David R.) to buy back -- something I do considerably less than half the time, but this time I really liked the chances of my teammates. We were the third seed (based upon prices paid) and in the end returned 3.4 to 1. Compare that to the Kentucky Derby where the 3rd seed usually is considerably higher than this, but then they only pay 1 position in the win pool where here I believe several spots (seven?) shared the purse.
Bob and Steve have for years been friendly towards me and made me feel a welcome part of the BG World. I've always appreciated that. Ironically, as Bob reported, he and I sparred twice this weekend including the final, and of course Steve won the most prestigious title of the week if not the year. But lest you get the wrong impression, I don't feel badly for defeating Bob, even when I made that bad take in the bearoff and he rolled his 2/36 nightmare to lose 4-points. All anyone with that sentiment needs to do to get straightened out is take a peek at his trophy case.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.