Results of the 2008 Open

On Nov 8th, Austin, Jacob and I played in this year's 2008 Open. On Friday we played our ladder event. We get seeded and based on how we play can either advance our seed position into a higher division, or get put where we were seeded if we lost. The guy on our table who was an unknown and seeded at the bottom, made his way all the way to the top to play James but ended up in the A Division. At first he looked not that good, but he would toy with the other player just enough to stay ahead. His name is Jeff Hone and he moved here from California. He's an older guy who claimed he hadn't played in many years. Well he still had it.

Jacob and Austin didn't advance either. Austin played in the D division and Jacob in the bottom one. There were over 60 people in the tournmant, so there were 6 divisions (Open, A, B, C, D and E) I played in the B division.

On Saturday I was in a group with Bryce Parkinson, Matt Pugmire, and Varhese Pallathu. The other guy in our group didn't show. I first played Bryce. I knew it would be tough, but in the last several tournaments I was able to squeek by. Not this time. He was more consistent on his loops and I had been out of practice enough for him to slaughter me 3 - 0. I then played Matt and lost 3-2. Then to Varghese 3-1. I was disappointed, and humbled, but knew I deserved it for the neglect I've given the sport over the summer giving way to swimming and biking.

Jacob won a game from someone, but lost all his matches. He's a great sport though. He had fun and wasn't upset. Austin took first at his table and advanced to the semifinals. The semifinal round was a single elimination with the other half of his division. He lost to Javza Gaav 2-3. He was pretty upset about that, but not as bad I've seen him in the past. He's getting better at controlling his disappointment.

We didn't stay to see who won the divisions, we just took off cause it had already been a long day. Cathi came on Friday night with the kids to watch the first hour. It was really crowded and the kids tried to watch a movie on my laptop, but it was too loud and they couldn't hear. Next time we all need to be more in practice to expect any kind of success at a tournament. I'm worried about Nationals next month. Better start hitting with the robot!