Also, im going easy on people this round. Let's see if anyone can sweep me. Also, im realizing this tourney is going to last way longer than I was wanting. So, im throwing some bones. Dont get me wrong, im still going to try.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Go a whole pente tourney without some weird **** happening challenge: impossible
It's generally considered poor sportsmanship to go easy on people in a tournament setting. Announcing you are doing so...makes it weirder, certainly not better, probably worse.
It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Ok well sorry. But I cant see my self doing this another 6 months, which is what will happen if I make it to final round with Karl. Endless split sets.
The issue is no vacation days. I have surgery on Friday. I have a gf that wants to take vacations with me coming up. Where im not staring at a pente board lol. I have a teen daughter who needs help with home work. I have both a 40 hour week job, and a home business, including an employee I pay that works with me. And customers im contracted to finish elaborate custom work for. That i must focus on, to pay down credit cards.
Really a lot of too much personal information, but I feel I owed an explanation. This is why I had retired from pente. Because im older now, and have other stuff i chose to focus on.
But, lets see how it goes. If I make it to next round, who knows, maybe I'll find some breathing room to do more quality games.
Also, I feel sort of a pressure that everyone expects me to play endless elite level games. I have the skill level, but perhaps not the resilience over time with such tourney time constraints. Im not completely falling on my sword here, ill still fight in my games.
But admittedly I did some goofy moves, that I'll need to recover from. I cant even time out from the tourney to get out like I tend to do. Because someone will just resurrect my games like homebrews lol.
Hey I mean, at least I was here to throw some stones around. And yes karl I know youre paying money, to people, and have an invested dream to defeat me in final round. Im all for that and support you. Keep in mind I've declined to recieve money. (Dont guilt and put it on me that you are paying people, I never asked you to do that. It has nothing to do with me). But im glad youre having fun with that.
But I did express my skepticism of if I could or would be willing to deliver on that (complete a tourney).
Weird to say im going easy on players? I mean I guess. At least I didnt just delete my account like what's his name. I respect the participants, so im just being open and forthright.
This is not televised. We are just a small group of friends doing a small intimate tourney. So im just keeping it real with everyone. Honestly, people like mumix deserve final round over me. He has the resilience to go a 10+ game sets on final round. I do not.
Karl me and you can do some occasional sets, if i dont make it to final round. And I have a feeling your rating goal can be achieved without me. Im a retired player. Who gets talked into tourneys every so often. You cant expect much. Other than, I know how to play pente.
Ultimately, aside from my personal stuff. The 2 days a move with no vacation days, and where at least 2 players advance from every section, kind of kills it for me.
I didnt understand why, if i sweep all players and get highest score why someone else in my section is advancing. Didn't seem right. Just makes the tourney take longer.
Pente_gon pops in here every day. Yet you dont see him competing. Likely for the same reasons as me.
And yes, anytime you pull in retired masters/grand masters, there's a chance of weird **** happening. Theres a reason they retired.
For a masters tourney. I feel 14 days vacation per 6 months every 6 months would be better. And inbetween rounds, a 1 week cool off period for people to know who they will face and have time to study for them. And, who ever has highest points in a section, the others in that section do not advance. And, 3 days per move. And, allow vacation to roll over once. So a person can take a 1 month vacation per year if they feel like taking a longer vacation. Because these tourneys take too long no matter what you do. So people need a way to balance it in thier lives. Just my opinion.
Ive never been in a tb tourney where I enjoy being stuck in it. Maybe first couple of rounds. After that it becomes a chore. Is why i have always preferred just playing individual sets with people.
I enjoyed the Carsons pente tourney. Because it was live. And so i only had to focus one set at a time. And I could schedule with the person. And there was down time inbetween sets.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
I studied some of your "goofy" moves last night, and I found some surprisingly deep and original ideas under the surface.
Could be I'm hallucinating, or it could be this is the next evolution of mind games. Could be you've come to the same realization as others, which is that playing your strongest P2 lines in the early rounds does little to improve your chances of advancing (assuming you take care to lock up all your P1 games), so it's wiser to save them for the final round, when every point does matter.
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By some miracle, Pente Masters 2020 wrapped up in exactly 4 months. That was mostly due to it only being 3 rounds, however. I guess it was foolish of us to hope for a similar trajectory this time. Life only gets messier as it goes on.
And Zoey, I put a low likelihood on a final round two-person showdown. More likely is what happened in Pente Masters 2020: One person squeaks out one more set win than everyone else in Round 4, and they are the champion. I hope that's the case at least; 2-person final rounds have an absolutely horrible track record.
It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
I understand where you're coming from. I got a 2nd kid coming in a few months myself. And tourneys do distract me a bit from work/family in a bad way at times. Instead of completing some work i'm looking at some pente game lol. So I don't like doing big tourneys all the time. Even the routine smaller ones that i participate in sometimes take up too much time. But I'm trying to convince myself to just let go and not think too much. Ya know, just pull the phone up once a day at night and play my moves quickly and stuff. I'm not there yet, but making progress, because I really like to beat tempest when I can
Couple things, one is that it wouldn't necessarily be endless sets in final round, as whoever has most points just wins. You don't have to beat karlw in a set to win final round. Just snag more p2 wins than him in the group. You play everyone in the group like you do now.
I actually think the live idea with scheduling is interesting. Though would need some moderation, like what to do when 2 people have trouble coming to an agreement on schedule and the deadline for that round is passing or whatever.
I think one issue is the human nature to go really deep on analysis because you are given so much time. And I'm talking the 2 days per move being a long time to think about one move. So, the extra vacation time might backfire for some people, as they might spend even more time researching/analyzing and get even more burnt out.
If we could all just convince ourselves to take no more than 5 minutes on a move when we pull up the board and be content with our wins and losses, then maybe we'd all be happier lol
Live tourneys are a good idea in theory. In practice, they are plagued with even worse delays than turn-based. The last live event was the 2015 World Championship, which had 14 forfeits (one was a double forfeit lol) out of 34 scheduled matches, and took over 2 years to complete.
Some time after that, the community reached a consensus that it was simpler to make one move every few days over several months than find time for two people to meet online for 1-2 hours, and it's been TB only ever since. Mid-game timeouts suck, but adding vacation days and 3+ days to move resulted in some truly despicable stalling tactics back in the BrainKing era.
It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Sorry why is it i scored highest, yet people im my sections still advanced. And how come in round 4 that won't happen. And how come every section I face 3 players and everyone else faces 2 playwers.
And yes, there is no perfect solution to tourney format. Which is why i avoid tourneys and only play when pressured. For me the perfect experience is i do 2 rounds in tourneys like a special appearance, and assist in elimating lower skilled players. I dont really have much desire to win tourneys, as I dont feel i need to prove anything to my self. I know im good. But I also know that I lack resilience, as nosovs once mentioned to me. I get mentally exhausted easily. Which is why i gravitate to blue moon occasion single sets.
Admittedly, my line vs mumix was trash. Sorry mumix, you deserved something slightly stronger than that. As to owen, hes lucky he didnt follow main lines. Mike, hes in the woods, will see what he comes up with. And Owen's p2, interesting the more I look at it. Many false p1 wins in the db. Ill try to solve it tonight. Because tomorrow is surgery.
Ps, karl, i was going to do crazy move vs mumix, my p1, but ill try to play it sensibly. Just for u.
My p1 vs Mike is pretty ballsy. Will see if I can pull it off.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
re: round4 - because once we get to a round with <= 6 players, all of those players are placed in the same group, and if someone has the most points in that round, they win.
And I do want to say, regardless of what happens, I and I am sure others are grateful for your appearance. Wouldn't be as interesting without ya.
Echoing what mumix said about the format and wishing you well on your surgery. Round 4 will almost certainly be 4-6 players in one section -> point leader wins tournament, if tie for 1st, the tied people go to a playoff round robin with the same rules.
As for why you're always in a section of 4, I think that might just be random luck. The upper sections are the sections of 4, and you've been put in an upper section the last two rounds (round 1 you were in a section of 3). I've been put in a lower section each time.
Also, as much as I'd like to discuss your games now, it is best to wait until the games have concluded, so I will hold my tongue for now.
Other than to say your 7...O12?!? versus mumix made me do a spit take.
And that I will be watching the owen vs. madmike set with interest. Both players playing my lines.
It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Its a poisoned pair. The mumix game. But he didnt extended to attack it unfortunately. His spidey senses must had kicked in and he started thinking. I should had known better to try that on mumix. Needed something more complex and knife fight style.
Thanks for the well wishes.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
