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Jarvis Trophy. 1, 2, 3, February 2008
Report by Michael Crane. Pictures by Michael Crane & Peter Chan

The first Swiss of the year got off to a good start with a perfect entry of 32. This meant that the Main and the Consolation would each have 16 entrants . . . . and an easy draw! I was helped at this event (and for, approximately, every alternate one) by Deena Fawcett. She, and Paul Gilbertson's girlfriend, Tracey, are to share the 'job' and it'll be Tracey's turn next month. Apart from having two delightful assistants I also now have two delightful poker organisers in the guise of Tony Fawcett and Paul Gilbertson!

Deena soon picked up the scoring and recording of the matches and it was her delight to notch up 3/3 for her lovely hubby, Tony, and his bessie mate, Paul Gilbertson in the Main. Also notching up a perfect Saturday score were Ed Turner and John Hedge. In the 4th Round, Tony was drawn against John, and Paul against Ed. Both Deena and Tracey were hoping for a Tony vs Paul 5th Round with both on 4/4; but this wasn't to be. Instead, John and Ed went head-to-head on 4/4 and Tony and Paul faced each other on 3/4.

Main: John and Ed

Runner-up position in the Main went, eventually, to Ed who actually shared 5/6 with Chris Ternel. They hadn't met for a personal head-to-head, so shared opponents were compared, and it was here that Chris pointed out that he and Ed had both played Mick Vacarey, and that he (Chris) had lost whereas Ed had not!

Consolation: Marcus and Paul

In the Consolation we had two sharing 3/3, Marcus Wrinch and Paul Barwick. They hadn't met throughout the competition, nor did they share common opponents so the average ranking score of opponents were used, and it was Marcus who won by a narrow margin of 5 points!

Let's go back a bit in time . . . to the Friday 500 (16). We kick-started the weekend with a perfect entry. The semi-finals saw two regulars, Rosey Bensley and Mardi Ohannessian and two new members, Vicky and Stewart Pemberton. Mardi took on Vicky and Rosey, Stewart. Mardi robbed the Pembertons of a cosy little final when he beat Vicky but Rosey failed to beat Stewart. Galvanised into action to avenge the defeat of Vicky, Stewart prevailed and won his first Biba event, and collected top points towards his (expected) attack of the 500 prize of £500.

And now we skip to Saturday night. There was a big surprise in the Poker (10) when Vicky (see above) played through to be the winner! Pauls Gilbertson and Watts were 2nd & 3rd, and then Crispin Duke sneaked in at 4th and relegated Myke (Mad Mullah) Wignall into 5th place.

The Team (9) wasn't as hectic as the one in Brighton, but it was still a lot of fun. Loads of shouting, heckling and 'advice' was heard from both sides of the board. It quieted down a tad when it got to a 'final' between me, vs John Hedge and Gerry Enslin. I got to a point in the match where I had a 5-prime home board with the 1-point open and occupying the 1- and 3-points on the other side of the board; when I was presented with a nice double-shot. After a little consideration I shipped across a 4-cube for the match. I figured if I hit the blot I'd lose my market so I did it. They too. I missed. They won! They didn't bother playing out the last match, they split the money and retired to the bar. I retired to bed.

Before we go, it appears that some players have too much time on their hands. This is how Rachel Rhodes passed her time . . .

Finally
The weekend went fairly well so far as the tournament was concerned, however, we had major problems with the restaurant (too long and complicated for this report). Suffice to say, the hotel have been informed and are looking into it, hopefully to ensure we don't get a repeat next month.

 

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