1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Nicky Check
Rachel Rhodes
David Startin
Chris Ternel
Dorothy Lee
David Nathan
Peter Chan
David Motley
Adrian Jones
Gerry Enslin
Ramsay Jamil
Ann Pocknell

6
5
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2

24.77
13.42
9.29
9.29
9.29
9.29
9.29
6.19
6.19
6.19
6.19
4.13

Con wins

1
2
3
4
5
5
7
8
9
10
11
12

Peter Christmas
Vicky Chandler
Phil Tutchings
Uldis Lapikens
Jeff Barber
Richard Biddle
Giorgio Castellano
Fak Laight
Rodney Lighton
Mardi Ohannessian
Mervyn Bleach
Ron Havenhand

3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
0
0

4
4
3
3
3
3
2
1
2
1
0
1

9.29
9.29
6.19
6.19
6.19
6.19
4.13
2.58
4.13
2.58
0.00
2.58

County Cups 5 & 6 May 2007
Report by Michael Crane

Main (12/24)
When there's just a few entries, Swiss formats offer the best opportunities to win the tournament, it is possible to lose one round and still come out the champ. This was the case in the 6th Round of the Main. We had one player on 5/5, Nicky Check and three on 4/5. Rachel Rhodes and Dorothy Lee were drawn together, and David Startin was drawn against Nicky.

In the Nicky vs David match is was David that went into the lead and for a time it looked as if he was going to pull it off; he led 6-1 before Nicky began getting a few points of his own. David took it to 9-5 and it was there that he remained. It went to DMP (a double was offered at 2-away, 2-away) and it went Nicky's way, leaving David (on tie-breaks) in 3rd position.

In the Dorothy vs Rachel match, Dorothy, trailing Crawford-8 left an unforced blot on her 4-point during her bearoff with Rachel on the bar. Dorothy asked, rhetorically, "Will you roll a four, now or not?" The answer was, Yes! Rachel rolled the four, and prevailed to take 2nd place.

Nicky & Rachel

Consolation (12/24)
Ever since its first entry into the Swiss format, the Consolation has proved a great incentive to carry on playing even though the Main cannot be won. Three players were on 2/2 and the pairings of Peter Christmas vs Phil Tutching and Vicky Chandler vs Fak Laight (a 1/2 elevated to play Vicky) returned two on 3/3: Peter and Vicky. On the tie-break (average ranking score of opponents) it was Peter who came 1st and Vicky the Runner-up.

Peter & Vicky

Friday 500 (8)
With only eight entries the least amount of points awarded was six; which pleased those that went out in the 1st Round! Richard Biddle made it into the final after he finished off the directing staff of myself and then Caroline Stafford. In the final he met - and was stopped by - Gerry Enslin. Richard's wins put him straight into the Last 16 @ 16th (he'll need to better that if he wants to play for the £500 in December); and Gerry moved into a safer 7th place. There's still six more to come and no one's position is safe; not even Mardi at the top.

Team (7)
For a change we played a Team event (an invention of Mike Main); wherein all the entrants are divided into two teams and they battle it out in a 5-point match. The winning team is then split into two teams and so on. It was my pleasure, aided by team-mate, Richard Biddle, in beating Fak Laight in the 'semi'; and I took even greater pleasure in beating Richard in the final - my revenge for Friday night!

Finally
I suppose you're thinking I've forgotten the poker; well I haven't. There wasn't any. No one wanted to play. Obviously it's not the same without the Gilbertsons and Wiggers! The County Cups was a smaller entry than I anticipated but that was a good thing for those that did enter - it made it a little bit easier to win a place in the UK Finals, and Nicky Check is grateful to those that didn't turn out :-)