Subject: Weekly competition - Saturday 03/03/07

Date: Sun Feb 25 17:42:14 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
9x3 it is for the daily streak next Saturday - this will be a nice one I think.....

Date: Sun Feb 25 17:48:21 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
Laffman's 198 could be in serious trouble!

Date: Sun Feb 25 17:53:30 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
yeah - sorry Laffman - hope you can show and defend your title!

Date: Sun Feb 25 17:59:20 2007
User: +-Sandy-+
Message:
Hey, I'm glad to see this, I think I could handle it. But let's see where the practice takes me....

Date: Sun Feb 25 23:11:58 2007
User: Laffman
Message:
I'll be surprised if 198 doesn't get beaten. Even though 9x3 is fairly easy most of the time, it resembles 8x4 in that you can stumble into streak-breaking jams when you least expect it. Given the time it takes to build a streak of 200+ games in one day, it's not easy to make more than one run at it in the same day. A streak of 200+ in 8x4 used to seem pretty solid until a few 400+ streaks made those old marks look pretty puny; I think the current mark in 9x3 will suffer a similar fate. Good luck to all. :)

Date: Tue Feb 27 19:44:57 2007
User: calicokid
Message:
Not sure if anyone noticed but Laffman extended the all-time daily best in 9x3 to 238 this week....I guess he was just doing a little practicin'. Or maybe he didn't want some Johnny come-lately to knock down his all time daily best!!! Very impressive Laffman. .bow

Date: Wed Feb 28 00:37:08 2007
User: Laffman
Message:
Thanks, calico. I started out just wanting a little 9x3 practice, but got a little carried away once I had some momentum going. I still think the record will get smashed, though, if any of several skilled players can dedicate a big chunk of their day to it. Pushing it up to 238 took several hours, but it was still far from a full-day effort. I know many players are capable, so it's just a matter of having the time and patience. At least I set the bar a wee bit higher, though. :)

Date: Thu Mar 1 22:36:43 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
Just a friendly reminder and bringing this to topic nearer the top Laffman has raised the bar higher for us as we race each oher this Saturday in the 9x3. good luck everyone :O)

Date: Sat Mar 3 12:40:59 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
Update, well I'm done ! accidently picked up the wrong card and that was that. here are the top 4 standings with almost 12 hours left. 1. kenwa 92 2. mickeyiwimnot 56 3. Purohit 49 4. ElGuapo 20

Date: Sat Mar 3 16:20:59 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
It's 3:18 pm and surprisingly I still hold the lead! BUT.... we have mickeyiwimnot on 61, ElGuapo on 52, Purohit on 49 and what's this I see on 4 but Laffman....plenty of time left folks .........

Date: Sat Mar 3 21:24:34 2007
User: ElGuapo
Message:
Ugh, my least favorite kind of loss! I got handed what looked to me like an unbelievably nasty 9x3. Lots of what I call bad pairs: two cards of the same color and value stacked in the same column. Three moves and I was locked up entirely, my only consolation being that it was an ugly game ... until I saw the game stats, now at 2 out of 3! So somehow I was the first to lose it. :( I guess this one just had my number. I replayed it 3 times before I finally got it. 9x3 20874-10. Congrats on what's looking like a runaway victory, Laffman!

Date: Sun Mar 4 00:25:36 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
Congratulations to Laffman who romped home to an easy win in today's competition after his streak of 200 today in the 9x3's - well done to the other participants - remember to look for the AIO before the Masters on Sunday for the variant we'll race in next Saturday.

Date: Sun Mar 4 13:50:23 2007
User: Laffman
Message:
Thanks. Color me surprised. I didn't have my first look at the daily leaderboard until mid-afternoon. I expected the mark to be so out of reach it wouldn't be worth starting a streak, but kenwa's 92 (already ended) was the one to chase so I had a chance. I started off extending my streak where it left off earlier in the week, and blew that one within the first hour or so. It was still early enough to start a new one, so I did. There were other good players and active streaks to compete with, but they kept getting busted before the century mark, so I was motivated to keep going. A few notable absentees and a bit of luck allowed me to take and hold the lead. Guap, I played the game that broke your streak. It's definitely tougher than the average 9x3 and I can easily see blowing a streak on it, but with the extra caution that came from knowing it was tricky ahead of time, I got it on my first try. It took me about three times as long as usual, though, and took a lot more moves than usual before it really opened up and got easy.

Date: Sun Mar 4 14:50:47 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
giggle @ "Color me surprised". You're funny Laffman. :) I forgot about it til around 10 pm and got flustered at midnight and lost my streak. Oh well, I had a productive day.

Date: Tue Mar 6 16:39:23 2007
User: +-Sandy-+
Message:
How could you go that far thru the day, and NOT THINK about freecell?

Date: Tue Mar 6 16:56:51 2007
User: JeffMo
Message:
.giggle +-Sandy-+ good one!