Newsletter for 29 June 2004

Bye bye to June!

Tournament News

1st place:  Sho Sengoku
2nd place:  Eric Sedehi
3rd place:  Bruce Discher

After a great turnout last week, we had only eight people in attendance, so just a single 16-player bracket was opened.

Occasionally in this spot, we welcome new players to the club, but this time we have to bid farewell... Vito Volpetti is leaving San Diego and is heading back to Italy. Arrivederci, Vito!

Player of the Month for June

Sho Sengoku is the BCSD Player of the Month for June 2004. Sho has won two consecutive Player of the Month Awards after a slow start to the year. This month, Sho made it to the tournament finals four times out of five, and won two of the finals matches. In a spectacular run, Sho has now made the tournament finals in eight out of the last nine tournaments, winning five of them.

Here are the top point getters for each month this year:

• Jan 2004:  Bruce Haight 15 points
  Feb 2004:  Jason Lee    17 points
  Mar 2004:  Tom Fahland  15 points
  Apr 2004:  Adrian Costa 12 points
  May 2004:  Sho Sengoku  28 points
  Jun 2004:  Sho Sengoku  24 points
  

Current Master Points Standings

 1. Sho Sengoku      66
 2. Jason Lee        53
 3. Bruce Haight     47
 4. Adrian Costa     41
 5. Osman Guner      33
 6. Tom Fahland      32
 7. Fred Kamgar      28
 8. Eric Sedehi      20
 9. Cyrus Mobedshahi 18
10. Henry Chaboki    12
11. Marcia Karen      9
12. Ned Cross         8
13. Greg Kopp         6
14. Bruce Discher     4
14. Vito Volpetti     4
16. Chris Rosin       3
16. Mark Weiner       3
18. Ryan Knowles      2
19. Maira Costa       1
19. Sam Mehri         1

By winning the tournament, Sho has opened up another big lead -- he's ahead of Jason Lee by 13 points.

We're at the halfway point now -- it certainly seems as though it won't take that many points to earn a spot in the Tournament of Champions, but don't let yourself miss out on that!!! Get out and earn some points to make the Tournament!!!

The point leader at the end of the year will be named the BCSD Player of the Year, and the top 16 in the Master Point standings will be invited to the 2004 BCSD Tournament of Champions, to be held in early 2005.

Problem of the Week

7 point match, tied 1-1. Pip counts: White 133, Black 124
Position ID: 2M7BAwRrdsABKA Match ID: QQntABAACAAA

Last Week's Problem of the Week

7 point match, tied 0-0. Black on roll. Cube action? Pip counts: White 77, Black 82
Position ID: bbsLgAC6uwMGAA Match ID: cAngAAAAAAAA

The take/pass decision is clear -- a miss by Black and White is in the game, with excellent racing chances -- and even if Black hits, many of the hits leave direct shots for White off the bar. Since Black misses 19 times out of 36, there's no way White can pass.

The double/no double decision is what makes this problem interesting. The rollout actually shows that Black only wins 62.7% of the time after tossing the cube -- so why is this a double?

The answer here lies in volatility -- the sequence of Black hits, White fans is a huge marker loser. Now is the time. Don't miss the bus on this one!

Cube decision
Rollout cubeless equity		+0.269	(Money: +0.268)
Cubeful equities:
1.	Double, take	+0.315
2.	Double, pass	+1.000	+0.685
3.	No double	+0.289	-0.025
Proper cube action:		Double, take
Rollout details
Win W g W bg   Lose L g L bg Cubeless Cubeful Centered 1-cube 0.630 0.017 0.000 - 0.370 0.009 0.000 +0.269 +0.289 Standard error 0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 Player White owns 2-cube 0.627 0.016 0.000 - 0.373 0.009 0.000 +0.564 +0.315 Standard error 0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.002
Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 7) with var.redn.
7776 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 972252672 and quasi-random dice
Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]
Cube: 2-ply cubeful 100% speed [world class]

See you next week! Keep tossing those cubes,
J. Lee