My 2012/2013 Cribbage Season

Back on August 1st I had no idea this season would turn out the way it did. I entered the Jefferson State Long Match, run by Rick Shea, and went to Blue Lake and Winnemucca in August and September respectively. My long match run ended just after Reno in November, and by then I'd run into 660 MRPs. I felt like I had to go for it. We're now in the beginning of March, with still 5 months left. I have no idea how some of these guys do it year after year! (They don't work for one!)

Tournaments Played

In the first 31 weeks of the season (thru March 3rd) I have played 23 tournaments. I've played 3 mid-week tournaments and 20 tournaments on the weekend. Of the 31 weekends, I've played on 16 of them and not played on 15 of them, so I'm roughly playing every other weekend.

Total Master Points

To this point in the season I've earned 1,497 MRPs. I've earned 445 in Main Qualifying, 931 in Main Playoffs, 57 in Consolation Qualifying and 64 in Consolation Playoffs. Overall, I've earned 1,376 points in the main and 121 points in the Consolation. 92% of my points have been earned in Main events. 8% in Consolation events.

Overall Record

My overall record across every game, qualifying and playoffs, is 412-280 (59.5%). I've played 692 games in 23 tournaments, an average of 30.1 games per tournament.

Main Qualifying

I've qualified in 14 of 23 main events (60.9%). I definitely prefer the 2-day, 22-game events. I've played in 13 22-game events and qualified 9 times (69.2%). I've played in 6 14-game tournaments and qualified 3 times (50%). I've played in 4 12-game tournaments and qualified 2 times (50%).

My record in main qualifying is 255-161 (61.3%). Of the 14 times I have qualified, I have earned qualifying points 10 times (71.4%) of the time I qualify. I have earned a total of 445 points in main qualifying, an average of 44.5 points per event I qualify high. Interestingly, all 10 times I have earned qualifying points I qualified in the top 5.

Main Playoffs

I've made the main playoffs 14 times. My overall record in the playoffs is 92-65 (58.6%). My results in the main playoffs are as follows:

Lost in 1st Rd	2 times
Lost in 2nd Rd	2 times
Lost in 3rd Rd	5 times
Lost in 4th Rd	1 time
Won	4 times

Consolation Qualifying

As you can tell from only having 8% of my total points in consolations, they aren't my thing this season. I've played in 12 consolations so far, and qualified in 4 of them (33.3%). My record in consolation qualifying is 60-44 (57.7%).

Of the 4 times I've qualified, I was #1 qualifier twice and #2 qualifier by spread points the other time, earning qualifying points 3 of 4 times. (75% of the time I qualify). I earned 57 total qualifying points, an average of 19 points per time I qualify.

Consolation Playoffs

I have no idea how to play the consolation playoffs. ;-) My record is 5-10 (33.3%). My results are as follows:

Lost in 1st Rd	1 time
Lost in 2nd Rd	1 time
Lost in 3rd Rd	2 times

Top Cribbage Seasons Ever:

Rank	Player	MRPs	Season	Rank that Season
1	Duane W. Toll	3,121	2011/2012	1
2	Duane W. Toll	2,771	2010/2011	1
3	Duane W. Toll	2,744	2009/2010	1
4	Duane W. Toll	2,662	2008/2009	1
5	Roland A. Hall	2,542	2010/2011	2
6	Erik Royland Locke	2,485	2009/2010	2
7	Duane W. Toll	2,477	2005/2006	1
8	Duane W. Toll	2,473	2003/2004	1
9	Erik Royland Locke	2,458	2007/2008	1
10	James Langley	2,245	2000/2001	1
11	Roland A. Hall	2,222	2011/2012	2
12	Scott Kooistra	2,182	1989/1990	1
13	Roland A. Hall	2,173	2003/2004	2
14	Butch Reynolds	2,140	1987/1988	1
15	Chris McComas	2,118	2006/2007	1
16	Duane W. Toll	2,096	2004/2005	1
17	James Langley	2,086	2002/2003	1
18	DeLynn Colvert	2,039	2003/2004	3
19	Butch Reynolds	2,037	1989/1990	2
20	Wayne Steinmetz	2,003	2009/2010	3
21	Duane W. Toll	1,971	1986/1987	1
22	DeLynn Colvert	1,953	2010/2011	3
23	Roland A. Hall	1,948	2008/2009	2
24	Bob Julian	1,930	2001/2002	1
25	Jim Crawford	1,865	2004/2005	2
26	Ira T. Deutsch	1,858	2010/2011	4
27	James Langley	1,856	2008/2009	3
28	Bob Julian	1,852	1993/1994	1
29	Sharlene Medeiros	1,818	2004/2005	3
30	Erik Royland Locke	1,786	2010/2011	5
31	Ronald L. Morgan	1,777	2005/2006	2
32	Roland A. Hall	1,766	2009/2010	4
33	Rit Alkas	1,756	1994/1995	1
34	Frank Ornie	1,743	2011/2012	3
35	Duane W. Toll	1,742	2007/2008	2
36	Sharlene Medeiros	1,740	2003/2004	4
37	Roland A. Hall	1,737	2002/2003	2
38	DeLynn Colvert	1,731	1996/1997	1
39	Ronald L. Morgan	1,690	2004/2005	4
40	DeLynn Colvert	1,689	1990/1991	1
41	DeLynn Colvert	1,672	2002/2003	3
42	Gary Motley	1,666	1989/1990	3
43	Harry Palmer	1,655	2002/2003	4
44	Robert Medeiros	1,650	1994/1995	2
45	DeLynn Colvert	1,650	2009/2010	5
46	Ronald L. Morgan	1,649	2003/2004	5
47	Bob Julian	1,638	1995/1996	1
48	Jeff Monroe	1,628	1995/1996	2
49	Willie Evans	1,619	2010/2011	6
50	Jack Moritzky	1,618	2004/2005	5
51	Wayne Steinmetz	1,617	2000/2001	2
52	Jesse Jarrell	1,615	1999/2000	1
53	Jesse Jarrell	1,609	1992/1993	1
54	Phyllis Schmidt	1,576	2004/2005	6
55	Paul Gregson	1,521	2012/2013	1
56	Bill Medeiros	1,569	2004/2005	7
57	James Langley	1,567	2005/2006	3
58	Jesse Jarrell	1,561	1987/1988	2
59	Tom Langford	1,551	2011/2012	4
60	Erik Royland Locke	1,550	2008/2009	4
61	Mel Ashley	1,548	2007/2008	3
62	Herschel Mack	1,547	2006/2007	2
63	Jesse Jarrell	1,547	1989/1990	4
64	Duane W. Toll	1,546	2002/2003	5
65	Brian Heroux	1,545	1995/1996	3
66	DeLynn Colvert	1,542	2001/2002	2
67	Harry Palmer	1,536	2001/2002	3
68	Robert Michaelis	1,526	1994/1995	3
69	James Langley	1,522	2006/2007	3
70	Bob Bartosh	1,516	2009/2010	6
71	Donald Flesch	1,512	2011/2012	5
72	DeLynn Colvert	1,507	1995/1996	4
73	DeLynn Colvert	1,498	1989/1990	5
74	Bob Bartosh	1,497	2010/2011	7
75	Elmer G. Rasmussen	1,497	2004/2005	8
76	Doug Page	1,490	2009/2010	7
77	Bob Gombatz	1,489	1994/1995	4
78	Darren Black	1,484	1995/1996	5
79	Robert Medeiros	1,482	2002/2003	6
80	Herschel Mack	1,471	2010/2011	8
81	Bob Julian	1,468	2002/2003	7
82	Tom Cookman	1,464	2012/2013	2
83	Robert Michaelis	1,461	1983/1984	1
84	Butch Reynolds	1,461	1990/1991	2
85	Chris McComas	1,461	2004/2005	9
86	Jason Shumate	1,457	2004/2005	10
87	De Lynn Colvert	1,453	2011/2012	6
88	Jim Crawford	1,451	2011/2012	7
89	Roland A. Hall	1,448	2007/2008	4
90	Stephen Reynolds	1,446	1994/1995	5
91	Helen Railsback	1,446	1989/1990	6
92	Erik Royland Locke	1,445	2006/2007	4
93	Phyllis Schmidt	1,442	1991/1992	1
94	Joe Bernard	1,438	1993/1994	2
95	Mike McDaniel	1,438	2002/2003	8
96	Mills Brubaker	1,437	2010/2011	9
97	Dan Marsh	1,435	2005/2006	4
98	Bob Bartosh	1,432	2008/2009	5
99	Herschel Mack	1,431	2004/2005	11
100	Sharon Hejtmanek	1,430	2002/2003	9

Took 3rd at Grand National - Earned My Masters!

Grand National 30 in Reno, NV was held on October 1st and 2nd. There were 526 players in the main tournament. I had a very consistent qualifying round, scoring a 31/14 + ~200 for 39th highest qualifying score out of the 132 qualifiers. I got a bye in the first round and started the second round of playoffs with 127 other people on Sunday morning at 7 am. In my first match I knocked out Peggy Cunningham of AZ 3-0. I should have been knocked out in the third round. I was playing Ken Conclin of WA and it was 2-2. He was only 6 holes out and I was 23 out, and he had first count. He got unlucky, only had a 2 hand and pegged 2 and I hit a 6 cut for a 24 hand and out to win the match. In the 4th round I took out Ron Logan of AZ 3-1 to get my Master's after 12 years of playing in the ACC! In the 5th round I knocked out Bryant Gilkeson of NV 3-1. That got me to the quarterfinals, and the lunch break. At 2 pm we resumed and in the 6th round I knocked out Hal Mueller of Ontario, Canada, inventor of Hal's Crib, 3-1. In the semi-finals (7th round) I was taken out by Ray Gonzales of Incline Village, NV, 3-2. He took the first two games. I fought back to get the next two, but he got a few key cuts to beat me by ~10 in the final game. It was more than double my most points (25 for qualifying and 196 for making the semis, 221 total) ever in a tournament. My previous best was 105 for taking second on a few separate occasions. (I've still never won a main!)

Wrapped up my best Grass Roots season!

I finished the year with 336 Grass Roots points. That brings my lifetime total to 2,152. I am 348 points away from my Silver. I didn't win either the Grass Roots National Championship or the Region Championship, as I can see by logging into the website that at least 3 people finished ahead of me on the season. I should come in the top 10 though...stay tuned for final results.

Still lead my Grass Roots region

I have 281 GRPs this season, with 7 weeks to go...

I've already clinched the club championship, as second place is 166 GRPs..

I need to score 2 f the final 7 weeks to break the elusive 300 mark, and top my personal best of 297.

Game Colony and eCribbage are TERRIBLE

If anyone stumbles upon this article, I'd love to know if anyone has found a realistic website to play cribbage on. I've been playing on both Game Colony and eCribbage, and both are miserably unrealistic. At both, the cut card is a complete joke. Every single hand the cut card gives the combination of players a maximum possible score. You can go months (I went ~18 tournaments in a row) without winning a match, because they give you bad marks for telling the truth that their site is garbage. It's an embarrassment that the ACC, who is supposed to be a leader in cribbage, is partnered with either of these two sites.

I've started working on my own site, but it needs more time. You can play against yourself at this point, and see it 100 times more realistic than either Game Colony or eCribbage at this point. Check it out at: http://realcribbage.blogspot.com

When winning 10/18 is better than 9/14 or 5/8

This past weekend our club hosted their February ACC tournament on Saturday and had the annual GRNT tournament on Sunday.

Saturday Main - won 9/14 (64.2%) but finished with an 18/9 (no skunks) and was the second highest non-qualifier
Saturday Consolation - won 5/8 (62.%) but finished with a 10/5 (no skunks) and was the highest non-qualifier
Sunday GRNT - won 10/18 (55.6%) and finished with a 24/10 (4 skunks) and squeaked into earning national points

The lesson: Skunks, which are largely out of your control, can make all the difference, for the good and for the bad.