I love Pinburgh! I have fun every time I go. But I cannot get the job done. I have now played in six Pinburghs and have never qualified for any finals. ANY finals. It seems impossible to me, but I’ve looked up all my past results and here is what I came up with.
2012: 68-52 Made A div. and missed the cut by 2 points
2013: 59-62 Made A div. and missed the cut by 12 points
2014: 70-50 Made A div. and missed the cut by 1 point
2015: 64.5-55.5 Made A div and missed the cut by 6.5 points
2016: 60.5-59.5 Made B div. Missed the cut by 4.5 points
2019: 65-55 Made B div Missed the cut by 2 points.
That means making A or B div every time and missing the cut by an average of 4.66 points.
I obviously need to play better on Day 2. Anyone else have a similar experience or have any tips for getting over the round 9/10 beat down?
To make it into Top 40 “A” division is a super hard task. Almost no room for error. You can have one bad round 4-5 points, but all your other rounds gotta be 8 minimum with a 9 or 10 round mixed in.
Yes, rounds 6-9 are a beast as they should be. Round 10 is a little bit of a breather as I found my round 10 was easier than round 9 because of how the groups were paired.
The focus needed to play 10 solid rounds to make top 40 in any division is a matter of endurance, skill, and some luck.
I think to get into “A” division you have to average something like 7.6 points a round, 8 to be safe.
Chris! I played with you in Round 6, it was really nice getting to meet you and play with you. I think in the cases where you missed by only a few is just chalked down to not having the tiny bit of luck needed to push you over the edge. From our round, you absolutely have the skill needed to make a final.
Well on day 2 in A div, I was certainly on track to be the most “average” player. Four consecutive rounds of 6’s, and topping it off with a very close 7 (having tilted CFTBL off a squirrely “halfway up the left ramp” feed but apparently scoring enough from switch hits to secure a 1). Also: 2018 - finished about 130th in A, 2017 - actually qualified for A playoffs.
And had I indeed had a 6-6-6-6-6 breakdown, I would’ve ended with 66 points.
I suppose “consistency” is a good thing; I just needed slightly better consistency.
If there is one thing I noticed this year, it is that the skill gap between the players at the middle/lower end of A and the middle/top end of D has narrowed dramatically. All those players in the middle of the bell curve are incredibly close in terms of skill, and more than ever much of their placement at Pinburgh comes down to execution and just whether they’re having a good day or not. So many more opportunities to practice, and a firehose of game knowledge coming at them from every angle. I think its great but, as one of those players with less and less time to play every year, it doesn’t exactly help my record
the two times i qualified for finals in B division in past and this year in D finals . I went back to my hotel room which was westin before and Omni this year and decompressed . Took time to rest for a few hours get a quick bite to eat and chill in the room. it did me good both times i did this and one year missed the tiebreaker for C by one point . It has helped me do this before the late friday rounds.
Hey Duncan, I remember you! You played really well in that round. I remember your come from behind win on Class of 1812. I got a lousy score of 2.4million on that game because I couldn’t even hit a ramp. Wouldn’t you know, after the competition I went back to all my bad beats for a 2nd chance. I put 30million on 1812!
I do believe a large part of my lack of results at Pinburgh is I put too much pressure on myself. John Flitton gave me some great advice in round 9. I was always choosing last available position as I normally do. In round 9 I was taking a beating so going into the 4th game I just chose to go 1st on WWE. I put 31M on ball one and went on to win the game. So in round 10 I decided to choose 1st on every game. It took all the pressure off and I scored an 8.
I think i fall into this boat. Past 2 years I qualified in the bottom of A, this year I made it to the D finals. My friends all joked that I was a sandbagger (I didn’t). But yes there was stiff competition every round I played in. People would have a bad game 1 and then I’d think to myself, ok this is an easy opponent and then they would blow it up on game two and then i was like , hmm alrighty then there are no “easy” opponents.
Same. Bottom of A last year, D finals this year. The point spread is so close, I know the exact five or six mistakes I made (wrong skillshot here, wrong trap up shot choice there) that cost me those few points. Tough competition all around. Loads of fun.
