Tournament Report - 2009 Santa Claus Special

With the temperatures dipping into the mid 40s in Central Florida, 38 players started in the main event for the Santa Claus Special cribbage tournament in Kissimmee, Florida over the pre-Chrimstas weekend. This is the 3rd running of the one day tournament, and with the northerners in for the winter, it usually has a good mix of players. This is also the second tournament of the season for tournament directors Ray and Nancy Wanke, who are now running four Central Florida cribbage tournaments this season.

Main Event

The morning qualifying session was a 12 game affair, with a projected line of 16/8 being the cut line for the ten players qualifying for the main event playoffs. Coming in with a 20/9/+141 was Cynthia Sestito, slotting into the #1 seed. Surprisingly, not only did all of the 16s qualify, all of the 15s qualified as well, with grandmaster Betty Schafer taking the low qualifier spot with a 15/7/+19. Finishing up one spot out of qualifying in 11th was Hazel Carlson, with a 14/7/+55.

Qualifying Results

Those in the qualifying pool listed below won $48 and any MRPs listed by their name.

In the afternoon, Rolfe defeated Chiasson 2-0 and Schafer defeated Wysocki in the round of sixteen to set the quarterfinals. From there, Rolfe promptly knocked out the #1 seed Sistito and Groz defeated Raabe to meet one another in the semifinals, and the other semifinal was filled by Woolverton and Fournier, by defeating Schafer and Thomson respectively. Both semifinals were closely contested, setting up a final of Rolfe and Fournier. Continuing her run of cards from, Esther Rolfe won the Santa Claus Special main event 3-1 over Dave Fournier, taking home $288.

Main Event Playoffs

Round of 16

All non-winners received $60 and 7 MRPs

(1) Sistito d. Bye
(8) Rolfe d. (9) Chiasson
(4) Raabe d. Bye
(5) Groz d. Bye
(2) Woolverton d. Bye
(10) Schafer d. (7) Wysocki
(3) Fournier d. Bye
(6) Thomson d. Bye

Quarterfinals

All non-winners received $80 and 21 MRPs

(8) Rolfe d. (1) Sistito
(5) Groz d. (4) Raabe
(2) Woolverton d. (10) Schafer
(3) Fournier d. (6) Thomson

Semifinals

All non-winners received $126 and 42 MRPs

(8) Rolfe d. (5) Groz
(3) Fournier d. (2) Woolverton

Finals

2nd place received $170 and 70 MRPs
1st place received $240 and 105 MRPs

(8) Rolfe d. (3) Fournier

Consolation Tournament

The consolation started with 22 players, with 8 games being played in qualifying. John Blowers led the six qualifiers with a 15/6/+110, after starting with three skunks and a win in the first four games. Finishing in the low qualifier position was Joy Barnes, working her way closer to her master rating with a 11/5/+28. In the playoffs, Parsons defeated Joy Barnes 2-1 and Chiasson once again got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, losing to Paul Barnes. to set the semifinals of Parsons vs Horn, and Blowers vs Paul Barnes. Blowers pegged seven points on the end to sneak out a victory over Barnes, and Parsons couldn't come from behind in the third game to lose to Horn. In the final, both games came down to 4th street, but Horn managed to find big hands when it counted, and took down his first ACC tournament win.

Consolation Qualifying

Those in the qualifying pool listed below won $35 and any MRPs listed by their name.

Consolation Playoffs

Quarterfinals

All non-winners received $40 and 4 MRPs

(4) P. Barnes d. (5) Chiasson
(3) Parsons d. (6) J. Barnes

Semifinals

All non-winners received $75 and 12 MRPs

(1) Blowers d. (4) P. Barnes
(2) Horn d. (3) Parsons

Finals

2nd place received $90 and 24 MRPs
1st place received $110 and 40 MRPs

(2) Horn d. (1) Blowers