History is written by the winners
Official SHHNHB Site
Congrats to Hubert for winning SHHNHB #3 and elevating himself to the #1 ranking! First golf, now hearts. It's been a good week for The Assassin. His reward? The first ever guest blog on Changina.com. It's history in the making, folks. Enjoy!
Also be sure to check out the updates on the official site, including new rankings, photos, nicknames, statistics, and records. But first, read how we got there...
SHHNHB #3 Recap - A New Number One!
by Hubert Pan
No more new trophies, but still plenty of exhilirating hearts action! Once again, a cinderella joined the final table as the visiting Drew shocked by relegating the previous one-seed Chang to the consolation table. I barely survived the other semifinal table to join Drew, Annaka, and Andrew in the championship. Both second round matches turned into relatively comfortable victories, as Chang took out his vengeance on the lower seeds, and I just missed getting assassinated a few times to cruise to victory and finally wrest the top ranking away from Chang!
Semifinal #1 (race to 100, $5 to the winner)
043 - (8) Drew
051 - (4) Andrew
079 - (1) Chang
111 - (5) Lisa
This table started off as expected, as Chang held the advantage through the first 5 hands with Lisa taking some big hands to fall to the back of the pack. Then consecutive brutal hands, including a missed moon shot opportunity, pushed Chang down into 3rd place. To keep the cinderella streak going, Drew held a comfortable lead after 8 hands, with Andrew and Chang within a queen for 2nd place and Lisa trying to hang on. Drew took the heavy points on the next hand to bring the three closer together, but Chang was hit hard on the next one, allowing the Drews to advance as Lisa went over 100 on the next hand. Once again there was a surprise moving onto the finals, defeating the two time defending champ, no less!
Semifinal #2 (race to 100, $5 to the winner)
059 - (2) Hubert
069 - (3) Annaka
078 - (7) Gerald
106 - (6) Rob
The first four hands at this table were relatively normal, as Annaka held the early advantage with the three guys fairly close together. Then Gerald's natural genius took over as he shot the moon off of my pass. I sent him an innocuous 9 of hearts, but he happened to also have A through J and a ton of others. Rob got hammered on the next hand and was precariously close to going over the edge as we headed into the seventh hand. Gerald and Annaka were tied at 33, roughly 20 points ahead of me, so it was looking like the other top seed would get bounced in short order. About midway through the hand, Rob took the queen and was temporarily over the edge. At that point, I held the only card (ace of diamonds) that could stop him from shooting and quickly let that go to ensure his survival. He shot the moon and elected to subtract 26 points from his score, which gave the table some breathing room from a quick end to the round. I held steady for a couple hands while creeping closer to Gerald when we started the tenth hand, with Gerald passing to me. He had already demonstrated some responsibility when he passed me the first time around, which had ruined an otherwise perfect shooting hand. I nonetheless passed away my hearts, and he obliged by completing my hand for a moon shot that allowed me to leapfrog into first and escape the round with a victory.
Consolation (race to 200, $5 to the winner)
047 - (1) Chang
161 - (7) Gerald
190 - (6) Rob
200 - (5) Lisa
Having been bumped from the final table, Chang pretty much dominated this game from end to end, leading through all 19 hands and shooting twice in the process. The others shared being on the receiving end of it as he finished over 100 points ahead of every other person at the table, a record for margin of victory. By taking care of business, he also maintained his overall money lead on me. We have both won two championships and two semifinal tables.
Championship (race to 200, $25 to the winner)
023 - (2) Hubert
101 - (3) Annaka
117 - (4) Andrew
201 - (8) Drew
True to form, the results at the final table followed the seedings and the cinderella once again set the pace to 200. However, in stark contrast to previous tables, rather than repeated assassinations of the leader, I managed to grab the lead early in this one and carry it through until the end. I guess since I'm The Asssasin and Chang wasn't in first for me to hit, I turned my attention elsewhere and managed to also wriggle free unscathed.
The first three hands were textbook for me, as I managed to either drop the queen of spades myself or expose weaknesses in others' hands and force them to eat it. Three hands down, each of the other three had taken the queen once. I guess I'm just a generous guy and wanted to make sure everyone shared. :) To add insult to injury, in each occurrence, the person who took the queen also had the option of playing under but decided to risk it.
Andrew then went on to pull off miracle after miracle, taking virtually no points for 6 consecutive hands despite having some atrocious cards, often at the expense of our guest, Drew, who was repeatedly stuck with high cards near the end and forced to eat the remainder of the points. After holding out for so long and remaining within 20 points of me, Andrew finally took a couple bad hands and started falling back. After Drew took another bad hand and was nearing the end, it seemed inevitable that I would walk away with the trophy.
It was one of those days where I either had the bottom cards of suits, managed to void my suits, had plenty of spades whenever I had the queen, or had a really bad hand but also had the queen, so I managed to escape the big damage. Near the end of the game, the best opportunity to hurt me finally arose. It was a right pass, and Annaka voided her clubs by passing me a couple high ones. After hearts had been broken and another dropped, it was the second trick of hearts, and I had the option of ducking with the 3 or taking it with one of my remaining three high hearts. I almost decided to take it and try playing back with the 3 until I realized the only other heart was the 2. Realizing I was in deep trouble, I still ducked this one. Luckily for me, the next three tricks were led spades and diamonds which allowed me to get rid of all three hearts. Andrew had control, and I had a bad feeling Annaka was saving the queen for me. At this point, I had three clubs left: 3, 6, and 10. Andrew led the 5, I played the 3, Annaka passed, and Drew thankfully showed his 4, leaving my 6 as the new low card. Andrew then played the 7 and I was pretty sure that he had another one, so even if I ducked this one, I'd take it on the last trick. I thought hard about it, but realized there wasn't really much to do. Resigned to taking the queen eventually, I said, "Oh well, I guess I'm taking it," but just ducked in case I had miscounted and he didn't have anymore clubs. As I was playing my card, Annaka simultaneously tossed out the queen with glee, only to realize I had ducked and she instead had hit poor Andrew. The card was played so there was nothing else to do, and I did indeed take the last trick when Andrew led his 8 of clubs to my 10, but I don't know how I dodged it on that one. If the game had been closer, there may have been arguing about it, but since it was almost over, we were able to laugh about it (probably me more so than anyone else).
In the aftermath of that hand, Drew (who like Gerald in my semifinal had demonstrated responsibility early when I took a chance on the first pass) passed me three diamonds when I voided hearts. I promptly laid low, fished out the high cards I wanted to see, and then shot to win for the 2nd time of the evening.
It was a night of firsts, mostly for me :) My first outright championship victory, the first wire-to-wire championship table win, the first championship table win without taking the queen, the first moon shot at the championship table, the first championship table to have a margin of victory of more than 1 point, and the first change at the top of the rankings. Annaka continued her steady strong performance while Andrew continued to be the best player to not have won any money.
The money breakdown for the night:
1. Hubert - $30.00
2. Chang - $5.00
2. Drew - $5.00
Three of the top four seeds have made the final table each time, and I'm the only one to not have been bumped out, so I'm wary of my turn coming next. The semifinals this time around were wakeup call enough that anything could happen! Once again the trophy will remain in our house, but it is only a matter of time before someone takes it from the house...or is it? Come out for round 4 next month and we shall see!
Congrats to Hubert for winning SHHNHB #3 and elevating himself to the #1 ranking! First golf, now hearts. It's been a good week for The Assassin. His reward? The first ever guest blog on Changina.com. It's history in the making, folks. Enjoy!
Also be sure to check out the updates on the official site, including new rankings, photos, nicknames, statistics, and records. But first, read how we got there...
SHHNHB #3 Recap - A New Number One!
by Hubert Pan
No more new trophies, but still plenty of exhilirating hearts action! Once again, a cinderella joined the final table as the visiting Drew shocked by relegating the previous one-seed Chang to the consolation table. I barely survived the other semifinal table to join Drew, Annaka, and Andrew in the championship. Both second round matches turned into relatively comfortable victories, as Chang took out his vengeance on the lower seeds, and I just missed getting assassinated a few times to cruise to victory and finally wrest the top ranking away from Chang!
Semifinal #1 (race to 100, $5 to the winner)
043 - (8) Drew
051 - (4) Andrew
079 - (1) Chang
111 - (5) Lisa
This table started off as expected, as Chang held the advantage through the first 5 hands with Lisa taking some big hands to fall to the back of the pack. Then consecutive brutal hands, including a missed moon shot opportunity, pushed Chang down into 3rd place. To keep the cinderella streak going, Drew held a comfortable lead after 8 hands, with Andrew and Chang within a queen for 2nd place and Lisa trying to hang on. Drew took the heavy points on the next hand to bring the three closer together, but Chang was hit hard on the next one, allowing the Drews to advance as Lisa went over 100 on the next hand. Once again there was a surprise moving onto the finals, defeating the two time defending champ, no less!
Semifinal #2 (race to 100, $5 to the winner)
059 - (2) Hubert
069 - (3) Annaka
078 - (7) Gerald
106 - (6) Rob
The first four hands at this table were relatively normal, as Annaka held the early advantage with the three guys fairly close together. Then Gerald's natural genius took over as he shot the moon off of my pass. I sent him an innocuous 9 of hearts, but he happened to also have A through J and a ton of others. Rob got hammered on the next hand and was precariously close to going over the edge as we headed into the seventh hand. Gerald and Annaka were tied at 33, roughly 20 points ahead of me, so it was looking like the other top seed would get bounced in short order. About midway through the hand, Rob took the queen and was temporarily over the edge. At that point, I held the only card (ace of diamonds) that could stop him from shooting and quickly let that go to ensure his survival. He shot the moon and elected to subtract 26 points from his score, which gave the table some breathing room from a quick end to the round. I held steady for a couple hands while creeping closer to Gerald when we started the tenth hand, with Gerald passing to me. He had already demonstrated some responsibility when he passed me the first time around, which had ruined an otherwise perfect shooting hand. I nonetheless passed away my hearts, and he obliged by completing my hand for a moon shot that allowed me to leapfrog into first and escape the round with a victory.
Consolation (race to 200, $5 to the winner)
047 - (1) Chang
161 - (7) Gerald
190 - (6) Rob
200 - (5) Lisa
Having been bumped from the final table, Chang pretty much dominated this game from end to end, leading through all 19 hands and shooting twice in the process. The others shared being on the receiving end of it as he finished over 100 points ahead of every other person at the table, a record for margin of victory. By taking care of business, he also maintained his overall money lead on me. We have both won two championships and two semifinal tables.
Championship (race to 200, $25 to the winner)
023 - (2) Hubert
101 - (3) Annaka
117 - (4) Andrew
201 - (8) Drew
True to form, the results at the final table followed the seedings and the cinderella once again set the pace to 200. However, in stark contrast to previous tables, rather than repeated assassinations of the leader, I managed to grab the lead early in this one and carry it through until the end. I guess since I'm The Asssasin and Chang wasn't in first for me to hit, I turned my attention elsewhere and managed to also wriggle free unscathed.
The first three hands were textbook for me, as I managed to either drop the queen of spades myself or expose weaknesses in others' hands and force them to eat it. Three hands down, each of the other three had taken the queen once. I guess I'm just a generous guy and wanted to make sure everyone shared. :) To add insult to injury, in each occurrence, the person who took the queen also had the option of playing under but decided to risk it.
Andrew then went on to pull off miracle after miracle, taking virtually no points for 6 consecutive hands despite having some atrocious cards, often at the expense of our guest, Drew, who was repeatedly stuck with high cards near the end and forced to eat the remainder of the points. After holding out for so long and remaining within 20 points of me, Andrew finally took a couple bad hands and started falling back. After Drew took another bad hand and was nearing the end, it seemed inevitable that I would walk away with the trophy.
It was one of those days where I either had the bottom cards of suits, managed to void my suits, had plenty of spades whenever I had the queen, or had a really bad hand but also had the queen, so I managed to escape the big damage. Near the end of the game, the best opportunity to hurt me finally arose. It was a right pass, and Annaka voided her clubs by passing me a couple high ones. After hearts had been broken and another dropped, it was the second trick of hearts, and I had the option of ducking with the 3 or taking it with one of my remaining three high hearts. I almost decided to take it and try playing back with the 3 until I realized the only other heart was the 2. Realizing I was in deep trouble, I still ducked this one. Luckily for me, the next three tricks were led spades and diamonds which allowed me to get rid of all three hearts. Andrew had control, and I had a bad feeling Annaka was saving the queen for me. At this point, I had three clubs left: 3, 6, and 10. Andrew led the 5, I played the 3, Annaka passed, and Drew thankfully showed his 4, leaving my 6 as the new low card. Andrew then played the 7 and I was pretty sure that he had another one, so even if I ducked this one, I'd take it on the last trick. I thought hard about it, but realized there wasn't really much to do. Resigned to taking the queen eventually, I said, "Oh well, I guess I'm taking it," but just ducked in case I had miscounted and he didn't have anymore clubs. As I was playing my card, Annaka simultaneously tossed out the queen with glee, only to realize I had ducked and she instead had hit poor Andrew. The card was played so there was nothing else to do, and I did indeed take the last trick when Andrew led his 8 of clubs to my 10, but I don't know how I dodged it on that one. If the game had been closer, there may have been arguing about it, but since it was almost over, we were able to laugh about it (probably me more so than anyone else).
In the aftermath of that hand, Drew (who like Gerald in my semifinal had demonstrated responsibility early when I took a chance on the first pass) passed me three diamonds when I voided hearts. I promptly laid low, fished out the high cards I wanted to see, and then shot to win for the 2nd time of the evening.
It was a night of firsts, mostly for me :) My first outright championship victory, the first wire-to-wire championship table win, the first championship table win without taking the queen, the first moon shot at the championship table, the first championship table to have a margin of victory of more than 1 point, and the first change at the top of the rankings. Annaka continued her steady strong performance while Andrew continued to be the best player to not have won any money.
The money breakdown for the night:
1. Hubert - $30.00
2. Chang - $5.00
2. Drew - $5.00
Three of the top four seeds have made the final table each time, and I'm the only one to not have been bumped out, so I'm wary of my turn coming next. The semifinals this time around were wakeup call enough that anything could happen! Once again the trophy will remain in our house, but it is only a matter of time before someone takes it from the house...or is it? Come out for round 4 next month and we shall see!
posted by Chang Kim at Tuesday, August 16, 2005
10 Comments:
Who knew that Hearts could be so exciting?
Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta
you get no respect from me because you didn't go negative... sissy
Being #2 is better anyway. Less pressure, don't have to deal with the media glare, don't get mobbed by autograph seekers and groupies at restaurants...and the money is just as good.
You think #2's nice? Try #6.
Whereas you might be considered "on the verge" while everyone is waiting for you to break through, I get to sit back and not only avoid the pressure, but avoid any expectations at all.
And I've moved ahead of Gerald - Who's pretty now?
I'm not on the verge...I'm washed up. My best days are behind me. I've already broken through and broken down.
I don't believe in retiring on top. I believe in retiring once it's clear you're no longer on top. When I tied, I knew I was slipping, but I thought I could squeeze out one more. Now, it may be time for me to step down and focus on my commissioner duties...
yeah, dude, you stink. go retire.
woof
I'm going to retire too. I'm tired of giving away my money. Either that or let me play as an amateur. :p
ayeh, you're due for a breakout. i'm drafting you as my sleeper pick.
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