World Mindset Championship 2012

Since the chances of winning a medal are pretty slim, I'd recommend you go gamble. I looked at the schedule and there's poker tomorrow/the day after tomorrow evening. You go sit down at the table and try to get a double or triple quickly. If you get stuck, it's okay, you only wasted 10 minutes on the area, but if you can build up your stack first, you'll have a good chance of winning the tournament.

Carcassonne is undoubtedly a very fun game, but in my opinion it still lacks the depth to be part of the world championships. It was the first time it was planned and it was decided to try the 5-player variant (from next year they will probably go to the one-on-one system), which led to a real tactical game. So, more about everything. The tournament went surprisingly well for me, I couldn't get below third place in the first three rounds and I reached the final table two points behind the leaders Bharat Thakhar and Ankush Khandelwal (place points were distributed 5-3-2-1-0) and tied for third place. However, the final turned into a real comedy. It started with real blocking tactics, where no one was allowed to implement their plans, which ultimately led to second place with 40 points (typically around 60p). Then it turned into a tactical game about who are the most dangerous opponents, who should not be allowed anything under any circumstances and who can get a little. Finally, Bharat found that his position in the final game was so bad that there was no hope of a good place, and therefore his chance was if Michael Dixon, who started in the worst position, won the final table, who was no longer a threat to him and would have robbed all his competitors of valuable points. Therefore, Bharat simply coldly built Dixon's cities for a few rounds, who of course had nothing to do with it, and a tacit agreement was made to help each other (interestingly, both of their cards were just right for each other). The matter ended with Ankush, who had been leading the entire game (he got four monastery cards in a row), seeing that the first place was in danger, and fortunately this saved me from the last place. Ankush, in the absence of a better move, combined our cities, in which he had invested 7 points and I only 2, securing himself a victory and, as it turned out, helping me to second place in the extremely close competition. The same ranking was also in the final: a defeat for Ankush, second place for me. For all this comedy I earned 88 points and the score is starting to look more or less decent. Ankush's victory puts him in a very high position, already having three maximum scores like Dario De Toffoli. By the way, the ranking actually looks a bit better than what was shown yesterday - entropy had not yet been taken into account and I tried to do it manually, but I forgot myself in the process :P So I actually have about 20 points more (or almost 400). Also, Paco's score is actually about 30 points lower (I assumed that he didn't have another big area listed, but there was a result of less than 30 points) and is currently in third place (I'll check the exact standings tomorrow). In the case of Paco, of course, you have to take into account that the trump card and king have not yet been put on the board, which is why I still believe that he will score at least 470 more, but rather more. Whether this will be enough for gold is not at all certain - quite a few characters are going for a very powerful result: above all Dario, but also James Heppell, David Jameson and now also Ankush and why not Hebbes. All of this unfortunately makes fighting for a medal very difficult (but not impossible). I skipped the afternoon session and in the evening I tried the card race in London lowball poker. It went better than on previous poker nights, I reached the final table and although the story ended quickly there, sixth place is still the best result so far. The entropy award ceremony also took place, which was very cool. Paco and Alain Dekker and I posed with the medals around the national flags like at the Olympic Games. Maybe better pictures of this will also be posted on Vindi's Facebook page. Unfortunately, I will not be trusted to take the trophy with me to Estonia. It turned out that this traveling trophy will not travel, it is probably too valuable for that. That's better, now there will be room in the suitcase or even for gifts. Tomorrow: logic (sudoku and kenken) and kings cribbage.

Good luck with Sudoku and KenKen. This could be a good opportunity to improve your score significantly, even though it's a short section, but still (I think 2 long sections were also taken into account). Of course, you never know how many tough solvers will show up there, but last year it seemed like the sharpest peaks weren't there and it's expected to be the same this time. Anyway, good luck.

Considering that I solve Sudoku about exactly twice a year (at the Estonian Mind Sports Championships, in singles and doubles) and that I have practiced very little, and that was more than a year ago, I didn't have any special expectations for this area. As you might have guessed, I was quite rusty and was clearly behind the best in speed. The tasks were set according to difficulty: first, a pure writing task, which gave 1 point and which the compiler David Levy commented that even his cat could solve, then a 5-point puzzle, almost as many 8-point puzzles, and finally, the real test, a 10-point puzzle. I barely managed to solve all the tasks, but the stronger ones had already returned from their coffee break by then, and 8 solvers finished before me. Fortunately, several of them had made mistakes and I was one of the four who earned the maximum score, hence fourth place. David Jameson was particularly unlucky, as he was somewhere between 3rd and 5th in terms of speed, but in tennis he scored 99 points out of 100, meaning he had trouble with something that even David Levy's cat solved. In the midst of the most intense solving, we also experienced some anxious moments when a fire broke out in the building and the whole gang had to move to the street. The fire was probably quite close to the tournament halls, as the roaring could be clearly felt in the corridor. Fortunately, nothing bad happened (apparently), the fire was brought under control with our own efforts and within half an hour people were allowed back into the building. In the afternoon I tried a game of kings cribbage, which I had played once at the Tartu Mõttespordi Klubi and since it went well then, I thought I could still manage to get a normal result. Unfortunately, I was very wrong in this regard. It turns out that the game is not as new as I had thought and even before the tournament started it was made clear to me that without playing regularly (if not kings cribbage then at least regular cribbage) there was no point in even taking part. Out of curiosity, I tried one game, and was drawn against Sam Smith, who said he played fast and based on the course of the game there was no reason to doubt it. I barely exceeded the entire time allotted for the game by two-thirds and, to be honest, I was already hopelessly behind at that moment. The final score was finally recorded as 346-98 (if I exceeded the time, the opponent continued the game alone), which is probably the biggest defeat in the history of the game. Then I did everyone a favor and withdrew from the tournament. At the moment, in addition to kings cribbage, pacru and acquire are also ongoing, the latter of which is crucial in the fight for the gold medal. Both Ankush Khandelwal and Dario De Toffoli have reached the top four of the final table and if one of them wins or even comes in second, Paco's position will be very uncertain. Probably even worse, for either of them, a defeat would be their fourth maximum score and it would be a wonder if that wasn't enough for a gold medal (I got three maximums last year and beat the next ones by 20 points). In the evening, I'll play Texas Holdem, while I'm learning to play acquire from the experts.

Considering that there were 5-point, 8-point and one 1 and 10-point, this probably indicates that there were 5 of 5-point and 8 of 8-point. It is not very possible to get 100 points otherwise. (There were hardly 13 of 5-point and 3 of 8-point). So it was necessary to solve 15 sudoku/kenken. How much time was given for this? and how big were they (8x8, 9x9)? I ask purely out of professional cretinism...:)

Today was a sad day. Dario De Toffoli won acquire and reached 484 points, which unfortunately means that I am now officially a former world champion. In principle, Paco Garcia (his full name is actually Francisco Garcia de la Banda, but like the Brazilian football aces, he also has a player name - Paco) can still catch Dario, but to do so he will definitely have to win both of his trump cards - go and creative thinking. He managed to do it in 2010, I really hope he can do it again. I would feel much better about Paco winning, because in my opinion he is a better player and also a more pleasant personality (Dario is too straightforward about winning, keeps complaining and arguing with the judges and organizers when things are not going the way he wants). The current ranking at the top is 1. Dario, 2. David Jameson, 3. James Heppell, 4. Ankush, 5. Paco, 6. Michael Dixon. I'm currently 7th (I passed Tim Hebbes), but my chances of a medal are still slim. Even if I were to win all the sections in the future, or even all the games, all the divisions and all the hands I play, the maximum result would be only 474 (or 10 less than Dario already combined). I think that Tiidu's suggested numbers for the number of Sudokus are correct, although I didn't count them. There was a total of 3 hours, but the underdog probably used less than half of that. Alain Dekker and I also discussed Tiidu's chances (if he had participated) and he had a hard time believing that the competition would have been a one-horse race, but in the end I think I was able to convince him of that. The Sudokus were all classic 9x9, ken-kens 6x6. In the evening I tried Texas Holdem. Since all poker tournaments here are pot-limit, you can't try the double or triple recommended by Mel, but I tried the super-aggressive style anyway. The result was exactly as Mel expected - a loss and a quick way home. By the way, it turned out that I played the only Kings Cribbage game of my life with a real future star in this field. Sam Smith, who I played with, won the tournament by a long shot, destroying all opponents on his way (although not as depressingly as me). He is a representative of Guernsey, who is no older than 15 years old, but is strong in other fields, beating me in kamisados, for example. Tomorrow's schedule: shacru in the morning, azacru in the afternoon, Omaha poker or bridge individual in the evening. PS. Tuul, is the bet still valid? I would accept it and I promise that I won't make a fuss (I won't lose on purpose). As for me, I can also take the odds of two to one.

Congratulations fantunes! You beat Entropia. This is not a defeat, but a world champion in one game. I guess you didn't succeed last year?

Okay, Andres. Let's throw in a box of Toffifeed, as usual. If you get a medal, you buy me two boxes, if you don't, I'll buy you one box.

Late night tournaments dropped me to ninth. The top eight are: 1. Dario De Toffoli, Italy 484.6 2. James Heppell, England 456.2 3. David Jameson, England 453.6 4. Tony Niccoli, Italy 444.3 5. Ankush Khandelwal, India 442.3 6. Paco Garcia, Spain 440.5 7. Tim Hebbes, England 436.4 8. Michael Dixon, England, 435.6 Matthew Hattrell rounds out the top ten after me.

Don't go play bridge individually. You'll piss yourself out there all night long and after the night is over you'll dream about how you cut a queen in the 8th suit (on one side and then on the other side and always on your finger). Go play OMAHA!!! There are hardly any great Omaha experts there and it should be easy to beat average (or even complete beginners) players in this game. I hope you have time to read this. I'll quickly write you some recommendations here. 1. Omaha is a four-card game. All four must match! For example, KQJ4 is complete crap compared to T986. Since 2 cards always count from the hand, you can evaluate your starting hand by forming pairs between all cards and then look at all your starting hands separately and if there are a lot of bad pairs, the hand is not playable (in the first example, K4, Q4, J4 are not good starting hands in holdem). 2. Omaha is a game where position is much more important than in any other game. From early position, the hands that can be played are somewhere around 10-15%, while on the button it is possible to profitably play even 50% hands. You should definitely avoid watching the flop with such half-good hands when you are in SB or BB, because too often you have to make tough decisions. 3. Setting is not a profitable activity in omaha (in holdem, it is quite standard to always watch flops cheaply with small pairs). For example, JJ87 (AA-KK is possible, because then the chance that you will have a bigger set in the avstas) is still quite bad, because even hitting a J on the flop does not guarantee you a win. I would say that omaha is a game of suits. I would rather watch the flop Axxx, where Ax is of the same suit. 4. In general, 2 pair flopped in omaha is a relatively weak hand. Good hands are combo draws. Even a flopped nut line can be behind a set higher straight draw. If the flop is seen by 4 players, then on a normal river you can't win a pot without total nuts! 5. In the first levels I recommend being pretty tight and traveling, as a rule there is no point in just calling a trip in limbo and seeing the flop (especially when you are still in position against an opponent). In general, Omaha tournaments are very easy to play, because unlike Hold'em, a 7-8 BB stack is quite playable in Omaha. There is only reason to panic when the stack drops to 5-6 BB, when you should already get the preflop buttons in and more or less any 4 of two suits (ds) is good. AAxx can make a re-trip POT if you get at least half of your stack in preflop (then you go all-in on more or less 99% of flops). KKxx never makes such a move (unless the stack is too small). The best hand is AAJTds and also AAKKds. However, T987ds, 9876ds are also very strong starting hands (6543ds is already pretty bad!). With these two, even if you go alone preflop, you are not significantly behind (unfortunately, you are also slightly ahead of the main hand). For example, against AAxx and KKxx, you are slightly ahead if your suits are not blocked. Good hands are also KQJTds and QJT9ds, but since most of the players there are beginners who play big cards and big pairs, if you go alone with KQJT against KKQJ, you are basically dead and will draw a split at best. 6. If you are going to buy something from the flop in Omaha, I recommend buying only nuts. For example, with 7654 on a flop of 89A, you actually only have three (5) good cards, because if you get a T, you will most likely have a higher straight against you. Similarly, there is no point in buying a flush if it is not a nut flush! On a paired board, you should NEVER buy a straight or a flush, because in 90% of cases you are already against the house. Combo draws are important. For example, with JT98 on a flop of 986 you have many outs against anything (even if your opponent already has a straight). Never sloplay (except when you flop a four of a kind or a straight flush, or a hand that no one else can pull off). 7. Don't bluff, because beginners can never/ever lay down two pair or even TOP pair. 8. Don't play hands like 7765 or 9887. The problem is that you often flop a straight draw (the only good flop for you after hitting a set), but in fact this pair blocks your outs. For example, K43 on a flop of 7765 is not as good as 7652 on the same flop (before I would have called myself preflop with the last hand, rather than the first!). 9. See what hands your opponents are playing. If someone in early position limps in KJ97 or JJ58 or QQQ2, then consider that those chips in front of them are yours. In short, against those who enter the pot with relatively marginal hands, play as many hands as possible while in position against them!