Horse Player World Series Blog, Final Thoughts
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ANOTHER HPWS IN THE BOOKS
By Dave Gutfreund, DerbyWars.com
Looking back at this
past weekend's proceedings in Las Vegas following another
successful Horse Player World Series, there were a few storylines which
certainly stick out. Here they are...
As someone who has
been going to handicapping contests at the Orleans for more than 15 years,
there is no denying the fact the 'Queen', Randi Muniz, was sorely
missed. Randi was beloved by many of the contest regulars and sadly, she
was taken away much too young. It was almost too quiet without her
around.
Perhaps it was in the
'Queen's' spirit, from which I went out drinking on the eve of the
tournament. I can't remember the last time I was up after 11 pm on the
night prior to a handicapping contest, let alone allowing myself to get into a
pretty drunken state. Looking back though, it was the highlight of my
weekend enjoying a few adult beverages with some Derby Wars' regulars and
a previous NHC champ.
My poor performance
certainly can't be blamed on that, however. It can simply be blamed on
not having the circumstances of the weekend work out in a way tournament-wise
which is not advantageous to my style. And those circumstances
were so poor for yours truly, it glossed over the fact I could have and should
have performed much better, even though in the end there would have been no
difference to my final result.
And as it turned out
on Sunday, there was a small one-day contest from which I got myself into
serious contention and perhaps with a bit more patience and better timing, I
could have have emerged victorious. But it wasn't to be and I finished
10th of 237, which in a contest which only pays out to the Top 5, isn't
good enough.
Obviously, the big
story this past weekend had to do with Robert Gregory's amazing performance in
taking the HPWS field wire-to-wire and having the top score of 681 on
both Thursday and Friday, scoring enough points those two days to win even if
he went blank on Saturday as it turned out.
I have heard some
rumblings about how Gregory had a bit of an 'advantage' with his handicapping
to help him earn the coveted HPWS title. An upcoming
story/interview with Robert Gregory will appear on the Horse Racing Nation web
site in the next couple of days...am looking forward to reading myself.
It was nice to see a
number of Derby Wars' regulars in the flesh and a thrill walking around the
contest area and seeing computers other than mine with Derby Wars on
them.
Debbie Flaig and
her crew do a great job hosting these events at the Orleans and I look forward
to going back at the end of March for another tournament there...though as I
get older, these three-day, many-track contests with all optional races
playing a multi-ticket strategy are simply exhausting. Still haven't
completely recovered three full days later.
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