ACC Internet Cribbage

How to play like a Champ

December 2005 wrap-up:
Mark Van Dyke (loosespokes1135) has spent more atop the ratings list than anyone. One of our tournament directors, Rick LaVallee (+_Kwiz), was curious how Mark pulled this off, so he decided to sit in on Van Dyke's fourth round match against Nicholas Cheung (nicholas179) during the December 17 single elimination event to see if he could catch some of the 2004–5 Internet Champion's secrets.

The best-of-three match was tied 1-1, and Van Dyke was pone with 92 points to Cheung's 116*. Big problem, no? No! Van Dyke simply held the four 5s he was dealt, cut a 10, then pegged a single point on a go to win the game and match 121-119*. See? Just play like this, and you too can be a champion.

28 hands got a lot of attention in a relatively light month, which saw ACC Internet Cribbage "dark" over the holidays. Although we can't track every 28 hand that occurs in Internet competition, the following were reported to us in addition to Van Dyke's exploit:

• December 3: William A. Schultz (floydandzep)
• December 5: Dianne Harnick (coorslight1)
• December 5: Richard Orff (UneasyQuill)

Player of the month:
John Schafer (netview85) of Battle Creek, MI tore off 180 IRPs to be our player of the month, pulling to within 9 IRPs of the lead thanks to one victory and several high finishes. As far as we know, Schafer performed this feat without drawing a single 28 hand...

First timers:
Congratulations to Valerie Nozick (atlchica_3) for her first ACC Internet Cribbage victory, in the December 18 Pegging Pals Single Elimination event. As her screen name attests, Valerie is female, and pegs from Atlanta, GA. Our other first-time winner was Bill Ellis (billellis), who joins us from Culver City, CA. Bill prevailed in the December 13 Cribbage Cup, always a challenging format in which to prevail.

Farewell from your outgoing ACC Internet Cribbage Web site editor:
And now a personal note. For the past three years, I've been proud and privileged to work with a group of talented and motivated people who shared a commitment to making ACC Internet Cribbage a reality. Part of my role has been to serve as your trusty correspondent on Internet cribbage matters both here on the ACC Web site and in the pages of Cribbage World. My family has been understanding of the time that I've taken from them while this great program got off the ground. But the demands of two young children (including a new addition just brought back from China), not to mention my "other" careers as a systems engineer and intermedia artist,  require that I pay back some of their patience.

As a result, this December 2005 wrap-up will be my last. I'm passing the role of Web site editor to our ACC Internet Commissioner, Bob Milk, who will be handling both the Web site updates, and the Internet-related material in Cribbage World after a brief transition period.

It's been a blast reporting on all your exploits as players and volunteers, and I'll always cherish having had the opportunity to play a role in architecting and implementing ACC Internet Cribbage. I'm grateful to be passing the torch to some overworked but nevertheless capable people who make ACC Internet Cribbage work on a daily to day basis. Special callout to Paul Barnes, Rick Allen, Don Ellis, Lois Fosdal, Bob Milk and Joan Dulworth. Without the contributions of these people since we started planning the program in January 2003, there would be nothing here for you to read.

I'll continue to publish articles on cribbage strategy at www.cribbageforum.com, and will still help out with ACC Internet Cribbage as time permits. For those of you who have considered volunteering in the past, now would be a great time to bring your new blood and energy into the program, helping it to move forward and expand in the coming years. Thanks to all of you for the memories. Happy pegging, and see you around!

- Michael Schell

Cribbage Cup winners:

• Tuesday, December 13
  Bill Ellis (billellis) Culver City, CA

Pegging Pals single elimination winners:

• Thursday, December 1
  James McClish (wildmac1941) Holualoa, HI
   
• Saturday, December 3
  Cecily S. Ryan (En_chanted1) St. John's, NL
   
• Sunday, December 4
  Don Eastwood (NC310Crib) Hillsborough, NC
   
• Monday, December 5
  Craig E. Jensen (firstfifteen) Salem, OR
   
• Thursday, December 8
  Lyle Beiswenger (luckylyle98) Grand Forks, ND
   
• Saturday, December 10
  Robert Beguin (beggyone) Earlville, IL
   
• Monday, December 12
  John Schafer (netview85) Battle Creek, MI
   
• Saturday, December 17
  Charles Barnes (Chuck_FL1445) Boca Raton, FL
   
• Sunday, December 18
  Valerie Nozick (atlchica_3) Atlanta, GA
   
• Monday, December 19
  John Dellarsina (ginprofessor3) El Cajon, CA

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