Game 33 - May 30, 2009

DECATUR — The league standings tightened dramatically with six games remaining, as Nick skunked Scott to close the gap to nine points at the top of the table.

Dealer: Greg
03 hands - Greg 032 Scott 035 Nick 032
06 hands - Greg 058 Scott 050 Nick 060
09 hands - Greg 092 Scott 081 Nick 098
11 hands - Greg 111 Scott 090 Nick 121 Final

League Table
Scott... 11 14 04 04 75 3596
Nick.... 10 12 08 03 66 3576
Greg.... 12 08 07 06 62 3561

Game 32 - May 30, 2009

DECATUR — Scott pulled out a timely win to expand his league lead to 16 points with seven games remaining in the season. Nick finished second to move back to second in the league. Greg fell to third despite having the most wins (12) so far this season.

Dealer: Nick
03 hands - Greg 027 Scott 033 Nick 029
06 hands - Greg 056 Scott 071 Nick 058
09 hands - Greg 094 Scott 105 Nick 088
11 hands - Greg 112 Scott 121 Nick 115 Final

League Table
Scott... 11 14 04 03 77 3506
Nick.... 09 12 08 03 61 3455
Greg.... 12 07 07 06 60 3450

Game 31 - May 30, 2009

DECATUR — Greg won his second match in a row to climb into second place, while Scott avoided skunkage by a single peg to hold at his season-high total of 72 points.

Dealer: Scott
03 hands - Greg 038 Scott 040 Nick 040
06 hands - Greg 072 Scott 064 Nick 063
09 hands - Greg 101 Scott 088 Nick 098
10 hands - Greg 121 Scott 091 Nick 102 Final

League Table
Scott... 10 14 04 03 72 3385
Greg.... 12 07 06 06 60 3338
Nick.... 09 11 08 03 59 3340

Game 30 - May 16, 2009

DECATUR — Greg won a closely-contested match to secure his second win in three games, closing to within two points of second place in the league standings.

Dealer: Greg
03 hands - Greg 031 Scott 042 Nick 028
06 hands - Greg 065 Scott 066 Nick 062
09 hands - Greg 094 Scott 099 Nick 098
11 hands - Greg 121 Scott 106 Nick 114 Final

League Table
Scott... 10 14 03 03 72 3294
Nick.... 09 10 08 03 57 3238
Greg.... 11 07 06 06 55 3217

Game 29 - Mar. 28 and May 16, 2009

DECATUR — For the first time in two seasons and 67 games, we stopped a game mid-match on March 28 as Greg was summoned to brunch with friends visiting from out of town. After pegging 16 in the very first hand in Game 28, Greg managed a mere 12 pegs in the first three hands of Game 29 before rallying in the subsequent cycle. This set a new all-time low for the first three hands of any game this season.

After six hands, Greg was on 55, Scott led on 79, and Nick was on 65 pegs. The seating arrangement was recorded and the game was resumed seven weeks later.

Upon resumption of the match on May 16, Nick rallied from his deficit to take the game and his first win in nine matches.

Dealer: Nick
03 hands - Greg 012 Scott 053 Nick 046
06 hands - Greg 055 Scott 079 Nick 065
09 hands - Greg 083 Scott 100 Nick 098
12 hands - Greg 105 Scott 117 Nick 121 Final

League Table
Scott... 10 14 02 03 72 3188
Nick.... 09 09 08 03 55 3124
Greg.... 10 07 06 06 50 3096