Making His Mark

by Jake Jacobs
10 July 2012

Jake Jacobs

Phil Simborg, who conducted it, calls it a Peoria Auction. I call it a Chinese Menu Auction. I'm pretty sure the Peorians call it a Peoria Auction, while Chinese restaurant owners, if you asked what they call it, would say: "Wo buzhidao!" I guess we will have to go with the majority; from now on it will be a Peoria Auction.

The Peoria Auction features columns of players, and the bidders choose one from Column A, and one from Column B. Except this time there were a couple of twists. The LA Open drew sixty-one players, and nineteen of those were assigned to Column A, forty-two to Column B. Bidders chose one from Column A, and two from Column B.

I see a hand in the back. Yes, you are correct. If you choose nineteen groups of three you have four players left over. I'll get to that in a second.
 

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Proceed to Step Two

Article text Copyright © 1999-2013 Jake Jacobs and GammonVillage Inc.

Feedback about this article:

1.

Subject: Re: Making His Mark

From: PhilSimborg   

Date: 12 Jul 2012 09:44 EST

I am very proud to say that when I first looked at the calcutta sheet Howard was in column B! It took quite a bit of convincing to get Pat the move a top 64-rated player to column B to make room for Howard in Column A. Of course, my high opinion of Howard's game was clearly proven by the result.

It was no surprise to me that you picked Perry first from Column B, as I had also argued that he belonged in Column A. Carter was a shock! I knew you just picked him because he was a friend and you wanted him to have to pay a high price to buy back. No way can Carter do well in the ABT! (As of this writing he is No. 4!)

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