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Thought you'd enjoy this. I'm playing Jake Jacobs in the semis of our weekly Chicago Bar Point tournament last nite, and it's kind of a big match as both Jake and I are in the top 10 at the club and the points are close; there's about $250 to the winner of the tournament; he and I have a side bet (7 point match, he pays $60 and I pay $50); I have side bets on that match, etc.
I play brilliantly of course, and we get to 5-4, I'm leading, and Jake has a winning position and is thinking about cubing. He spends a long time studying the board, computing match equities, gammons, counting shots and return shots, counting the race, thinking about whether or not I would take or drop, etc. At the same time, I quickly determine I don't have a clue if it's a take or drop and I'm thinking about whether to have the jello or rice pudding that comes with dinner.
Finally, he turns the cube. Whereupon I pull out a coin and say, "Heads I take, tails, I drop." The crowd goes crazy, and Jake is of course a visibly perturbed ... no way does he want the outcome of any match to reside so much on luck, and by my action, I ensure that luck plays an even greater part in the action. (That tends to bother any player who believes he is playing an inferior player, by the way!) Anyway, I figured, I didn't know whether to take or drop anyway, so what the hell? I might as well flip a coin, and then, whatever happens, why not have some fun?
It came up tails, I dropped, the match went to 5-5; Jake doubled early in the next game and was crushing me, and of course, my last 3 rolls were doubles, as they had to be, in order for me to win the match.
I have never felt more sorry for my opponent. I love Jake ... one of the sweetest (and most unusual) people I have ever known, and I had beaten him almost entirely by luck. (By the way, my tournament record against Jake is excellent, and I would venture to say that Jake probably thinks I am one of the luckiest players on earth, as he has coached me for years and knows how poorly I play.)
It didn't make Jake feel any better that I was trounced in the finals by a player that Jake would probably beat 9 out of 10 times. And my points for finishing second have put me just ahead of Jake in the standings. Well, you can be sure I will bring that lucky coin with me and use it. Every time I play Jake.
Epilogue: After a few minutes and a couple of beers, Jake was in his usual good cheer and happy to have some new material for a future book. I asked him what kind of book he was planning, and he replied, "It's about a homicide."
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