It's Maurie's fourth night, and the conversation is back to fishing. Richard asks what Maurie's "best version of fishing" is, and Maurie doesn't really answer that but does get to talk a bit about his various fishing activities. Where he lives ("in the bay" -- presumably Hervey Bay from later remarks) there's quite a long pier and they get some good mackerel and giant trevally there. But he and his kids like to go out to the reefs in his "small tinnie" (a boat with a lightweight metal hull, for any non-Australians who end up reading this) and catch some reef fish; every now and then they make it over to Fraser Island to catch some mud crabs and fresh prawns.
Tonight's challenge is Paul Merry, a mechanical engineer and poker player. He's been in Las Vegas as a professional poker player; he notes the benefits of being able to set your own hours, but the important (more profitable) games are on the weekend so that you have to work very hard then. A poker player's weekend is during the week, as he puts it.
Paul gets off to a flying start with fifteen unanswered points from the first two rounds. Maurie manages to gain back the ground in numbers rounds and the scores are tied at the second break. Maurie gets ahead in the letters, only for Paul to outdo him in the final numbers round. The one-point advantage that this gives Paul proves decisive as neither is able to solve the conundrum. Paul wins, 34 to 33.
I was slightly off the pace on the early letters rounds, and slow on the conundrum. although I got it; solid numbers play and a good final letters round saw me home for a comfortable win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Showing posts with label Maurie Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maurie Williams. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Ep 365: Maurie Williams, Raluca Dorobantu (January 20, 2012)
The chat with Maurie tonight is essentially just a comment about him playing against his son in the previous game. So far, all we've really heard about him is that he likes fishing; surely that's not the extent of things?
Challenging Maurie is Raluca Dorobantu, described simply as a student. She speaks several languages: Romanian (her native language), English, French, and she's studying Spanish at the moment.
It's an unusual performance from both contestants, with only five- or six-letter words being found in some reasonably cooperative mixes. Maurie has just slightly the better of it -- I can't help but wonder how difficult it is for Raluca to play this game in a non-native language, particularly with three others to ignore at the same time -- and neither shows convincing form in the numbers but again Maurie comes out ahead. That gives him an unbeatable lead going into the conundrum, and with neither solving it the final scoreline is 46 to 27 in his favour.
I had a great letters performance today, including finding a full monty that David missed. My numbers performance let me down, however, as I ended up quite far from the target in one round and missed an easy minor adjustment in another; in both cases a little more time would have improved matters markedly -- I was just too slow, alas. Still, the power of a full monty is large, and gave me my third (and largest) win over the David + Lily combination (in solo scoring, that is).
As usual, details after the jump.
Challenging Maurie is Raluca Dorobantu, described simply as a student. She speaks several languages: Romanian (her native language), English, French, and she's studying Spanish at the moment.
It's an unusual performance from both contestants, with only five- or six-letter words being found in some reasonably cooperative mixes. Maurie has just slightly the better of it -- I can't help but wonder how difficult it is for Raluca to play this game in a non-native language, particularly with three others to ignore at the same time -- and neither shows convincing form in the numbers but again Maurie comes out ahead. That gives him an unbeatable lead going into the conundrum, and with neither solving it the final scoreline is 46 to 27 in his favour.
I had a great letters performance today, including finding a full monty that David missed. My numbers performance let me down, however, as I ended up quite far from the target in one round and missed an easy minor adjustment in another; in both cases a little more time would have improved matters markedly -- I was just too slow, alas. Still, the power of a full monty is large, and gave me my third (and largest) win over the David + Lily combination (in solo scoring, that is).
As usual, details after the jump.
Ep 364: Maurie Williams, Matt Williams (January 19, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
There's a shake-up of the usual introductory format tonight because the challenger is Matt Williams -- Maurie's son! Matt is a university student studying I.T., but the conversation with them both is just the usual competitive statements that you might expect in such a situation. We do learn later (from Matt, but presumably Maurie agrees) that Maurie is better at the letters rounds, Matt at the numbers rounds, and for the conundrum Maurie "has it in the bag".
Despite those remarks, the letters are almost balanced, with each winning one round (Matt winning due to Maurie trying a risky word, admittedly). Matt shows slightly better form on the numbers, but misses a trivial adjustment in the last round that would have seen him safe going into the conundrum. As it goes he has a six point advantage, but Maurie lives up to expectations by solving the conundrum less than four seconds in. That gives Maurie a lucky win, 52 to 48.
I was solid on the numbers, but wobbly on the letters tonight. I made up for it a little by solving the conundrum effectively instantly, and combined with the last numbers round that made the margin somewhat more flattering than it probably deserved.
As usual, details after the jump.
There's a shake-up of the usual introductory format tonight because the challenger is Matt Williams -- Maurie's son! Matt is a university student studying I.T., but the conversation with them both is just the usual competitive statements that you might expect in such a situation. We do learn later (from Matt, but presumably Maurie agrees) that Maurie is better at the letters rounds, Matt at the numbers rounds, and for the conundrum Maurie "has it in the bag".
Despite those remarks, the letters are almost balanced, with each winning one round (Matt winning due to Maurie trying a risky word, admittedly). Matt shows slightly better form on the numbers, but misses a trivial adjustment in the last round that would have seen him safe going into the conundrum. As it goes he has a six point advantage, but Maurie lives up to expectations by solving the conundrum less than four seconds in. That gives Maurie a lucky win, 52 to 48.
I was solid on the numbers, but wobbly on the letters tonight. I made up for it a little by solving the conundrum effectively instantly, and combined with the last numbers round that made the margin somewhat more flattering than it probably deserved.
As usual, details after the jump.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Ep 363: Susan Pickett, Maurie Williams (January 18, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
On Susan's second night it's revealed that she has been on several gameshows before, many years ago. She lists Wheel of Fortune, Concentration, and Catchphrase, and is about to add another but gets cut off by Richard (she paused too long, making it seem like she had finished, before she attempted to resume the list). She won at least some of them, according to her StarNow profile, although the only show she mentions explicitly is Letters and Numbers.
Challenging Susan is Maurie Williams, a sales manager and very keen fisherman. Richard asks what it is about fishing that really appeals to Maurie; Maurie responds that it's the hunt (insert your own Rex Hunt joke here), the catch, the chase... I admit that I don't really associate either hunting or chasing with fishing (unless, perhaps, using a speargun rather than a fishing line), but I can see how some aspects of it -- particularly the sometimes hours-long struggle to land a fish which is capable of exerting more force than the breaking strain of the line -- could evoke similar feelings.
It's a close match, with Susan getting off to an early lead in the letters; Maurie is able to get back exactly the same amount in later letters rounds (assisted by an error from Susan). The numbers produce what could have been the key difference, with Maurie scoring a 5 early on and Susan a 7 at the end. That is a two point advantage to Susan going into the conundrum, which is always a preferable place to be. As time ticks down she must be feeling better about things, but with just five seconds left on the clock Maurie finds the answer and takes the win, 45 points to 37.
I was a touch off in the letters -- missing a seven that I should have seen (and have seen before) -- and struggled with one of the numbers rounds, but other than that I was in pretty good shape. The conundrum was a little awkward, but I got there soon enough to seal a good win.
As usual, details after the break.
On Susan's second night it's revealed that she has been on several gameshows before, many years ago. She lists Wheel of Fortune, Concentration, and Catchphrase, and is about to add another but gets cut off by Richard (she paused too long, making it seem like she had finished, before she attempted to resume the list). She won at least some of them, according to her StarNow profile, although the only show she mentions explicitly is Letters and Numbers.
Challenging Susan is Maurie Williams, a sales manager and very keen fisherman. Richard asks what it is about fishing that really appeals to Maurie; Maurie responds that it's the hunt (insert your own Rex Hunt joke here), the catch, the chase... I admit that I don't really associate either hunting or chasing with fishing (unless, perhaps, using a speargun rather than a fishing line), but I can see how some aspects of it -- particularly the sometimes hours-long struggle to land a fish which is capable of exerting more force than the breaking strain of the line -- could evoke similar feelings.
It's a close match, with Susan getting off to an early lead in the letters; Maurie is able to get back exactly the same amount in later letters rounds (assisted by an error from Susan). The numbers produce what could have been the key difference, with Maurie scoring a 5 early on and Susan a 7 at the end. That is a two point advantage to Susan going into the conundrum, which is always a preferable place to be. As time ticks down she must be feeling better about things, but with just five seconds left on the clock Maurie finds the answer and takes the win, 45 points to 37.
I was a touch off in the letters -- missing a seven that I should have seen (and have seen before) -- and struggled with one of the numbers rounds, but other than that I was in pretty good shape. The conundrum was a little awkward, but I got there soon enough to seal a good win.
As usual, details after the break.
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