Rounds: Here.
The finals are underway at last! But there's something a little odd: Sam is playing Sebastian, rather than Roman. I've checked the scores several times, and there's no doubt that Sebastian should have been in seventh position. That's rather unfortunate for him, and fortunate for Roman who presumably needed a break after his recent games.
The early chat just rehashes some of the things we've learned about the contestants during their earlier episodes.
It's a very close match tonight, with the contestants matched on the letters rounds. Sam gets a lead due to a good result on his favourite four large mix, but the rest offers little scope for advancement. It comes down to the conundrum, and Sam blitzes it for an emphatic win, 70 to 53.
I essentially matched Sebastian throughout, although there were two bad misses that on another day I may well have got. I wasn't remotely close to solving the conundrum within the allotted time, and finished tied with Sebastian. Sam hands me another loss, as somewhat expected. Great game from both contestants!
As usual, details after the jump.
Showing posts with label Sebastian Ham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sebastian Ham. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Ep 352: Sebastian Ham, Mark Arnold (January 3, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Sebastian has visited 66 different countries, which seems like a lot to me. Richard asks if there was any region that he particularly enjoyed; Sebastian responds that he likes bits and pieces from everywhere, but he would love to get back to Nepal and the Himalayas, and maybe trek into Tibet.
Tonight's challenger is Mark Arnold, a maintenance fitter and sports enthusiast. But we're not going to talk about either of those things (although Richard mentions in passing that Mark has been a coach and referee in the past), but about what Richard calls Mark's "deep dark passion". Which is... carpentry. Mark says that his main job is using metals, but at home he likes to use wood. His current project is making his own (self-designed) wardrobe doors, and in the past he has made coffee tables, bookcases, and a magazine rack (and possibly other unmentioned items, of course).
It's a relatively close match tonight, with the letters performances being a bit above average (although both contestants fall victim to an invalid eight in one round); Mark has the better of them, but his early stumble in the numbers keeps Sebastian in contention until the final numbers round, where Sebastian is too far away and Mark takes the unassailable lead going into the conundrum. He needed it, too, as Sebastian does very well to solve a tough conundrum. Mark just barely takes the victory, 47 to 45.
I'm pretty happy with my perforance tonight -- finding a nine will do that. Two letters rounds could have gone better, but I might not have risked those words even if I'd seen them. The conundrum, on the other hand, eluded me for the first time in a long while. An unanswered nine is always a commanding advantage, though, and I ran out a comfortable winner once more.
As usual, details after the jump.
Sebastian has visited 66 different countries, which seems like a lot to me. Richard asks if there was any region that he particularly enjoyed; Sebastian responds that he likes bits and pieces from everywhere, but he would love to get back to Nepal and the Himalayas, and maybe trek into Tibet.
Tonight's challenger is Mark Arnold, a maintenance fitter and sports enthusiast. But we're not going to talk about either of those things (although Richard mentions in passing that Mark has been a coach and referee in the past), but about what Richard calls Mark's "deep dark passion". Which is... carpentry. Mark says that his main job is using metals, but at home he likes to use wood. His current project is making his own (self-designed) wardrobe doors, and in the past he has made coffee tables, bookcases, and a magazine rack (and possibly other unmentioned items, of course).
It's a relatively close match tonight, with the letters performances being a bit above average (although both contestants fall victim to an invalid eight in one round); Mark has the better of them, but his early stumble in the numbers keeps Sebastian in contention until the final numbers round, where Sebastian is too far away and Mark takes the unassailable lead going into the conundrum. He needed it, too, as Sebastian does very well to solve a tough conundrum. Mark just barely takes the victory, 47 to 45.
I'm pretty happy with my perforance tonight -- finding a nine will do that. Two letters rounds could have gone better, but I might not have risked those words even if I'd seen them. The conundrum, on the other hand, eluded me for the first time in a long while. An unanswered nine is always a commanding advantage, though, and I ran out a comfortable winner once more.
As usual, details after the jump.
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Ep 351: Sebastian Ham, Cherie Braude (January 2, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Richard reveals that Sebastian does some fundraising; Sebastian explains that once a year he organises (or helps organise -- there's some suggestion of others being involved) a tribute night for a friend who passed away three years ago. This raises money for the Surfrider Foundation, which Sebastian explains is geared towards protecting and nurturing and cleaning the oceans, Australia-wide. (Which I take to mean the coastal environs all around Australia, but I'm sure they can explain it better.)
Tonight's challenger is Cherie Braude, a receptionist and musician. She'd like to play in a band, but she plays the flute. Richard asks if there is much call for flutes in bands aside from "the old Jethro Tull". She responds that it was her inspiration, in fact, and hopes that something will come of it.
It's a bit of a messy game tonight, with several of the letters rounds delivering very awkward mixes to work with. Cherie falls behind in the first two rounds, and thereafter is unable to catch up. The second round was a particularly bad miss, as were the last two numbers rounds where all she needed to get was within ten to have a chance of victory. She wasn't able to do so, though, and Sebastian escapes with a very lucky win, 40 to 37.
I missed a couple of things I should have found tonight, particularly in the second numbers round. That's always disappointing, but there was some decent finds in the letters and a fast conundrum solve to redeem it, and a solid victory once more.
As usual, details after the jump.
Richard reveals that Sebastian does some fundraising; Sebastian explains that once a year he organises (or helps organise -- there's some suggestion of others being involved) a tribute night for a friend who passed away three years ago. This raises money for the Surfrider Foundation, which Sebastian explains is geared towards protecting and nurturing and cleaning the oceans, Australia-wide. (Which I take to mean the coastal environs all around Australia, but I'm sure they can explain it better.)
Tonight's challenger is Cherie Braude, a receptionist and musician. She'd like to play in a band, but she plays the flute. Richard asks if there is much call for flutes in bands aside from "the old Jethro Tull". She responds that it was her inspiration, in fact, and hopes that something will come of it.
It's a bit of a messy game tonight, with several of the letters rounds delivering very awkward mixes to work with. Cherie falls behind in the first two rounds, and thereafter is unable to catch up. The second round was a particularly bad miss, as were the last two numbers rounds where all she needed to get was within ten to have a chance of victory. She wasn't able to do so, though, and Sebastian escapes with a very lucky win, 40 to 37.
I missed a couple of things I should have found tonight, particularly in the second numbers round. That's always disappointing, but there was some decent finds in the letters and a fast conundrum solve to redeem it, and a solid victory once more.
As usual, details after the jump.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Ep 350: Sebastian Ham, Nathan Dixon (December 30, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Tonight we find out that Sebastian is one of the vocalists in a rap group called Warcry; Richard asks if it involves a lot of planned lyric writing, or whether it is spontaneous. Sebastian responds that it is the former, and involves "quite a lot of words... big, long pages of words."
Tonight's challenger is Nathan Dixon, a fibre-optic cable joiner. Apparently his sister Natalie was on the show a while back; Nathan remarks that Letters and Numbers is important to them, as is family, but beating his little sister is more important to him.
There's not a lot to choose between the two contestants in this game. There's only one letters round of difference (where Sebastian finds a good seven), and Nathan slips further behind in the second numbers game only to regain the ground on the third. It's anyone's game going into the conundrum, and when Nathan buzzes in at the six second mark it looks like he will win. But he says he made a mistake, and can only sit there ruing that early press as time ticks away. I don't know if he found it in the remaining time -- I think he might have, but the body language isn't clear -- but Sebastian seals the result by finding the answer, literally in the last second. Sebastian gets his third win, 58 to 41.
I had a mostly good game, but it was just a few seconds short of being exceptional, or indeed (as far as I can tell) optimal. One off the pace in each of three letters rounds, in each case seeing the best answer a few seconds either side of time running out. It was more than enough for a comprehensive win.
As usual, details after the break.
Tonight we find out that Sebastian is one of the vocalists in a rap group called Warcry; Richard asks if it involves a lot of planned lyric writing, or whether it is spontaneous. Sebastian responds that it is the former, and involves "quite a lot of words... big, long pages of words."
Tonight's challenger is Nathan Dixon, a fibre-optic cable joiner. Apparently his sister Natalie was on the show a while back; Nathan remarks that Letters and Numbers is important to them, as is family, but beating his little sister is more important to him.
There's not a lot to choose between the two contestants in this game. There's only one letters round of difference (where Sebastian finds a good seven), and Nathan slips further behind in the second numbers game only to regain the ground on the third. It's anyone's game going into the conundrum, and when Nathan buzzes in at the six second mark it looks like he will win. But he says he made a mistake, and can only sit there ruing that early press as time ticks away. I don't know if he found it in the remaining time -- I think he might have, but the body language isn't clear -- but Sebastian seals the result by finding the answer, literally in the last second. Sebastian gets his third win, 58 to 41.
I had a mostly good game, but it was just a few seconds short of being exceptional, or indeed (as far as I can tell) optimal. One off the pace in each of three letters rounds, in each case seeing the best answer a few seconds either side of time running out. It was more than enough for a comprehensive win.
As usual, details after the break.
Friday, 30 December 2011
Ep 349: Sebastian Ham, Susan Cumming (December 29, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Richard reveals that Sebastian does kung fu and tai chi, and asks what form of kung fu he practices. Sebastian responds that it is a style called Hung Leng, developed by a British sifu; it's a traditional Chinese form of wushu that uses all the animal styles, a bit of tai chi and bagua and lots of others.
Challenging Sebastian is Susan Cumming, a scientist and education manager at the Monash Institute of Medical Research. She looks after PhD students there -- currently 101 of them; Richard makes a 101 Dalmatians reference, and we find out that Susan likes bichon frises. The students are mainly studying molecular biology, but there's also a lot of bioinformatics and some psychology. Within the molecular biology area they range from cancer research to baby research, to reproduction and development, and to immunology.
Susan does well in the letters, outdoing Sebastian twice (once when he overreaches for a seven that it not listed in the Macquarie). Unfortunately for her, Sebastian does well on the numbers today while Susan is unable to make much headway at all. That's more than enough to give Sebastian the win, 49 to 32.
I had a good game today; I missed a seven (possibly extendable to an eight, but more on that in round four) that I've seen in the past, but aside from that did as well as I plausibly could. Coupled with a fast conundrum solution, I have a comfortable victory myself and feel back in better territory.
As usual, details after the jump.
Richard reveals that Sebastian does kung fu and tai chi, and asks what form of kung fu he practices. Sebastian responds that it is a style called Hung Leng, developed by a British sifu; it's a traditional Chinese form of wushu that uses all the animal styles, a bit of tai chi and bagua and lots of others.
Challenging Sebastian is Susan Cumming, a scientist and education manager at the Monash Institute of Medical Research. She looks after PhD students there -- currently 101 of them; Richard makes a 101 Dalmatians reference, and we find out that Susan likes bichon frises. The students are mainly studying molecular biology, but there's also a lot of bioinformatics and some psychology. Within the molecular biology area they range from cancer research to baby research, to reproduction and development, and to immunology.
Susan does well in the letters, outdoing Sebastian twice (once when he overreaches for a seven that it not listed in the Macquarie). Unfortunately for her, Sebastian does well on the numbers today while Susan is unable to make much headway at all. That's more than enough to give Sebastian the win, 49 to 32.
I had a good game today; I missed a seven (possibly extendable to an eight, but more on that in round four) that I've seen in the past, but aside from that did as well as I plausibly could. Coupled with a fast conundrum solution, I have a comfortable victory myself and feel back in better territory.
As usual, details after the jump.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Ep 348: Ann Vasconcelos, Sebastian Ham (December 28, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Ann returns for her second night, and we find out that she has been to Malta a couple of times, and loves it. She makes mention of the history, the churches, the old buildings... she adds that the people are so friendly and the food is lovely. She'd love to live there, in fact.
Challenging Ann tonight is Sebastian Ham, who is a draftsman for an interior design company and an avid skateboarder and snowboarder. He's been doing the latter for around 25 years, and the main attraction is the speed. Richard asks if Sebastian has had any crashes; Sebastian responds that there has been nothing major on the skateboard, but plenty on the snowboard as that involves going a lot higher and a lot further, with many more obstacles.
It's a pretty even performance from the two contestants on the letters rounds, but Sebastian had by far the better of the numbers. Ann might have tied the scores on the last numbers round but something goes awry somewhere, and Sebastian takes an unbeatable lead into the conundrum. With neither contestant making headway on it, Sebastian wins 39 to 25.
Once again I was in decent form with the letters -- just missing a very findable eight, and being slow on the conundrum again -- but let down by the numbers, where I missed two very findable solutions. Nonetheless, it was enough to cruise to a win by a margin of more than 50 points.
As usual, details after the jump.
Ann returns for her second night, and we find out that she has been to Malta a couple of times, and loves it. She makes mention of the history, the churches, the old buildings... she adds that the people are so friendly and the food is lovely. She'd love to live there, in fact.
Challenging Ann tonight is Sebastian Ham, who is a draftsman for an interior design company and an avid skateboarder and snowboarder. He's been doing the latter for around 25 years, and the main attraction is the speed. Richard asks if Sebastian has had any crashes; Sebastian responds that there has been nothing major on the skateboard, but plenty on the snowboard as that involves going a lot higher and a lot further, with many more obstacles.
It's a pretty even performance from the two contestants on the letters rounds, but Sebastian had by far the better of the numbers. Ann might have tied the scores on the last numbers round but something goes awry somewhere, and Sebastian takes an unbeatable lead into the conundrum. With neither contestant making headway on it, Sebastian wins 39 to 25.
Once again I was in decent form with the letters -- just missing a very findable eight, and being slow on the conundrum again -- but let down by the numbers, where I missed two very findable solutions. Nonetheless, it was enough to cruise to a win by a margin of more than 50 points.
As usual, details after the jump.
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