Battle of the Decades preview: QF #1
| Battle of the Decades – knockout rounds | |||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| preliminary round | |||||||||
This is the first time three Tournament of Champions winners have faced off in a single game. Who will be the first player to advance to the semifinals?
Leszek and Roger had impressive performances in the opening round, and I anticipate a dogfight between them for the automatic berth. Who do you think will win? Comment below!
Here’s how our gladiators got here – and handled past wild-card situations.
Leszek Pawlowicz
Leszek, the 1992 TOC champ, had a huge lead heading into Final in his preliminary Battle of the Decades game, courtesy of a 10,000 Daily Double wager. Both Leslie and Andrew were within striking distance, but Leszek responded correctly to advance.
Here’s Leszek’s original preview.
BOTD prelims (02/04/14)
| Leszek | Leslie F | Andrew |
| 25,600 | 13,800 | 13,600 |
Proper wager: 2,001
Actual wager: 2,400
Leszek had a lock in his TOC quarterfinals, so not much to go on here.
TOC quarterfinal (11/13/92) [before doubled amounts]
| Leszek | Billy | Frank |
| 15,900 | 7,000 | 2,000 |
Wager: 900
Robin Carroll
Robin, who won the TOC in 2000, yanked a victory from the hands of Fan Favorite (and my fellow College Champ) Shane Whitlock with an impressive solo get in her preliminary BOTD match.
Here’s Robin’s original preview.
BOTD prelims (03/05/14)
| Shane | Bob H | Robin |
| 10,000 | 6,000 | 5,600 |
Proper wager: 5,600
Actual wager: 5,600
Robin was in second in both of her quarterfinal matches to players who had punched their semifinal tickets. Shout-out to my friend Michael Rooney, who almost took Brad Rutter to the house as well.
TOC quarterfinal (05/11/00) [before doubled amounts]
| Michael | Robin | Lee |
| 15,500 | 6,400 | 900 |
Wager: 1,600
Million Dollar Masters quarterfinal (05/07/02)
| India* | Robin | Babu* |
| 18,200 | 8,800 | 6,000 |
Wager: 3,200
Roger Craig
2011 champ Roger, like Leszek, had a huge lead in his preliminary match, but still needed to respond correctly to nip Vijay Balse by a dollar in his preliminary BOTD match.
Here’s Roger’s original preview.
BOTD prelims (04/01/14)
| Roger | Vijay | Stephanie |
| 17,200 | 8,800 | 7,800 |
Proper wager: 401
Actual wager: 401
And also like Leszek, he had things sewn up before Final. (In this case, thanks to his usual aggressive Daily Double wagering, faaaaaaaaar before Final.)
TOC quarterfinal (11/03/11)
| Roger | Brian | Kara |
| 39,800 | 8,800 | 6,000 |
Wager: 20,200