United States - Both NNA004 Nertz semifinal matches were played tonight. The BD bracket match began at 7:30 and the AC bracket started the late game at 9:30 p.m. With the 2-time champ already eliminated from the tournament, Jill was the only other online champion that still remained in the tournament coming into tonight's match. Jill may have breathed a sigh of relief after the news that her arch rival had been knocked out last week. Though, she still could not overlook her opponents in her semifinal match.
Jill Younker-Sny, Aaron Bartholomew, and Christmas Wishart, went at it for 14 hard-fought hands. Natasha Rene Stafford, who did confirm her match time, ended up not making it. Aaron started the game off with a Nertz call only to tie with Christmas for the lead. Jill followed in the second with a Nertz call to set Christmas big and put herself in second place and 2 points behind Aaron.
BD Bracket Box Score>>>
Tournament Bracket and Stat Tracker>>>
Christmas was set again in the 3rd when Nate called Nertz again. This put Christmas at -6 and 36 points behind the leader, Aaron. Apparently, this is right where Christmas wanted to be. She made back-to-back full table sets with Nertz calls in the 4th and 5th to take the lead by 11 points.
Christmas was not done yet, she called another one in the 6th hand to further pull away from the pack. Aaron had a 19-point Nertz in hand #7 to jump from third to second place. After another Nertz call from Christmas, the scores at the end of hand #8 were Christmas with 65, Aaron with 38, and Jill with 33.
Jill made a full table set in the ninth to put herself back in second and only 18 points behind Christmas. Christmas then made back-to-back Nertz call again to give her 92 points at the end of the 11th. She was well in front of both Jill and Aaron at that point. But for Jill and Aaron it was now a fight for second place and a seat in the Finals. Knowing this motivated both players to exchange Nertz calls in hands numbers 12 and 13. Aaron was still in third but only trailed Jill by 6 points at the start of the 14th hand. Christmas scored 20 points in the 14th to secure the victory but it was Jill won the hand by calling the Nertz beating out Aaron B. for the second spot in the finals.
The Late Game Summary
Jill should now be more worried about the players that advanced over Sara in the AC bracket than if Sara were still in it. These Nertz players are "no joke". Tough, determined, fast, and alert and they certainly showed it tonight. Nate Nelson, Lacey Donaho, Meg Holko, and Aaron Whitcomb all made it to play this semifinal match.
Aaron, running a little late, arrived at the end of the first hand but managed to stay with the pack. Meg, however was determined to leave the pack, Nerting 4 of the first 5 hands, and ending up with 83 points before the 6th. At that moment, the closest person to her was Nate in second with 25 points. Aaron then went back-to-back to pull himself into 2nd place by the start of the 8th. In the 8th Lacey made a full table set with a quick 11-point Nertz, but it wasn't enough for her to advance after a Nert by Aaron in the 9th, and Meg's full table set in the 10th. With that Nertz call in the 10th, Meg secured her victory advancing to the Finals. The second place finisher, despite his late start, was Aaron W.. Meg's combined margin of victory was 270 points. It was a truly dominate performance.
AC Bracket Box Score>>>
A Look at the Finals
Aaron and Meg join Jill and Christmas at the Final Table. The NNA will announce the Final Table Game Time later this week. Aaron is the only newcomer to advance to the final table in this tournament. Jill is the only online champion at the final table. However, Christmas has already shown that she can beat Jill, but moreover, Aaron has shown that he can beat a 2-time champ. Lastly, Meg has just proven that she can beat a 2-time champ slayer. So the field looks pretty evenly matched. All of these players average over 8.00 PPH. Christmas is emerging as the favorite leading in PPG at 97.60. But how can one say she is the favorite with an online champion still in the mix. The champ, Jill has the most experience in NNA online Nertz tournament history with 80 hands played. She has play in every round that the NNA tournament system has every had. However, there is another stat to factor in here. Aaron and Jill are the only ones to ever beat the 2-time champ Sara who still averages over 100 PPG. To counterpoint, Meg leads the finalists in the Nertz Calls/Hands Played ratio with 3.6. Christmas is the only finalist with a winning game record at 3-2.
Jill beat both Meg and Christmas in the semis of the Summer Classic.
It seems anyway you slice it, a case can be made for each of these finalists. The Nertz world looks forward to the Final match and the players look forward to their chance to obtain the title of "Online Nertz Champion". There are also additional spoils for the victor as if these players need extra incentive. The winner of this match will receive a "Nertz Champion" Hoodie from The Nertz Store and a copy of Nerts High Speed Card Game, compliments of Ronnander Games.
Get ready Nertz fans.... it is about to be ON.
No comments:
Post a Comment