I am one of the tournament directors, but the PAPA staff really make it happen: Kevin, Mark, Doug, Elizabeth, Steve (lead tech). The other techs: Rich, Justin, Nick. The desk staff. The other tournament directors: the PAPA staff, Brett, Per.

Thanks for the kind words about the event, and I'm glad to be a part of helping it continue to improve. I'm already looking forward to 2015.

Your son played the game of the tournament, in the Division D tiebreaker on Saturday night. That was spectacular. It's rare to see anyone get to Sea of Simulation without an extra ball ... never mind that it was in an elimination game ... and especially never mind that Gregory is 8. Holy moly!

Who is tanking? If you have evidence of players deliberately tanking, who? You said your opponents just happened to suck against you ... maybe they actually sucked!

Frankly I'd be shocked if a player spent $200 plus a ton of time for the off chance at an $800 win, but ok. Pinburgh has divisional restrictions that prohibit a player from winning a top-4 finish in a lower division two consecutive years, and that push players to higher divisions based on their competitive results.

FYI you can look at the tiebreaker transition here:

http://pinburgh.com/2014/live/transition.html

Anyone marked as "tied for _ spaces in _" had the choice to move up or move down. In all cases, more players chose to move up than to move down.

Players do choose to "move down" for many reasons, including perception of their own ability or experience level. One plus is that it still comes down to execution, you still must play well in Saturday's five rounds to advance to finals.

It's possible to tip this balance slightly by tuning the prize levels, but if it tips too far in favor of A, it could give the perception that the tournament is feeding top players instead of giving everyone a chance to win. (The smallest payout for top 24 in any division is $200, so all qualifiers win more than the $175 entry fee.)

Yes, the full-resolution photo will be made available soon. Thanks to Gene X Huang for taking it!