Itachi

I'm not an expert but it looks ok to me.

Thanks to Asashosakari, I've been able to set up a nicer way to display the scores. I haven't figured out how to get rid of all the extra decimals though, any suggestions? (I have them trimmed to 2 places on my excel sheet but they appear with many more in the table...) Anyway, Doitsuyama still leads (not counting Mirai) but there isn't much space between the top few players so the lead could easily change. Most of us are headed for kachikoshi. Only one of us is now below Mukashi in the standings. Genzai is amongst the top players as expected. Mirai finally has a loss. In one of the groups, there is no longer an undefeated rikishi so Mirai cannot choose 15 perfect scores. I haven't factored in the kk points yet but I should find time this weekend to set it up so perhaps tomorrow's table will contain an extra column for that. Thanks to everyone for playing! Itachi p.s. anyone know how to get rid of the big gap between the text and the table? Sandanme Game shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 51114.7115384615385 Doitsuyama 34189.80769230769231 Itachi 33199.51923076923077 Sekihiryu 32219.05660377358491 Tamanaogijima 31228.77358490566038 Genzai 31238.61111111111111 Yubiquitoyama 30238.49056603773585 Kotononami 28238.23529411764706 Torideyama 28248.07692307692308 Imumaru 28267.77777777777778 Oshirokita 27267.64150943396226 Profomisakari 28277.63636363636364 Aderechelseamaru 25257.5 Fay 25287.07547169811321 Wolfgangho 25306.81818181818182 Mukashi 23306.50943396226415 Holleshoryu 21325.94339622641509

Sandanme Game Sandanme Game shikona wins losses est. wins/15 shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 45 0 15.00 Mirai 45015Doitsuyama 29 16 9.67 Doitsuyama 29169.66666666666667Itachi 27 18 9.00 Itachi 27189Sekihiryu 26 19 8.67 Sekihiryu 26198.66666666666667Yubiquitoyama 26 19 8.67 Yubiquitoyama 26198.66666666666667Tamanaogijima 25 19 8.52 Tamanaogijima 25198.52272727272727Torideyama 24 21 8.00 Torideyama 24218Genzai 24 21 8.00 Genzai 24218Imumaru 23 22 7.67 Imumaru 23227.66666666666667Oshirokita 23 22 7.67 Oshirokita 23227.66666666666667Kotononami 23 22 7.67 Kotononami 23227.66666666666667Profomisakari 21 24 7.00 Profomisakari 21247Aderechelseamaru 21 24 7.00 Aderechelseamaru 21247Holleshoryu 20 25 6.67 Holleshoryu 20256.66666666666667Mukashi 19 26 6.33 Mukashi 19266.33333333333333Fay 19 26 6.33 Fay 19266.33333333333333Wolfgangho 19 26 6.33 Wolfgangho 19266.33333333333333

Will this display?

Here are the results after 6 days. Everyone has had 3 bouts per rikishi except Tamanaogijima who lost a rikishi as of day 5 due to kyujo. Doitsuyama remains in the lead. Mirai remains perfect. Mukashi has settled to the bottom where Fay and Wolfgangho are struggling to get back on track for kachikoshi. Good luck on day 7. We may have some kk rikishi by then. Itachi shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 45 0 15.00 Doitsuyama 29 16 9.67 Itachi 27 18 9.00 Sekihiryu 26 19 8.67 Yubiquitoyama 26 19 8.67 Tamanaogijima 25 19 8.52 Torideyama 24 21 8.00 Genzai 24 21 8.00 Imumaru 23 22 7.67 Oshirokita 23 22 7.67 Kotononami 23 22 7.67 Profomisakari 21 24 7.00 Aderechelseamaru 21 24 7.00 Holleshoryu 20 25 6.67 Mukashi 19 26 6.33 Fay 19 26 6.33 Wolfgangho 19 26 6.33

I think Baruto has an excellent opportunity to win - 'Azuma is not at his best and Baruto is vigorous. Hakuho should win unless he screws up - Ami can be dangerous but Hakuho is a few classes above him. Kise is promising but Asa seems to be in decent form and he's practically unbeatable that way. I don't know how 'off' Kaio is but Miyabi-zeki isn't showing his best either so I'm not sure who will win this one. I'd prefer to see MIyabiyama pick it up and return to Ozeki but if his sumo is weak again then he should be taught a lesson by a really good ozeki in his twilight. Itachi

Taganomine who is kyujo as of day 1 belonged to Tamanaogijima. At least you got one win from him! No one else has any of the kyujo rikishi so far but that could change as we've collectively chosen half the division. Well our matches are probably underway as I write this - let's hope no other rikishi get injured. Itachi

After 5 days, some of us have had more matches than others. Doitsuyama extended his lead a bit while the rest of us are tumbling around wuite a bit. The drone Genzai is moving towards the top which suggests our collective picks wee good and drone Mukashi is dropping to the bottom which suggests that most of us improve our chances by looking beyond previous tournament records. There are 4 groups without a 3-0 rikishi so Mirai's score is only 41-4 for now. Will it return to perfection after day 6? Good luck tonight, Itachi shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 41 0 15.00 Doitsuyama 27 12 10.38 Itachi 25 15 9.38 Yubiquitoyama 24 15 9.23 Tamanaogijima 23 16 8.85 Genzai 22 16 8.68 Sekihiryu 22 17 8.46 Oshirokita 21 17 8.29 Torideyama 22 18 8.25 Kotononami 20 18 7.89 Holleshoryu 18 17 7.71 Profomisakari 20 19 7.69 Aderechelseamaru 17 18 7.29 Imumaru 17 19 7.08 Mukashi 18 22 6.75 Wolfgangho 15 23 5.92 Fay 13 23 5.42

Here are the results after 4 days. Every rikishi has had two matches. shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 30 0 15.00 Doitsuyama 19 11 9.50 Yubiquitoyama 18 12 9.00 Itachi 17 13 8.50 Tamanaogijima 17 13 8.50 Sekihiryu 17 13 8.50 Torideyama 16 14 8.00 Oshirokita 16 14 8.00 Holleshoryu 16 14 8.00 Kotononami 16 14 8.00 Aderechelseamaru 15 15 7.50 Genzai 15 15 7.50 Profomisakari 14 16 7.00 Mukashi 13 17 6.50 Imumaru 12 18 6.00 Wolfgangho 12 18 6.00 Fay 10 20 5.00 Got to go. Itachi

Here are the win/loss records after 3 days ranked by winning %. I haven't added in the projected kk part of the score yet. shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 28 0 15.00 Doitsuyama 16 9 9.60 Yubiquitoyama 15 10 9.00 Tamanaogijima 14 10 8.75 Oshirokita 15 11 8.65 Itachi 13 11 8.13 Aderechelseamaru 13 11 8.13 Genzai 12 11 7.83 Sekihiryu 10 10 7.50 Kotononami 12 12 7.50 Torideyama 12 13 7.20 Holleshoryu 11 12 7.17 Mukashi 9 10 7.11 Imumaru 10 12 6.82 Profomisakari 9 11 6.75 Wolfgangho 9 11 6.75 Fay 8 15 5.22 Doitsuyama has just one more win than Yubiquitoyama and Oshirokita but he also has fewer losses. Oshirokita has had 26 matches while Mukashi has had only 19. The imperfect drone have regressed towrds the mean with Genzai just above 50/50 and Mukashi ahead of four humans. It is still early, however. Good luck on day 4. Itachi

Ok, now that I've solved the 'numbers stored as text' mystery I am able to add our wins and losses properly again. Next project will be to study Asashosakari's formatting tips so the scoring tables will line up nicely in the posting window. Here are the results after two days. Every rikishi has had one bout. Doitsuyama has the early lead with 11 wins. Removing the drone Mirai who cannot win the yusho and automatically has the best record, we have a good split with half the teams winning more than they lost. Even removing the other two drones, we have the same split since Genzai is 8-7 and Mukashi is 7-8. Overall we are 125-115 (without Mirai). That would be 110-100 without any drones. Good luck on day 3 (very soon). Itachi shikona wins losses Mirai 15 0 Doitsuyama 11 4 Oshirokita 10 5 Tamanaogijima 10 5 Yubiquitoyama 9 6 Kotononami 9 6 Itachi 8 7 Sekihiryu 8 7 Genzai 8 7 Mukashi 7 8 Profomisakari 7 8 Aderechelseamaru 7 8 Holleshoryu 7 8 Wolfgangho 7 8 Fay 6 9 Torideyama 6 9 Imumaru 5 10

Before anyone says anything, I know the formatting could be better. I'm not a wizard at this sort of thing but I have received some very useful assistance from Asashosakari (who has yet to place an entry ... perhaps in November?) with regards to preparing xl files to present well in postings. Loss of files due to total system failure is one reason for my continued primitive state as are a number of other factors. I have some information to work with and I'm sure I can fix it up but I haven't had the opportunity to play around with it and make it work yet, bear with me! Anyway, here's my baketeiru table of everyone's wins/losses and estimated win/loss record per rikishi (out of 15). Once everyone has a few more bouts, I'll add in the kk estimate scores and if there is no further input re: group leader points and yusho/jun-yusho points, I may throw in those factors as well - tempted though I am to scrap the idea of giving game points for leading a group or winning (or nearly winning) the yusho. Your scores so far: shikona wins losses est. wins/15 Mirai 15 0 15.00 Tamanaogijima 6 1 12.86 Kotononami 6 3 10.00 Oshirokita 4 2 10.00 Doitsuyama 5 3 9.38 Genzai 5 5 7.50 Imumaru 3 3 7.50 Mukashi 5 6 6.82 Sekihiryu 5 6 6.82 Yubiquitoyama 4 5 6.67 Wolfgangho 5 7 6.25 Profomisakari 4 6 6.00 Fay 2 3 6.00 Itachi 4 7 5.45 Aderechelseamaru 2 5 4.29 Torideyama 2 7 3.33 Holleshoryu 2 7 3.33 Tamanaogijima has taken the early lead. Wolfgangho had 12 of his guys on the dohyo and didn't do so well - I guess by now new results are in but I'll not be able to grab them properly for a few hours so it'll be much later before I send them out to you. Good night, and good luck. Itachi

I have already posted the selections of Mukashi - the drone of basho past. Here are the selections of Genzai - the drone of basho present. The popularity column refers to the number of players (including Mukashi and Genzai) who selected the rikishi. group rikishi popularity 1 Miyamaru 4 2 Morioka 8 3 Kainowaka 6 4 Gagamaru 9 5 Masuhikari 7 6 Sakaizawa 11 7 Takunishiki 7 8 Teruyama 6 9 Ikeda 7 10 Orora 4 11 Hidaka 3 12 Dewahikari 9 13 Hoshihikari 5 14 Matsutani 7 15 Mouri 7 In the event of a tie for most popular rikishi in a group, Genzai will pick the youngest. It is obvious that group 11 was a difficult choice unlike group 6. Keep in mind, this is based on 16 players since no one can yet say who Mirai has selected for certain.

Ok, here are some selection stats: Of the 200 rikishi in the division, 10 were kyujo and everyone chose to replace their kyujo rikishi so really only 190 were available. In the end, 104 different rikishi were chosen. Add on the 4 kyujo rikishi that had been chosen and replaced and we selected 108 of the 200 rikishi. Just over half of them. Sakaizawa was the most popular pick by far but for some reason, five of us avoided him. Two of those selected Hotaka and there was one selection each of Wakakengo, Chiyonohana and Tamao. Mirai does not figure in the selection stats since we don't know which rikishi will turn out to be the best yet. Genzai just pads the stats of the most popular rikishi but often Mukashi also finds the most popular one since successful rikishi tend to be popular choices. Considering this, weren't any other rikishi who were chosen by more than half the human players and only Gagamaru and Dewahikari even reached the halfway level of support from non-drones. shikona # picked Sakaizawa 11 Gagamaru 9 Dewahikari 9 Morioka 8 Masuhikari 7 Takunishiki 7 Ikeda 7 Matsutani 7 Mouri 7 Kainowaka 6 Teruyama 6 Hoshihikari 5 Miyamaru 4 Nankairiki 4 Toho 4 Kotomisen 4 Maenoyu 4 Orora 4 Asahibenten 4 Kotohikari 3 Yamasaki 3 Gotenyu 3 Tanno 3 Asahisakari 3 Hidaka 3 Kurosawa 3 Ikehara 3 Kotokuni 2 Hayasegawa 2 Ettoryu 2 Ashu 2 Kirinishiki 2 Tokiryu 2 Akinohana 2 Hotaka 2 Fujitsukasa 2 Wakatora 2 Notononami 2 Yuminosato 2 Tamanotaka 2 Yutsukasa 2 Munakata 2 Hanada 2 Kakushoma 2 Terunosato 2 Masutoo 2 Takamiryu 2 Azumi 2 Kyokuhikari 2 Fujinokaze 1 Asanotosa 1 Kubota 1 Takamaru 1 Kyokushoten 1 Teruazuma 1 Yonemura 1 Ryukai 1 Hokutoarashi 1 Wakamifuji 1 Nagai 1 Kagemaru 1 Arawashi 1 Omusashi 1 Minaminoshima 1 Wakakengo 1 Chiyonohana 1 Tamao 1 Wakakasuga 1 Sadanoshima 1 Hidenofuji 1 Saito 1 Taganomine 1 Tokusegawa 1 Isoazuma 1 Murayoshi 1 Hatayama 1 Kagamio 1 Nioyama 1 Daionami 1 Soryuzan 1 Futamusashi 1 Kachimori 1 Seifu 1 Ryukiyama 1 Kamakura 1 Tomishima 1 Fukuda 1 Ryuyo 1 Hananosato 1 Takashoma 1 Chiyonoshin 1 Bungonishiki 1 Ouka 1 Omatsuda 1 Toma 1 Hamaeiko 1 Tochitaiga 1 Takakiho 1 Nakatsunishiki 1 Mutsuryuyama 1 Fusanohana 1 Minanosato 1 Hoshiazuma 1 Kasugamine 1

Well, the time I planned to spend setting up my daily results postings got spent in the crawl space rescueing my possessions from a mouse infestation. Yuck! For today, I have only the accumulated wins by each team to report. Mirai magically has the best possible team so all 15 appeared and won - no surprise. Tamanaogijima and Kotononami did the best amongst real players and their 6 wins would be more meaningful if I had the loss column in oreder but I'll have to leave that for tomorrow - maybe later tonight - must entertain family now. Good luck tonight (any minute now ...) Itachi p.s. Oshirokita, your kyujo replacement change has been confirmed. Mirai 15 Tamanaogijima 6 Kotononami 6 Mukashi 5 Sekihiryu 5 Wolfgangho 5 Doitsuyama 5 Genzai 5 Itachi 4 Profomisakari 4 Oshirokita 4 Yubiquitoyama 4 Imumaru 3 Fay 2 Torideyama 2 Aderechelseamaru 2 Holleshoryu 2

I'm thrilled to once again take the most average pick title since I don't seem to be very successful at competing for the yusho in this game. As for the rumours that fellow Vancouverite Oshirokita and I collaborate to win the most unique and most common pick titles, I assure you that there was no communication between us on the subject of this game. I suppose if anyone wanted to try for the most unique pick, avoiding the most average picks (usually me) would be an effective strategy though. Perhaps next time I'll avoid picking anyone I think I should pick and enjoy a record swing from average to unique. Thanks for the interesting game topics, your Randomness. Itachi

Welcome to our last entry, Kotononami. I can't seem to reply to Koto-san's email so here is the confirmation. I received the entry before any Sandanme bouts had begun and it has been entered. Now we have 14 human players and three drones for 17 total. The most convenient way for me to get the daily results into my spreadsheet is to wait for www.scgroup.com to update their data. For this reason, you won't see results until sometime the following day. If you kept a list of your own selections, you can see how you did at www.sumo.or.jp if you can read shikona in Japanese. Enjoy Itachi

I think you've got to admire this guy. He just doesn't have the tools to succeed as a sekitori but he doesn't allow himself to get discouraged. It's no small accomplishment to get promoted to Juryo even once so good for him. I began to notice him because of his long shikona. Sumanofuji takes 5 kanji to write. Longest amongst sekitori within my recollection. Itachi

I predict 5 wins +/- 2. 7wins 7% 6 wins 21% 5 wins 33% 4 wins 22% 3 wins 11% 2 wins 4% 1 win 2% (some kyujo) 0 wins 1% (some kyujo) Itachi

Hmmm... if I had time, I could decipher the German and learn the rules but I don't. Is this a pre-basho game or a daily game? Could anyone give a brief description of it in English (or French) which I could read more quickly? Itachi

Doitsuyama and Yubiquitoyama have joined so now we have 13 humans and 3 drones for 16 players! Thank you everyone for your interest in this game. I hope I can keep up with the daily updates and make it interesting for you to follow as the tournament wears on. Last tournament I was able to post just about every day but there were only 8 players. I've learned more about how to set up systems to make the updating process easier for me but there are real-life pressures on my time as well that could cause interruptions. I'm really excited about it though and I'm grateful for your support. I'm prepared to be very accomodating when it comes to changes. As long as the rikishi you wish to switch haven't stepped on the dohyo, any changes will be accepted. There may be someone who wasn't listed kyujo who doesn't appear on day 1 - just take someone who begins the tournament on day 2 to plug the hole. The default replacement will be drone Mukashi's pick since that appears to be our baseline performer. This is the second run for this game and we may find that some simplifications to the scoring system can be made. I'll be testing some alternatives as time allows and if a simpler method produces balanced results then I may propose a change for Kyushu. I'm kind of attached to the idea of 1 point per win, 1 point per kk but I'm not sure if points for group winners or even yusho bonus points are necessary. The scores are sure easy to calculate and convert to 15 day win-loss records and that is why I set it up that way but if a good set of win-loss records can be produced without considering yusho or group winners then I'll propose that we cut them out of the formula and perhaps award special prizes for those instead. If you have an opinion about rewarding group winners, jun-yusho, or yusho winners with game points please feel free to express it. Also, I may be posting too much information about the daily scores when just a single number would do. I could post a simpler update and then add the details for those who want them in a separate post if that would help. The matches are only a few hours away. Good luck everyone. Jason 'Itachi' Russell nmatsuo@shaw.ca

Thanks everyone for your entries! Last tournament we had 5 humans and 3 drones for 8 players. This time, so far, we have 11 humans and 3 drones for 14 players. I expect at least one more so we may have 15 in our tournament. I look forward to the challenge. Here is a list of the players so far. I lost some messages a week or two ago and there may have been someone's entry in there - please resend if that is the case. I have entries from Fay, Profomisakari, Torideyama, Imumaru, Aderechelseamaru, Oshirokita, Holleshoryu, Tamanaogijima, Sekihiryu, Wolfgangho, and, of course, Itachi. As for the drones, Mukashi's picks have already been posted (see previous message). Genzai has made some preliminary picks but they must be adjusted as new entries come in. Mirai's picks will change as the tournament progresses since it is deemed to have selected the best possible team. Good luck, and thanks again for trying this game. Itachi nmatsuo@shaw.ca

This is to keep the topic fresh and to report that there are already 12 players with 2 from last time expected to join soon (I hope). The game is very similar to the Makushita Game and I expect that at least a third of the players of that game may be interested in the Sandname division enough to give this a try. The number of players in Oshirokita's Pick The Yusho Winners Game is another indication of interest in games involving the lower ranks. I have created three drones for this game and one of those drones picks can be determined without reference to any of your picks. The drone Mukashi selects the rikshi that did the best last time and goes back further if necessary. Here are Mukashi's picks for this tournament: Sd1-5: Miyamaru Sd6-10: Kubota Sd11-15: Nankairiki Sd16-20: Kirinishiki Sd21-25: Toho Sd26-30: Sakaizawa Sd31-35: Takunishiki Sd36-40: Teruyama Sd41-45: Ikeda Sd46-50: Tamanotaka Sd51-60: Hidaka Sd61-70: Dewahikari Sd71-80: Asahibenten Sd81-90: Matsutani Sd91-100: Ikehara I should add that Mukashi finished in last place in our inaugural tournament but acheived kachikoshi. Mukashi is a kind of baseline for our performance. We should all do at least as well. Ikehara over Mouri was a tough choice for Mukashi but since their two career tournament records are both 6-1;6-1, the tie-breaker became most recent wins and Ikehara finsihed last tounament with a 6 bout winning streak compared to Mouri's 3w 1 loss 3 win performance. A surprise I will reveal is that there is no group with a unanimous pick. Even the most popular pick so far has four dissenters. Itachi

I need to adjust my Juryo Game entry a bit but the sumogames site seems to be unavailable. There is plenty of time before the deadline but if there is a serious problem it would be nice to know so we can create a contingency plan to save the tournament. To whom should we mail Juryo Game entry changes in the event of a sumogames crash? How about other games without alternate access points? I feel a sense of urgency because I just lost my ozeki status and I could get it back with a reasonably strong performance this time. Itachi

I notice that former Makushita rikishi Kurazono and Hakiai have both fallen to Jonokuchi due to absences. Does anyone know if either of them is ready to return to the dohyo this tournament? Kurazono is with the new Onoe-beya. Perhaps someone has visited there?