[DoctorG]

THE JOKER RULE<br /><font color=cyan>A joker is a card which can be given any value and may help you to score better combinations. I’ll use @ as symbol for a joker. In each tournament, the player who loses in the first round to the eventual winner will be the joker and will assume the value which gives you the best possible result according to the other cards in your hand.</font>

I’ve made a search to find out all the jokers of the 2001 season. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

The jokers are mostly low ranked players, but the list also includes Silvia Farina-Elia, Henrieta Nagyova and Lina Krasnoroutskaya. In many cases, the tournament winner was a high seed and had a bye in the first round, so the joker value was not assigned. There have been at least one joker per leg, but only in 3 occasions the player was actually or is currently present in a combination (the ones in <font color=lime>lime</font>).

1st round<br />Gold Coast - Razzano<br />Auckland - Brandi<br />Canberra - Jeyaseelan<br /><font color=lime>Hobart - McQuillan<br />Australian Open - Nagyova</font>

2nd round<br />Paris - Panova<br />Nice - Carlsson

3rd round<br />Porto - Gagliardi

4th round<br />Estoril - Kuti Kis<br />Budapest - Casoni<br /><font color=lime>Bol - Petrova</font>

5th round<br />Rome - Carlsson<br />Antwerp - Cervanova<br />Strasbourg - Dominikovic<br />Roland Garros - Loit

6th round<br />Tashkent - Perebiynis<br />Wimbledon - Asagoe

7th round<br />Vienna - Glass<br />Palermo - Daniilidou<br />Knokke-Heist - Daniilidou<br />Sopot - Kuti Kis<br />Casablanca - Marrero<br />Basel - Mandula

8th round<br />US Open - Dlhopolcova

9th round<br />Hawaii - Barna<br />Bali - Liu<br />Moscow - Krasnoroutskaya

10th round<br />Shanghai - Nemeckova<br />Bratislava - Medina-Garrigues<br />Munich - Farina-Elia<br />Pattaya - Loit

In conclusion, I think this new feature works quite well: a joker gives a great help in scoring a good combination, but it’s not easy to have it and it’s basically a matter of pure luck. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: DoctorG ]</p>

 

[Martian KC]

Yes, very clever of you Doc! Gives the people with the lower ranked players better chances. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

 

[carot]

oh good idea

*thinking of poor adrian who'll have to read even one rule more* <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[Josh]

Oh I like it! <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[Randy H]

I love this idea, very clever twist to the game! <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[DoctorG]

Thank you! <img src="graemlins/wavey.gif" border="0" alt="[Wavey]" />

 

[DoctorG]

Just one more thing about the joker. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

It may happen that the joker is one of the spare cards. Of course, the general rule would still be valid: the spare card will enter the hand of 5 ONLY if one of the player doesn't get a value in the leg. No matter if it has a better or worse value than the other cards, if your hand is completed the spare cards won't be considered.

Thank you, good luck! <img src="graemlins/wavey.gif" border="0" alt="[Wavey]" />

 

[Adrian]

Carot, what do you mean by one more rule?<br />I haven't read any yet. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

It is now becoming a moral obligation that I don't <img src="graemlins/bounce.gif" border="0" alt="[Bounce]" /> <img src="graemlins/bounce.gif" border="0" alt="[Bounce]" /> <img src="graemlins/bounce.gif" border="0" alt="[Bounce]" />