Lessons I learnt during OT14
Posted on: August 24, 2021, at 07:15:47am

So, as I see myself about to leave the tournament wile I sleep tonight I kinda felt like reflecting on the things I've actually learnt during this years tournament, almost as a reminder to myself for the next time we go round.

1. You are a better judge of your own skill than anyone else's predictions!

After seeing how the rest of the division performed during round 1 I am about to exit the tournament in exactly the round I thought I would. I thought that maybe I was over inflating my own ego when I compared my personal predictions with those people shared in the predictions thread but think I'll trust my own judgement more in future now.

2. Setting personal targets outside of the tournament is incredibly useful.

I set my sites not on winning or getting any specific scores but on A) making it past round 4, which is where I dropped out last year, and B) finishing better than a specific player that I knew played very similarly to me last tournament, as a marker for self improvement, and that seems to have done me a world of good. Watch out Dan, if we're in the same division next year, you've just become the prime *one to beat* target for me then.

3. How raw goods actually work and just how useful they are as a metric.

So it seems daft for someone who has been kicking around here as long as I have to have only just taken the time to figure out what the heck "raw goods" actually is and how it's used; what can I say, when I play for myself I'm an FC kind of player.

4. I am a far better player than I was last year (and even 3 months ago).

Last year I struggled to FC anything over a 25, this year I AAA'd that and found myself comfortable playing tracks in the 40's; when the tournaments over I need to keep the momentum to build on that even further.

5. Trust your hands, they recognise patterns before your eyes do.

There have been multiple tracks that I've looked at this year and thought "I can't read that!" but once my hands have given it a go they've taken over, recognising familiar patterns at unfamiliar speeds.

So with so much new knowledge gained I'm far more comfortable than I perhaps should be with having gotten *so close* to the last round but not having made it. I'm sure there's more but those are the main points that seem to be sticking in my mind. If anybody happens across these weird introspections, are there any specific lessons you've learnt this year?