Club championship of the CIS countries.

2 Van.

I'm not sleeping, so I'll speak my mind too; I read the posts and a question has ripened: in general, are people ready to hold the final, do they even want it??? Because activity is minimal. Will Kievans travel to the RF and vice versa, and if so, in what numbers? \

Good question, which requires a good, detailed answer. So, here it is – the group that has gathered will go play for several reasons.
1. The human factor. Players are special people; an adult man leaves his family and spends a lot of money to travel to the middle of nowhere to play his favorite game. And if you consider that the person has a chance to win and be considered the best club player in the CIS – then all the more so. Even if a player understands that he won't win the tournament – competing with the best of the best will still be a great incentive for him.
2. The material factor. Of course, Heroes is not poker; you won't make money on it. But let's say players chip in a couple thousand each, and a sponsor provides roughly the same amount (more on that below). Yes, the sum turns out to be much larger than what was at the CIS Championship in Krasnodar back in 2004. Besides the title of best player, the person receives a monetary incentive, which is not bad by Heroes standards.
3. The social factor. Almost all players are active on the forums. They will undoubtedly not miss out on an advantage, and if this advantage coincides with the public good, they will put in effort for the benefit of the same community.
Since 2004, we have had no legitimate champion. Those who saw how Andre in Krasnodar
knocked out Phil in the quarterfinals, Bishop in the semifinals, and Dima in the final – recounted these games with excitement. "The winner gets lucky" – they said about Andre, but no one questioned that he was the best.
Now there is the internet, there are own champions. But who can guarantee that the most glorious, kindest guy isn't a cunning, smart, cautious cheater? Of course, you can write about conscience, trust, and the insignificance of results... but then explain why such a vicious war flared up on the first inter-portal among the best players of Bay and Portal? It was gruesome to read.
Even those who don't post on the forum write about cheating in ICQ. I looked at my own ICQ – if you believe the messages from people who are by no means suffering from maniacal suspicion – then almost all leading CIS players would end up on the cheaters list; only Stinger and Paladin weren't mentioned.

This situation seems abnormal to me. There is no escaping problems related to cheating. But if there is a legitimate champion, even the most talented cheater won't be able to claim too much, because to confirm their status, they will have to participate in face-to-face games.
They will be pressed: "Hey brother, prove your skill at the CIS championship!".

I got distracted. Approximately 70 people participated in about 6 qualifiers. It might not seem like many for the CIS, but the main thing is that the psychological barrier of disbelief in the event has been broken.
Because probably an equal number of people really wanted to go, but were simply afraid to take the risk. High costs, what if the tournament fails and I travel for nothing, nowhere to live, etc. Now, when so many responses have been received from participants of the events, they are very envious and regret not coming. And if they find out there will be a second regional tournament – they will definitely go.

Therefore, players will be ready to play in Kiev or Michurinsk, and if they can also do a service for the community at the same time – then all the better. Eh, if only it weren't for poker.

To be honest, I really want to go, especially to St. Petersburg or Moscow (to see the city, theaters, museums, in short, combine pleasure with business; to my shame, I've been to neither), but something isn't being offered, Kiev is the most expensive option, although I'm sure there's plenty to see there, Michurinsk is the most realistic, though, strangely enough, it takes the longest to get to. So for now, personally, the question is on pause; the key in deciding whether to go or not will be: availability of time, money, venue and quorum (I really want to join the legends of the heroes community), so please decide, gentlemen, and we (Siberians) will make every effort to come.\

The ideal final option from all sides would have been St. Petersburg. It was in this city that the organized Heroes movement began, the first club tournaments appeared, and the first "fathers" emerged from the people. There are currently more St. Petersburg residents among players than anywhere else, and there are many of them in the final too. Not to mention that St. Petersburg itself is a city from another dimension. Kiev is beautiful, Moscow is rich, but in St. Petersburg you get drunk even
from the air. I've been there 5 times already, and every time I'm ready to walk through the city for hours.
Players from Yekaterinburg or Siberia would have recouped their costs by this alone; the impressions would last a very long time. Alas, it didn't work out.
To be honest, players from far away should vote for Kiev. The city is ancient, very beautiful, especially in May. There will be something to remember later, and one doesn't regret spending money on such a trip.
In Michurinsk you won't see anything; it's a provincial town of 100 thousand, a science city, all in white bloom in May... that's it.

I would really like to withdraw my candidacy specifically in favor of Kiev, and it would be easier for the players not to waste time choosing.
And one more thing. I have great respect for Aldegir; he is one of the people who love Heroes most fanatically; despite financial and family troubles, he broke away and won the Kiev qualifier. He honestly wrote that he can only play in Kiev.
And Sam, a wonderful guy, really wanted to see Heroes tournaments in his city; for this alone it would be worth giving a vote to the capital of Ukraine.
Processing passports for Ukraine. I nearly fell off my chair when I first heard about this, but 14 players from Russia will need to process documents for the trip. However, there is time, people are all literate – if they want to, they'll get them; it's not a problem.

I see the problem elsewhere.
1. Among the organizers from Kiev, Captain, Gorbik, Sam, and Volodimer are named.
I have no doubt that organizational activities will be at a high level and that Gorbik will provide maximum assistance. But then the tournament starts and... Captain won't be there. He honestly said that family is dearer to him and he is going on vacation with them. I completely agree; nothing is more important than family. No matter what he writes, it will be so and he knows it well.

So, we will have a powerful layer of Bay-poker players on one side and the remaining organizers on the other. What stops the guests from culturally walking around the city on the first day – arrival day – and then sitting down to play poker until they drop in the evening, until morning?
The morning of the second tournament day. Everyone is sleeping. I don't know how Sam, who has just met the great fathers of the Heroes world in person, truly bright people, will wake them up in the morning. The phrase: "Guys, get up, we need to play" – doesn't work on same community players at all. It's proven that if you don't wake them, they'll get up around three or four in the afternoon, eat leisurely, walk some more through the city... and back to poker.
Will the respected Gorbik be waking them? They will tell him their vision of the Portal when a sleep-deprived person is woken up; he is in a foul mood.

The gift of persuasion is a rare gift; I remember how Horn woke us up for a tournament in St. Petersburg at 7 am, although we had only slept about three hours. Alan Prost would drive around all the guests at the crack of dawn and wake them early in the morning in Krasnodar. You need great character and great patience for that. One could write a story about how different players were woken up in different cities, from different tournaments in such situations, but one cannot: it would come out vulgar, laughter through tears.

I would be very ashamed to read something like this report from the final:
"I think that player X won the CIS club championship final because he has two wins out of two. In second place, in my opinion, is player Y, who should have scored 2 out of 3, because he would have won the third if he had finished playing. And in third – perhaps player Z, who didn't finish a single game at all, but took more from poker than anyone else".

Simply a beautiful city, friendly conversation in a good pub and omnipresent poker will kill any desire for players to fight.

That is, the final will turn into just a friendly meeting, like Kingisepp. In principle, such a meeting can be held without a tournament, simply inviting players to see the city of Kiev. Ideally, one could agree with such an option; it's not the worst. People met, chatted in person, played some games. The other thing is that the title of champion under such a scenario will not be very weighty.
There will be too many angry voices: "Yeah, champion, right, he only won two games!".

2. Finally, thoughts reached the sponsors. Calculating the situation, I came to the conclusion that no normal person with money will give us this money. He couldn't care less about gratitude from the same community or advertising his firm on Heroes forums.
Only a person who plays Heroes themselves can give money, or a father, mother, brother, other close relatives encouraging their offspring's hobbies. Well, or a very good friend, because such money never returns with interest.

Then I started looking for options of who might actually be interested in cooperation with the same community, excluding sects and criminal organizations. Strangely enough, I found a truly good potential partner, respectable in any light, interested in the development of the Heroes movement, needing such tournaments and players. In return, we can get a sponsor; moreover, an exit to the multimedia level. Imagine a large report in a major magazine about our final, with colorful photographs, interviews with winners, etc. And, say, analytical articles by Vic and other same community authors in the press.
No, this isn't some pipe dream; with proper presentation it should work.
You can't write a letter to a sponsor in an uncertain spirit, like: "We kind of want to play Heroes, idk who will come and what will happen there, give us money...". We'll just be told off, politely.

But if you write a specific package of proposals: "Dear Mr. ___________, with great respect for _______(name of potential ally and sponsor), we offer you mutually beneficial cooperation. The association of NoMM3 players, including the strongest players of four leading forums of CIS countries (HeroesWorld, HeroesBy, HeroesWorld and HeroesLeague) in the city of _______ on May 1-5, 2010 is holding the final of the CIS championship for NoMM3. Previously held qualifiers in the cities of _________ revealed winners who..."

In general, further official blah-blah-blah. Perhaps our tournaments, our wonderful authors, our more or less organized community can indeed be a good investment that one wouldn't mind sponsoring.

I can write such a thing, and with a high degree of probability it will work, but what happens next?
In my own Michurinsk, I know that I will hold the final and that sponsors will be satisfied with the end result. And in Kiev? I bet the tournament will turn into a fizzle, everyone happy except me – the sponsor will take a hatchet to my head...
I could ask, for example, Captain to write such a letter – I don't mind. A tournament in Kiev – let's say, loses its sparring match to poker; arriving sponsors observe lazily strolling poker players. They realize they were invited to watch the relaxation of lounging people, they spit, and we lose the only possible ally.

I've written a whole sheet. I ask you not to attack me, but to actually calculate the situation, especially those who know tournament weekdays.
In any case, Kiev so Kiev, Michurinsk so Michurinsk; it's impossible to get everything from life, and the qualifying tournaments played their positive role, so I didn't try in vain.

2 Capitan

A real hero lives in Kiev - he took in 4 people, including Besha - that is Craig Heck.\

I had 8 people living with me at the qualifier. Horn also had about seven people in his apartment at his tournaments.