Tournament techniques: tilt, fouls, playing the table, appeals

This lesson continues "Preparing for a tournament" and rests on the section "11 mini-chapters in one: playing the table, using fouls and more" from the book "50 Shades of Red". The author opens it with a quote from the heroine of "Pretty Woman 13": our whole life is a series of competitions, you only need to know the rules by which they are held. Some of the techniques he describes he himself calls "dark" and reserves that the borders of ethics here are blurred, though everything stays within honest play. We give them as knowledge worth having at least to recognise them in a rival. You will find the Academy's position at the end of the lesson.

Food and physical form

At a competition the same rules apply as before it: you must keep peak physical and psychological form. The game drains a lot of strength, so the author advises during a tournament to be sure to drink water, have snacks, take vitamins for brain work (this is his personal advice, not a medical recommendation), take breaks between games, go outside and change activity.

Focus of attention and tilt

Psychologically you need to split the tournament into games and not merge events into one cluster. A successful game can give a drive and a charge of positivity, but all losses must be let pass by you. If you "stew" in failure, the brain keeps processing the past game and part of the attention is "eaten". Games can be analysed after the tournament, and now you need focus on the present moment.

The author reminds: according to the table in the second section of the book, at tournaments grandmasters win about half of their games with a red card and lose every third and more with a black one. So there is no reason to despair even after losing three games of ten in a row: just win the rest. Otherwise you can fall into tilt, a state of mental or emotional confusion and disappointment in which a player makes non-optimal decisions. For a player tilt is "deadly". Defence against it: play well precisely the next game. "And what was before? Never mind!"

Other players' intuition at your service

Intuition, according to the author, is unconscious quick decisions made unconsciously, bypassing the rationality and logic of the game. Sometimes it is the result of experience of interacting with a particular player, but more often it acts in favour of benefit, not truth. Examples:

If you like a person, intuition will tell you to raise a hand with him.
If the negative reputational consequences of a choice of line frighten you, the gut will tell you to play the safe version.

Intuition buys a vote or provides positive reinforcement (praise, likes, fame, better relations) or shields from shouting, quarrels, threats and censure when voting together with an opponent. So it plays especially into the hands of two types of players: "sweet charmers" and rude unbalanced aggressors. The author's advice: before the tournament make friends and build warm relations to buy hands, and do not quarrel with objectively weak rivals: their hands will still be needed. If you are an aggressor by personality type, you can combine both variants.

Playing the table

Playing the table is voting and choosing a line which, contrary to the situation at the table, knocks the rating leaders down or does not let them rise higher if you are with them on the same team. The author is against it on ethical grounds but warns that you will meet players with a different point of view, and you need to be able to see and voice such play, seizing the initiative.

How it looks when one player has broken ahead: several players start to press the leader, and he is (a) given a black check in order to be removed at nine and have his extras taken, (b) removed as suspicious without arguments. What this gives the others: if the leader is red and the town loses, he will not rise higher, since someone removed at nine is rarely given many extras. If the leader is mafia, he really will be thrown down. So as mafia you can boldly give the rating leader as black.

What to say if you are removed like this

The author gives a sample speech (he heard it from a player who himself plays the table): "Guys, I was removed with no arguments at all, by lawlessness. Playing the table is, to put it mildly, not very pretty. For the next round you play only my version. No. (x) is black, remove him as my counterweight. Check player no. (y), his check will give such and such. The sheriff is player no. (z). You will work out the rest. I leave as red, and you will understand it by the vote. Pass." If the fight is between two players and one with a shot strongly wills to remove the other, you can voice playing the table and reject such wills, bending your own line.

The problem of extras and the judge

Three or four games with earned extras can compensate for a defeat in one game. But the assessment of actions is subjective. For example, should a red be rewarded who from round zero played hard against a black, pointed him out for a check, and was then given by the mafia? Someone will say this is play without mistakes. Someone will note that with his attack he raised the chance of the sheriff being shot and spent a check on someone who would have been removed anyway. The author thinks extras are worth fighting for, and judges are people like players, driven by benefit: "the host is a hidden participant of the game whom you must impress". People tend to reward favourites a little more generously.

The author lists ways to "buy" the judge:

Find out what moments the judge pays attention to in extras; what he says first in his speech is the most important, and in your own game focus on it.
Make friends and build good relations.
In speeches list everything you did for the win.
After the game tell a friend or classmate your moves so that the host hears.

The Academy's position: points 1, 3 and 4 are acceptable if you honestly describe a real contribution. Point 2 is normal as ordinary human communication. Embellishing the contribution or misleading the judge is not allowed, and Fortuna does not support pressure on or bribing of judges.

Emotional provocations

In most cases people do not like an emotional style of play, but it can be effective. Everyone has sore points, and pressing on them you can "open the role": by an attack, throw-ins, rude remarks. A sincerely furious one is usually a civilian; an attack "for the truth" on a truly black player does not cause such a stormy reaction. So a rude, slightly belittling position with a following change (if the attacked "blew up") may be used against you, and in modern conditions you must be able to lose your temper. The author describes his key: he gets worked up when reds step over the line of cultured logical play, and pours the indignation into the speech.

For the atmosphere he draws this conclusion: as mafia it is beneficial to maintain not a tense but a slightly careless relaxed mood, when you do not feel like thinking; as a civilian a calm and thoughtful one plays into your hands. A hybrid strategy for the red card: in round zero and at the start of the round at nine maintain a calm atmosphere, and then before the deciding vote launch emotions at full.

Hide colours

It happens that in the battle of two lines the win is with the mafia by all moves and logic, but the deciding hand puts its vote contrary to logic and wills, correctly, against the mafia. Almost every player with 100+ games of experience has been in this situation: mafia is not only moves and arguments but also the ability to read colour by emotions. The author calls his technique a "secret weapon against the black team", stressing that it is within honest play.

The main task of the red: persuade of your redness, work out who the mafia is, collect votes. There is no duty to tell the town your true position. If by any school of play you found a player red, it is not necessary to voice it. Hide the knowledge, do not play with the person or play very carefully. There is a big chance that a false sheriff will give this player as a black check, and you will work out who the mafia is. The author calls this move the "scourge of played-out towns and tournaments": if at the table there is a club regular who speaks badly and incoherently and makes many black moves but his own consider him red, then by giving him a black check the false sheriff buries himself and the team. This is why before a tournament information is gathered and fun games are played.

Matching

To buy a vote you need not to display yourself in all your glory but to be on the same wave with people. A pattern of speech, thinking, judgments that differs too much is hard to take in: an ossified logician will not understand an emotional person, a beginner will not get into the count. Brightness and "showing off" can harm the image and irritate, and you will be voted out simply because you are not like them. At the heart of similarity lies safety: when you are alike, you are predictable and trusted. So for buying votes and sitting out to the late rounds it is important to speak with the same words, the same voice tempo, in a similar style. Play from other players, not from yourself.

Using fouls

During a game you have three opportunities to cut into the game outside your speech. Many spend fouls on jokes or get a remark for the sake of a remark, but a foul has the big potential of a game move:

save the town from a break in the vote by shouting the right tie split;
drive the last nail into a player of the opposite team;
make a run-up with your black;
knock the opponent off his thought during his minute;
destroy the opponent's key argument with your counter-argument;
change players' minds and collect hands for removing the needed candidate.

Keep in mind: at least two fouls must be left in reserve for the deciding round. (Which shouts are acceptable and which not, see the lesson "Game culture and dirty play".)

Appeals

New people constantly come into the game, and among them are immature personalities who break the rules or use collusion and fraud. The community does a lot to fight favouritism and unfair play, but in the struggle for a title, money or a prize the bad side of human nature may come out. With unfair award of victory or distribution of extras, tournament points can be taken away. Your responsibility for the culture and traditions of honest competition is to file appeals and defend your position, referring to points of the rules and regulations, even if your team won because of unfair actions. Honesty in observing the rules is a pillar and basis of the game. You have the full right to apply to the judges and organisers demanding a review of the game outcome or the distribution of extras.

The Academy's position

Hiding colour, matching, fouls and playing on emotions are acceptable as long as they use the rules and psychology and not deceit of the judge and collusion.
We do not recommend playing the table and pressure on the judge; know about them in order to defend yourself.
File an appeal by points of the regulations, calmly and without personal insults.
Hold training games and analysis of techniques within the Club Code.

Example (written for the Academy)

A tournament, sixth game. A player lost two in a row. He goes outside, drinks water, says to himself: "Next game, a clean sheet." In the game he gets a red card, finds no. 5 red but does not voice it and plays very carefully. The false sheriff gives no. 5 as black, and the red quickly works out who the mafia is. He left one of his three fouls for the deciding round and uses it to shout the right tie split.

Self-check questions

What is tilt and how do you defend against it?
How does other players' intuition work for you?
What is playing the table and what do you say if you are removed without arguments?
Why does it make sense to hide knowledge about a red player?
Why leave at least two fouls for the deciding round?

Practice

Make your own "tournament day sheet": food, breaks, a phrase for resetting after a loss, three tasks for fouls, a speech template against playing the table. Reread it before the next tournament.

Typical mistakes

Spending fouls on jokes.
Going on thinking about the past game.
Playing the table, undermining your own reputation.
Not clarifying the regulations before an appeal.
Voicing everything you know about reds and losing the chance to catch a false sheriff.

Source of the idea. The section "11 mini-chapters in one: playing the table, using fouls and more" from Dmitry Novik's book "50 Shades of Red" (2021). The assessments and the techniques described belong to the author; the Academy's position, example, questions and practice were written for the Academy.