Spoilers for Monday 29th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 61)

[Rhys Benjamin]

Lukey Boy-nton is back.

[Marc Meakin]

Same again tomorrow to break octochamp record

[JimBentley]

Same again tomorrow to break octochamp record

Is he on for that? I imagine he must be, otherwise you'd not have said it, I guess.

I haven't watched for a few years but for some reason happened to see Luke's first show and thought: fucking hell, is this the general standard now (because the guy he beat seemed pretty solid)? I know that players have generally improved since my day but this was something else.

Been enjoying watching the rest of his run, it's been good. I see he's been on before, was a bit unlucky to lose his first game that time. What's the score with previous players reapplying these days?

[David Williams]

If they slip him another freebie 18 points in the first round for the fourth game running that will help a little.

[Rhys Benjamin]

Same again tomorrow to break octochamp record

Is he on for that? I imagine he must be, otherwise you'd not have said it, I guess.

I haven't watched for a few years but for some reason happened to see Luke's first show and thought: fucking hell, is this the general standard now (because the guy he beat seemed pretty solid)? I know that players have generally improved since my day but this was something else.

Been enjoying watching the rest of his run, it's been good. I see he's been on before, was a bit unlucky to lose his first game that time. What's the score with previous players reapplying these days?

The current record is 1,061, set by Elliott Mellor in 2019. One other player, Luke Johnson-Davies, has made it above 1,000, in the last series. Luke B is currently on 926 after 7.

The "tier 1" players have certainly hit new highs: a hopelessly expanded dictionary inflating maxes beyond what they were in the past. The next COC is going to be a cracker: the top 3 on the leaderboard (if Luke B scores more than 48 tomorrow) of all time will have come in the current "cycle" between COCs, so you can argue the standard is getting better. But whilst the standard of top players has got higher, I don't think the general standard on the show is that much higher.

I do the wikipages these days, and the MO, established a few years ago, is that a player is more likely to be a returnee than a newbie. I can't get hold of Luke to ask for certain, so it's possible this is his first run on the show and not his second. The rule seems to be 10 years between appearances if you won a game, and 5 years if not... although this doesn't explain Zarte, who would have octoed in his first run had he not run into Dylan, and came back 5 years later and won the series.

There are lots of returning players nowadays. Many people, myself included, are often asked "when are you going back on", which I suppose we saw coming ever since they bent the rules about 15 years ago to allow returning players...

[Phil H]

a player is more likely to be a returnee than a newbie

What? Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick, that surely can't be true.

[Gavin Chipper]

Same again tomorrow to break octochamp record

Is he on for that? I imagine he must be, otherwise you'd not have said it, I guess.

I haven't watched for a few years but for some reason happened to see Luke's first show and thought: fucking hell, is this the general standard now (because the guy he beat seemed pretty solid)? I know that players have generally improved since my day but this was something else.

Been enjoying watching the rest of his run, it's been good. I see he's been on before, was a bit unlucky to lose his first game that time. What's the score with previous players reapplying these days?

Strange. It says here you have 2782 posts, but I'm not sure I remember encountering you on here before.

[Phil H]

I don't think the general standard on the show is that much higher.

I agree with this, although on a micro level, I don't remember any "how did they get through the audition?" players in the last couple of months.

[Thomas Cappleman]

I don't think the general standard on the show is that much higher.

I agree with this, although on a micro level, I don't remember any "how did they get through the audition?" players in the last couple of months.

It's a bit skewed at the moment by lockdown - no old players, and the general way things are working mean you have to be pretty keen to want to go for filming, so that'll push the quality up. When Ruth was there for filming in January it was still peak lockdown, and she ended up with her and 3 of her 5 opponents all being on Apterous.

[Rhys Benjamin]

a player is more likely to be a returnee than a newbie

What? Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick, that surely can't be true.

Yeah, sorry, I probably wasn't clear enough. People with the same name, that is. So at the moment the "rule" on the wiki is that if in doubt, "Luke Boynton" is more likely to be the Series 51 Luke Boynton than a "brand new" player. As I am in doubt, that's what I've done.

[Gavin Chipper]

a player is more likely to be a returnee than a newbie

What? Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick, that surely can't be true.

Yeah, sorry, I probably wasn't clear enough. People with the same name, that is. So at the moment the "rule" on the wiki is that if in doubt, "Luke Boynton" is more likely to be the Series 51 Luke Boynton than a "brand new" player. As I am in doubt, that's what I've done.

The probability would also be affected by what the name is. E.g. with John Smith you wouldn't be so sure, whereas with Riccardo Patrese you'd guess it was a returning player.

[JimBentley]

Same again tomorrow to break octochamp record

Is he on for that? I imagine he must be, otherwise you'd not have said it, I guess.

I haven't watched for a few years but for some reason happened to see Luke's first show and thought: fucking hell, is this the general standard now (because the guy he beat seemed pretty solid)? I know that players have generally improved since my day but this was something else.

Been enjoying watching the rest of his run, it's been good. I see he's been on before, was a bit unlucky to lose his first game that time. What's the score with previous players reapplying these days?

Strange. It says here you have 2782 posts, but I'm not sure I remember encountering you on here before.

All my posts are in the secret threads. We mainly just talk about you.

I can't get hold of Luke to ask for certain, so it's possible this is his first run on the show and not his second.

Luke's definitely been on before, around the time I was on.

(Just checked, he was: he lost to Sweyn Kirkness in a close game)

[Marc Meakin]

Now if Sweyn Kirkness was to come back there is no doubt in anyones minds that he'd ven on before

[James Robinson]

4th Numbers Alt.: (75 x 7) - (2 x 100) - 1 = 324

SUBAGENT in R2, happy with both those.