Yamin Yamin's Illinois Open & America Cup

I was sick a few days before this tournament, but I went anyway. Serves me right! I made big blunders, threw away match after match, and lost every night in the the chouette! I'd like to think I'd learned my lesson, but no, in Sao Paulo I go and play with what turned out to be pneumonia. And how did I do?? Oh, well, you can't lose them all.
Malcolm Davis took the America Cup! Okay, it's not a cup (whereas the World Cup in Dallas *was* in fact a cup). One suspects that wasn't the sweetest part of his win!
Yamin Yamin, Nack Ballard, and ... the harpist!?

Okay, on paper Yamin's tournament doesn't look like the greatest equity. Yet we go every year. I forget why, then I get there and remember things like the dinner, with live music (no, not by Nack!), balloons everywhere, the results of the Players' Poll, and Yamin himself. I played him in the finals of the Masters' and jumped off to an early lag, and he went out of his way to give me a chance. No, not by dumping! By creating a "personal second place." Well, we ended up hedging at double match point, and you'll notice my name is not in the official prize winners...