Countdown Online Masters 2008

The Countdown Online Masters is an online tournament organised by Ben Wilson in February 2008. It pits many of the best players from recent years against each other, alongside a few "wildcards" from the wider Countdown community. The winner was Paul Howe, who was awarded the victory after Conor Travers was unable to complete the final of the tournament.

Play-ins

Before the tournament proper, a number of play-ins were organised to select the wildcard players. These were open to anyone, and eight people volunteered for just four spaces. The first round results were:

• Ben Pugh beat Kirk Bevins
• David O'Donnell beat Michael Wallace
• Tom Hargreaves beat Charlie Reams
• Jon Corby beat Martin Gardner

Hence Pugh, O'Donnell, Hargreaves and Corby were set to appear as the tournament's wildcards. Unexpectedly the number of wildcard spaces was reduced to three, and Corby and O'Donnell were drawn to play again, with Corby emerging victorious. Hence he proceeded to the tournament proper alongisde Pugh and Hargreaves.

COMA

The five masters available to participate were Conor Travers, Mark Tournoff, Jon O'Neill, Paul Howe and Chris Wills. Also invited were Craig Beevers, Paul Gallen and Julian Fell who declined to play for various reasons.

Quarter finals

• Conor Travers beat Jon Corby (game details...)
• Paul Howe beat Tom Hargreaves (game details...)
• Ben Pugh beat Mark Tournoff (game details...)
• Chris Wills beat Jon O'Neill (game details...)

Semi-finals

Conor Travers beat Chris Wills 2-0.

• Game 2

Paul Howe beat Ben Pugh 2-0.

Final

Conor Travers plays Paul Howe.

• Game 1