BACKPACKER BACKGAMMON AT BIBA
3rd, 4th, 5th September 2004

Report by Michael Crane 

Sponsored by and Directed by Mike ( Mad Monk ) Main this event was wholly run via a spreadsheet on his laptop and projected onto a screen for all to see. The program worked very well for its first real test, however it does need a few tweaks to iron out some gremlins. 

Mike designed the bit we all see - the front end where all the data is displayed, and Sean Williams designed all the clever bits that make it work. A lot of time and effort has been put into the programme and it is hoped one day to market it as a tournament tool for directors. I must say I was impressed by its operation but I am deterred from its use again due to the high cost of the projector required to display the contents - £900ish is a bit too much; and would buy a lot of paper and pencils! 

Main (39) 
The 1st Round draw was made with 25 byes, placed at regular intervals. This meant that some players on byes were waiting on the outcome of the 1st Round before they could start their 2nd Round, and in some cases this delay was just over two hours. At Biba tournaments the byes are all lumped together and play starts immediately, which is preferred by the members. 

However, once all players had an opponent things went along smoothly. On the Sunday morning, of the last eight, three of them were females: Rebecca Bell, Kerry Jackson and Anne Pocknell. Of these three only one didn't make it to the semis; Anne. Rebecca faced off against Jon Sharpe and Kerry against John Thomas. Rebecca prevailed but Kerry didn't (I'm certain JT was threatening her - but I can't prove it!). In her match against John it went Rebecca's way and she emerged the winner becoming the first Backpacker Trophy winner. (Due to time constraints the match will appear at a later date on gammonvillage). 


Rebecca and John with their splendid trophies 

Consolation (35) 
Neatly slipping in from the Main via Sean's programming, the 35 entrants battled it out. One or two players had fairly long waits for opponents but overall the timing was fair. 

Playing from the 1st Round, (thanks to Zoe Cunningham) Tony Lee (of Swiss Tony fame!) played through six tough matches to reach the final. Anne Pocknell, Tony's opponent, had an easier route entering into the last eight from the Main via the Progressive side. 

In the final it was 'Swiss' that came out on top - spouting something about making love? This seven rounder stood Tony in good stead for Grand Prix points and has now placed him in 2nd place behind John Slattery! 


Anne and Tony (as he normally looks!) 

Last Chance (18) 
Eighteen? Yes. For reasons unknown Mike made this element Progressive and therefore the entrants are well down on what is normal (32). In fact if we hadn't slipped a few more into slots created by byes the number would have been even lower. The progressive nature also meant some long delays for a few players. 

Strangely, the four players that leapt into the last eight progressively were all beaten by original 1st round entrants and it was two of these 1st rounders that battled for the trophy - Zoe Cunningham and Vince Poil. Being a perfect gentleman Vince didn't really try and Zoe emerged victorious. Oh yeah? 


Vince and Zoe 

Suicide! (32) 
Ah, 32; that's more like it. An open draw and plenty of re-entries. Taking advantage of one of those re-entries was Uldis Lapikens; he was beaten on his first attempt by Paul Statter but on his second attempt he made it to the final. Here he met Ken Gibson who needed just the one entry to get there. It would appear that the continued flow of matches aided Ken for he emerged an unbeaten winner and left Uldis clutching the Runner-up trophy. 


Uldis and Ken 

Friday Warm-up (16) 
Despite a valiant effort by yours truly in the semi-final, Steve Lynch made it into the final. Here, after knocking out Zoe Cunninhgam, waited Jeff Barber. However, he waited for nothing for it was Steve that took the dosh and the weekend break for two. 

Doubles (8) 
Make a note of this name: Saskia Griffiths-Moore. At 13 years old she was the youngest entrant in the competition and in the Doubles she teamed up with a much much older player to form Bermuda Shorts so named because he wore a Bermuda shirt and she was short! Shorts soon made short work of Xmas Puds and 23 Blue Boar Dream Team to face V Max in the final. What a dilemma; for the V Max teamed consisted of Saskia's mum and her friend Howard! Poor girl, what could she do? Well, what she did was win! Much to her delight. She might have lost a bit of pocket money by beating mum but the prize money more than made up for it. 

When asked the secret of their success Richard said, "I owe it all to my partner!" 


Bermuda Shorts, Richard and Saskia 

Poker (12) 
I don't see much of the poker. Two reasons, 1- I'm always in the Doubles, and 2- it's too smokey to see anything! 

One player unaffected by the smoke (perhaps because he was a major contributor to it!) was Steve Lynch. He took the winner-takes-all pot after it was suggest to play for it all by the 2 nd place player, Tony Lee. Mick Vacarey came 3 rd . 

£50 Jackpot (4)

Finally. 
It was good tournament and a fair turnout. It would have been better but for a plane load of Brits (tagging along with Rosey Bensley and Slats) going to Slovenia - where Slats won the Consolation; about which you can read in the next issue of Bibafax and online shortly. 

I'd like to thank Mike and Sean and Zoe for their hard work and dedication to a project about which they feel passionately and I wish them all success in marketing it when it is fully functional. I for one will be interested in using it . . . less the progressive Last Chance . . . and if I can ever afford the projector! 


Sean, Mike and Michael 

Note by Michael Main:
Thank you very much to Michael Crane and to all the Players present for allowing us to use the spreadsheets in a live situation. Everybody seemed very impressed with the projection of the standings, pools and auctions. Myself and Sean are now even more convinced that this is the way forward for Tournaments to be run. 

As noted  by Michael Crane in his report we should have set up the Last Chance as a non-progressive - This and the very awkward number of 39 players meant some overly long delays for some players - apologies to them. 

Other large Tournaments that I have run have been fully registered affairs. I advertise the events as maximum 32 or 64 player Tournaments, accept registrations via online forms and shut registration when 32 or 64 players are registered.  This means that there are never any byes and the Tournaments run very sweetly from the start to the finish. This I feel is better for all the 32 or 64 players involved. Those that missed entering the Tournament are usually the first to register for the next Tournament. 

Michael Crane and Biba cannot afford this luxury - as a membership based organisation Biba is pretty well bound to take all the players that turn up no matter how many do so. As such our spreadsheet set-up for Biba Tournaments must be altered to accommodate this factor. Sean and myself will continue our work with this in mind.