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It was suggested to me by Ray of Village Games that I could run a monthly
evening of backgammon in The Lockside Lounge at Camden Lock. Ray already
does a Puzzles evening. I’d just finished after 3 years of running monthly
Tric Trac Tournos in Stoke Newington so I hummed and haaed about it for a
couple of months before I gave it a go. I sent out a simple email 24 hours
before the trial evening.
14 Players turned up. That’s good; a good number of players to do things
with. I had taken along various tournament formats and pretty well decided
upon the spot to give the following a go:
16 Player Main Tournament of 5 pointers, £5 Optional Pool, come back ins
for the 2 spare slots,
An 8 Player Consolation Tournament of 3 pointers, £5 Optional Pool with
come back ins until full and
A 16 Player Last Chance Tournament of 1 pointers, £5 Optional Pool with
come back ins until full.
I though that would probably keep the Players busy until 11.00 p.m. and
allow other Players to slot in should they arrive.
There was no registration fee – something that I think Players expected
but were pleased to see didn’t happen. Some asked if there would be
trophies but were told that Winners would get a slap on the back and applause from
other Players.
All were in agreement so we set to; 12 entered the Pool, the Draw was done
and off Players went to play.
The Lockside Lounge is a largish venue over looking the West Yard of
Camden Lock. There was a nice breeze on the terrace and a few matches
happened out there though most of them happened on the large (perfect for
backgammon) tables inside.
Miranda was the first to lose and came back in to, after a while, face Zoe
leaving Mahmoud with some time to kill. A little bit unfortunate that for
Mahmoud for I was rather hoping that all Players' play would be pretty
continuous.
So that was the 5 pointer, 16 Player Optional Pool (£60 in it) Tournament
full. Next up was a 3 pointer, 8 Player Optional Pool (£5) Tournament.
Some Players entered as soon as they were knocked out of the 5 pointer,
others elected to stop for dinner. And that’s the glory of having
come-back-ins: when you lose you can stop for a break or you can just turn
up late and take the next Tournament slot available.
I was keen to try the food as part of my looking at the venue. £8.50 for
bangers and mash isn’t the cheapest meal in town but the bangers were
delicious venison, the sauce wasn’t bisto and the mash wasn’t smash. The
meal easily passed my examination. Likewise a pint was just under £3 –
again not the cheapest in town but the bar is well laid out and the
service was prompt, friendly and polite. Another tick box was ticked. The
music was a little on the loud side and the lighting a little on the low
side but a quick word with Dave the Landlord and the music went down and
the lights went up. Tick, tick.
In the 5 pointer Daniel had beaten his father Michael, Al beat Tony but
then lost to Daniel, Alexis beat Crispin, Alex beat Shez but then lost to
Alexis who in turn was beaten by Daniel. In the lower half of the table
Sean beat Suzy, Geoff beat Zoe but then lost to Sean and re-entered
Miranda lost to re-entered Zoe but then Miranda lost for a second time to
Mahmoud who beat Sean setting up the final between Daniel and Mahmoud. 12
Players had entered the Optional Pool, I gave the £60 to the Finalist who
split £25 each and played for the remaining £10.
The 3 pointer Tournament was full by 9.00 p.m. With just 14 Players I kept
this to an 8 Player event. Only 3 Players entered the Optional Pool so
there was only £15 in it. With more Players I’m sure the Pool would have
been considerably higher. In the 1st Round Crispin lost to Michael
(thereby reducing those in the Pool to 2), Suzy beat Tony, Al beat Shez
and Zoe beat Alex. Round 2 saw Suzy beat Michael and Al beat Zoe so Al had
won the Pool even if he lost the final.
Ever onwards and the 1 pointer 16 Player Optional Pool Tournament kicked
in. I had proposed the Pool to be a £5 entry but upon looking at the
Players who were probably bound for this Tournament I reduced it to £3. It
was a good idea and we had £30 in the kitty by the time all 16 slots were
taken. Tony was the first player in and seeing as I wasn’t exactly run off
my feet I decided to see what playing in this event was like from a
players point of view and put myself in. We were then also joined by the
Landlord Dave and Barmaid Lindsay. If a venue is going to work for
backgammon I consider it vital that the Landlord has at least some
understanding of when his Clients are up to. Tick.
Remaining 1st round slots were taken by Crispin, Geoff, Tony, Miranda,
Shez, Tony, Geoff, Mike, Sean, Tony, Michael and Crispin. Poor Tony
entered 4 times and lost 4 times. In fact he lost every single match he
played. Semi-Finalists were Crispin, Miranda, Shez and Sean with only
Crispin and Sean on the Pool. Crispin lost his match while Sean and
Michael (the only remaining Pool players) were half way through their 2nd
Round match. This meant that they might want to do a split on the Pool so I
went over to tell them this. However on inspection of their game I wasn’t
sure I should because Sean looked a pretty certain winner. However having
come over I did inform them of the situation and not too surprisingly Sean
was quite happy not to do a deal but at least Michael saw the funny side
of it and we all had a good chuckle. Miranda versus Sean was the final
with Miranda sick as a dog because she hadn’t entered to Pool.
The Final of the 5 Pointer had now completed with Daniel becoming the 1st
Winner of a Backgammon in Camden event, the 3 pointer completed with Suzy
becoming the 2nd Winner of a Backgammon in Camden event and shortly after
Sean became number 3 leaving Miranda content that she hadn’t entered to
Pool.
This didn’t deter Miranda from trying to get a Chouette going but
everybody seemed to have played enough backgammon for one evening and she
got no takers.
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17 Players had a good evenings worth of backgammon without
dipping into their pockets unless they wished to and 4
walked away with a profit. The bar is well arranged for
backgammon, the bar prices are reasonable, the food was
good and the music and lighting were set to as needed upon
request. Camden Town is an easy place in London to get to
and we were all done by 11.00 p.m. leaving Players able to
get home without having to resort to using cabs.
If we look at the Stats (see Tournament Charts page) we
find some interesting features of the format: Let's exclude Dave and
Lindsay as they only dipped in for a match a piece because they had the
bar to run and thus cannot reasonably be considered as dedicated
Tournament Players in this event and we discover that the 15 other Players
(myself included) played an average of 4.9 matches each. That's more than
you're likely to get at other evenings of backgammon around Town. Ok - we
played shorter matches than are generally played there but I do believe
that a volume of matches makes for a better evening of backgammon than say
longer matches that end in a loss. Not everybody can be a winner, most
will end up as losers - it's my contention that it's better to play more
matches and thus probably win more than you would have done otherwise.
Given his circumstances Tony might disagree !
So all in all I think this venue is a goer. I particularly
like the idea of not charging Players to play in Tournaments and
this will I’m sure mean a much larger number of Players next
time. It has been suggested to me that I should charge at
least £1 per Player. Sure that would help with the viability of
running the evening but I'm against the idea because it makes the evening
a little bit more official and as soon as you do that it opens the doors
to Players lodging T.D. queries which are a pain in the arse to deal with,
slow the proceedings down and potentially mar the evening for all.
I'd sooner keep the evening as casual as possible and rely on Players to
play in a sporting and social manner. By not charging an entry fee,
without wishing to sound dictatorial but rather looking after the
interests of vast majority of decent Players, it will be much easier to
tell a pain in the arse Player not to bother coming again.
I've had a good number of emails since the event
from Backgammoners asking about the future of this venue
so I can only imagine that the word has gone round that it
was a good evening. Given that and with a little
advertising I think it is reasonable to expect a turnout
of 30 - 40 Players for the next one on Tuesday 4th
October. As more Players turn up I’m sure that Chouettes
will happen. That’s fine but in view of the fact that
Chouette Players don’t generally eat there will be a £5
table fee levied to each Chouette Player that does not play in a
Tournament.
Of course Player feedback is vital, so if you have any
comments of questions please do not hesitate to email or
phone me:
MikeMadMonk@backpacker-backgammon.com
07985-941729
That said it'll be impossible to email every would be
Player on an individual basis so if you are not already on
it please join my
mailing list.
See yas next month.
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