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Tuesday 1st November 2005
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33 Players, 6 Tournaments,
56 entries, £445 Prize Fund Pool.
That on our 3rd evening of Backgammon in Camden is to my mind pretty
damned good. Thank you to all the Players that took part.
This means that we can move with some confidence to our last trial date in
The Lockside Lounge of Tuesday 6th December that the event will carry on
into 2006. Let's not fall at the last hurdle - 30 - 40 Players required
next month too.
We had a slightly late start because the Northern Line was playing up -
Dear Mr Livingstone please just replace the whole darn line. But at 7.30 I
offered the 7 Pointer 8 Player £25 Obligatory Entry Pool Tournament and 8
hands went up. Cash taken, Draw done and off they went to play.
Next up was a 5 Pointer 16 Player £10 Obligatory Pool Tournament - 14
Players stepped forward, cash was taken draw done and off they set to
play. 10 minutes later another 2 Players arrived and join in to make that
Tournament full.
Sean Williams had bought along some of his work mates who were being given
a workshop by Sean and Zoe. They were joined by Freddy and Sara who run
stalls in Camden Market. I was very pleased that this was happening -
backgammon always needs new blood and it's an area much ignored.
Phil Simborg's Quiz was posted up in the side and as players finished
matches and waited for their next opponents they had a chance to address
this.
The next Tournament to kick in was another 5 Pointer this time 8 Player
with a £5 Obligatory Pool.
After that we had another 5 Pointer 8 Player £5 Optional Pool.
Sean & Co were ready to play a Tournament so we set up a 1 Pointer 8
Player no Pool Main and Consolation Tournament for them.
The other Tournament of the evening was a 3 Pointer 8 Player £5 Optional
Pool Tournament.
Ist time Bg in Camden player Phil C won the £200 Pool Tournament, Mahmoud
again won the 2nd Tournament, Michael racked up his second win in Camden,
Juanita who travelled over from the West Country with Steve gained her
first, Paul Lamford and Maurice did a split, Zoe won the 1 Pointer Main
and little Sara in her first backgammon tournament won the Consolation
Tournament. Bravo all.
The
Quiz proved to be an excellent one because nobody got it right but a
good number tried. Paul Lamford was well impressed. Nice one and
thank you Phil Simborg.
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Tournament Charts
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Summary:
People who have not yet attended have asked me if running so many
tournaments all at the same time is surely a recipe for disaster. It would
be if I didn't put down the proviso that players only play in one
tournament at a time. Do that and you create a kick arse evening of
backgammon tournaments with players either playing or chatting and eating
after a loss or if they have a reasonable break in play.
The other trick is to make sure I run the correct tournament format at the
correct time. This is not quite so easy and I'll freely admit I'm still on
a learning curve in this department. It's all to do with balance. Possibly
mine - Shell just sent me a Dementia Test which I failed miserably. It's
really to do with balancing the players present and those who are likely
to finish the match they are currently playing soon with what they are
likely to want to play next. There's two likelys in that sentence so
we have two variables. The latter of those two variables is split again
into "What match lengths", "How many Players" and "What Pool arrangement".
So we have 4 variables. I used to be a Juggler and I'm a Cab Controller so
I use the skills I've learnt in those fields of life to help me run these
evenings.
The fact that the £25 Pool Tournament happened this month (it didn't the
1st two months) is important because it says to Money Players that this
event is worth attending - it's not just little 10pounder jobbies with low
equity.
Next month it'll be there again but I expect more than 8 Players to turn
up for it so it will be bid up until only 8 can stand the entry fee. By
the way there is a cash machine in The Lockside Lounge.
In all this month we had a 7 Pointer, 3 x 5 Pointers, 1 x 3 Pointer and a
1 Pointer with Conso.
The 7 Pointer, which started 30 minutes late, finished in time. Ok - so
that a little lucky, it could have overrun, but if it starts prompt at
7.00 pm. next month it should be fine.
3 x 5 Pointers was too much 5 Pointers. The first one of them, the 16
Player event, finished within time so no worries there. But in the second
(an 8 Player) the Final was reduced to a 1 pointer. That ain't good. In
the third 5 Pointer the Final was reduced to a 3 Pointer and played a
great speed to boot. Not good either.
In the 3 Pointer (only 8 Player) the Final was not played at all. The
Finalists (both in the Optional Pool) did a split. Another not good set
up.
The 1 Pointer 8 Player with Conso no Pool acted as a separate entity to
all other events and finished within time and included a considerable
workshop too. Cool.
So problems to look at are:
7 Pointer must start at 7.00 pm.
3rd Tournament 5 Pointer 8 Player is too much for 25 Players
4th Tournament 5 Pointer 8 Player is too much for 25 Players
5th Tournament 3 Pointer 8 Player is too much for 25 Players
A very valid comment made by a number of players was that they didn't like
their final being reduced in match lengths. "It makes a joke of the sweat
having got that far". True. Ok - let's work upon it.
I can bung in the proviso of saying "This is a 3 pointer but you play a 5
Pointer Final if there is time". Time is 11.00 pm. Games time
is calculated at 30 minutes for a 3 pointer, 54 minutes for a 5 Pointer.
This goes slightly against of my wish of keeping match lengths all the
same in a particular tournament but needs must and I find I have another
variable !
In short I tried to run slightly too much this month. The Landlord didn't
kick us out before we were done so there were no worries there, but I
didn't like pressurising players into playing shortened matches. But as I
said I'm on a learning curve with this format - a new style of running a
backgammon tournament evening as far as I know - and I need to learn my
boundaries.
Next month I'll be less ambitious.
I'll also look into if we can stay later in the bar. A 12.00 o'clock
finish would give me more scope but do players want to be out that late ?
Ah, variables........
The bottom line is that 33 players turned up -that's within target - Thank
you Players - I now need to keep numbers up there in that region. Do
that for a couple of months and I think the thing will start rolling
itself.
So it's see you all next month please and bring a friend - be a friend.
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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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Mike
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