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34 Players,
8 Tournaments,
68 entries,
£811 Prize Fund Pool,
Phil fools all but one.
Every month the number of players has increased, every month the number of
tournaments has increased, as have the numbers of entries and the Prize
Fund has soared. I think it is now safe to say that Backgammon in
Camden is here to stay.
For that I must thank the players. We've taken a nice bar that otherwise
would be dismally quite and made it into a hive of backgammon activity.
This was the 4th test event and I decided to give it a real test. That
meant that I did not phone round players asking them to come along and
support the evening. I only sent out two email shots (1 a week before and
another plain text one 2 days before) about it which is my long term
intention. I worried if that would it be enough but in reality that is all
I'll be able and am willing to do on a regular basis so it was time to
give it the acid test. I'm glad to say player numbers were within the 30 -
40 required.
I kicked off the evening at 7.00 pm by offering a 7 pointer, 8
player, £25 Obligatory Pool Tournament. 10 hands went up. I scribbled down
the names. So as promised I increased the Pool to £30. 10 hands stayed up.
The Pool went up to £35. I still had 10 hands up. So the pool went up to
£40. Then a player dropped out. Now I must admit I made an error: I'd only
scribbled down 9 names of the 10 hands up. When I crossed 1 off the list I
forgot about the player who's name I had not scribbled down. It was only
when the draw had been done that I realised my error. Fortunately the
player concerned was Sean and he was more than happy to play in the next
(5 pointer, 16 player, £10 Obligatory Pool) Tournament. Thanx Sean.
So already, by 7.05 pm, we had a £320 Prize Fund and off out first 8 went
to play.
By 7.15 pm the next Tournament was also full. Another £160 in the Prize
Fund and another 8 matches in progress.
Another few players arrived over the next few minutes but upon seeing
everybody else playing they elected to eat before they joined the fray.
The next Tournament kicked off at 8.00 pm. I kept this to an 8 player
event on the basis that I had tried to do too much the previous month. It
worked fine.
I was then slightly caught on the hop by players asking for another 7
pointer, £40 Tournament. I hadn't anticipated this variation. However the
evening is all about running the tournaments that players want to play so
there was no reason for me to say no, but I did set the proviso that it
should only be a 4 player event otherwise they would not finish in time.
The players were fine with this but they were only 3 not 4 players. I went
on the hunt for a 4th. Nobody else wanted to play for £40 but Zoe was
happy to play a 7 pointer but not for money. The 3 others were consulted,
agreed, pool monies were taken from 3, the draw done and off they went to
play. 8.15 pm and we have 4 tournaments on the go and a £680 Prize Fund
Pool.
Now then all you Money Players that haven't been along yet - do you not
think you are missing out on something that is your cup of tea ?
Walter and Cathie arrived late - not being Londoners they had had trouble
finding the venue - and thus Walter missed out on the bigger money
tournaments that he so enjoys. Lesson - arrive by 7.00 pm if you desire to
make a profit.
The 5th, 6th and 7th Tournaments were all 3 pointers with 1 Obligatory and
2 Optional Pools. Ok - I could have run 1 16 player and 1 8 player but, as
I've said in previous reports I'm still learning how to run this
multi-tournament format evening. Had there been players complain that the
pool funds were not enough I'd have questioned of I had messed up, but
there were no complaints so I think my future policy will be to run
smaller (8 player) tournaments more so than larger and therefore longer 16
player tournaments.
The 8th Tournament was a 1 pointer 8 player £3 optional pool. I actually
set it up as a 16 player but we only had 8 takers so I halved it and let
it play out with a £21 Optional Pool.
We also had some head to head money play matches going on. Had players
wanted they could have played more of these and I'm sure at future
evenings chouettes will be played more. As ever players are welcome to
play what they wish to play but I would remind players that those who come
to exclusively play chouettes will be charged £5 a head for the evening.
We of course also had Phil Simborg's Quiz. 9 players entered and only 1
submitted the correct answer. Congrats to Zoe - I owe you a drink as a
prize. The quiz, complete with explanation by Perry Gartner, is now
published
here.
I hand over the Pool funds to the two finalists before they commence the
final. In theory the winner takes 100% but by handing over the cash before
they play it opens the door to them doing whatever deal they wish. I've
not kept a record of what players are doing but it seems they prefer to do
about a 60% /40% split. Seems sensible to me.
It was Ray Singer, at his 1st Bg in Camden, who walked away as this
evenings Jackpot winner, Sean took the 2nd Tournament, Daniel kept his
name in bright lights by winning again, John B took the 4 player, Mourad
the 5th Tournament, Ray F the 6th, Mick V the 7th and Michael, not to be
outdone by son and friend Daniel, took the 8th.
All tournament play was done by 11.00 pm. which means I got the tournament
structure right this month. Cool.
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Summary:
Ok - the seemingly complex structure of the evening works. One really can
have a room full of 30 or more backgammoners playing tournament backgammon
and completing on time. With the system I've put in place each player can
play as much backgammon as they wish and play for as much or as little as
they wish. They have time to eat if they wish and the Lockside Lounge is a
good venue for the game we play.
I'll have a meeting later this month with the management of The Lockside
Lounge and see where we are going to go from here. Monthly events are now
pretty well guaranteed, fortnightly events will be considered. Weekly is I
think too ambitious.
The next 1st Tuesday in the month will fall on 3rd January. I can't
imagine that many if any people will be up for going out on such a date so
I intend to move the January event to the 2nd Tuesday. That's my plan,
it's not for sure yet, I'll let players know via my mailing list.
Just to add my thanx to all the players that have turned up, bought along
friends, told others and returned again to play. Thanx also to the
Lockside Lounge who have proved very good hosts.
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