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40
Entries, 6 Tournaments, 24 Players, £660 Prize Fund,
Michael Flesch wins Jackpot and
Edward Leighton wins
the Quiz.
As expected we had a lower than usual turnout this month - this was due to
the Dod Davies and Jo Curl Wedding taking place on this very day (06-06-06
- a very apt day for those of you who know Dod) which was to be followed
by a Day of Games all happening down in the West Countrie. I thought of
shifting Bg in Camden to the following Tuesday but we would then have
clashed with the Football World Cup. I've tried running a backgammon
event when an important football match is being played and it just does
not work, so I stuck with our normal 1st Tuesday in the month.
So we had what I'm calling a "Chilled Bg in Camden" evening. Actually that
was fine by me because I was due to be down in the West Countrie (t'other
side of Plymouth) by midday the following day to run the Backgammon
Tournaments with Ian Tarr of Bristol Backgammon. I wasn't sure if I'd go
home to Islington for a quick kip before heading down South West or if I'd
head down some of the way overnight as soon a Bg in Camden was finished, so
I had a fully loaded car in Camden which meant I could do either depending
on how I felt at 11.30 pm.
Our first Tournament of the evening (the Jackpot) went up to £50 Entry
before just 8 Players were willing to pay the inflated from £25 Entry Fee.
The remaining Players played in the 5 Pointer, 8 Player, £10 Entry Fee
Tournament.
Tournament 3 was an 8 Player, 5 Pointer, £10 Entry, Tournament 4 an 8
Player, 5 Pointer £5 Entry, Tournament 5 a 4 Player, 5 Pointer, £10 Entry
and Tournament 6 a 4 Player, 5 Pointer £5 Entry. This was sufficient
backgammon for those gathered and we were all played by 11.15 pm.
T1 was won at DMP with a double rolled by Michael Flesch over last months
winner Dan O'Farrell. Michael is on a good roll at the moment having won
the annual One to One Children's Charity Backgammon Tournament last month.
Dan, in only his second month as a BG in Camden Player, is proving to
still be a formidable Player. T2 was won by Simon Morecroft who is also
having a good year. T3 was won by Geoff Conn - a steady but sure Player.
T4 was won by the unique Bicous, T4 was taken by Mahmoud who won the Mind
Sports Olympiad Cambridge 2006 Backgammon Tournament and T6 was won by
Simon Gasquione who is becoming a regular winner of Bg in Camden
Tournaments.
This months
Quiz (by Phil Simborg) was a questions only affair. This produced a
better number of entrants than usual and I'm pleased to say 95% of those
got the 4 questions correct. Nobody actually got the tie-breaker correct
by Edward's answer was the most credible (far better than Simon G's answer
of Mr Idunno) so it was Edward who won the free drink.
On a sad note we had one none too pleasant match happen. Usually it seems
I am called to make 1 Tournament Director decision per month. That's no
problem and is to be expected. However the match in question produced 7
decisions for me to rule upon. While I don't relish making T.D. decisions
I fully realise that it is my responsibility to make them when called upon
to do so. To that extent I nowadays spend a lot of time keeping my eye
open for the possible problems that can happen and working out what I
would do if that situation occurs in a tournament I am running. If anybody
knows of a T.D. that has published all the problems s/he has encountered
in their time please do let me know of it - I strongly believe that
T.D.s should work together for the good of backgammon rather than horde
the information they themselves gather.
I'm not going to list the 7 problems that occurred in the one match
because it'll only make for negative reading and I don't want to do that.
What I will say is that I could not leave the match while it was being
played. I had to stand there over it like a school master watching
troublesome children. While I was doing this a further 2 Players arrived
for the evening and 3 matches completed. This meant that I had to ignore 8
Players while I watched over 2. That is not acceptable. My thanx to those
8 Players who waited until I was available (I gather the word had gone
around that there was a problem match happening) but they really should
not have had to wait the 15 - 20 minutes that they did.
Bg in Camden is designed as a social evening of backgammon. That's not to
say that strong play is discouraged - quite the reverse actually. However
I expect all Players to play within the spirit of the game and evening. It
only takes one person to ruin or mar an event. Of the two Players
concerned in the "problem match" one was a first time Bg in Camden Player
and the other has attended a number of times now. To be fair the 1st time
Bg in Camden Player was rolling rather quickly which was opening the
floodgate to problems occurring but the regular Bg in Camden Player was
argumentative and doing very little or nothing at all towards making the
match an enjoyable experience. Further the second Player has a history of
making problems. I was made aware of this fact before the first time he
played in an event I organised and I was at a loss to understand why other
T.D.s were reluctant to accept him as a Player. He then played in
another event I organised and a T.D. decision was needed. Since then
there have been a number of problems surrounding this Player and I am now
at the stage that, for the good of other Players, I will not be accepting
him in future events that I organise. I really do not enjoy doing this but
I cannot and will not allow any Player to deter others from coming to
events I organise. I organise social backgammon - behave in an anti-social
manner and expect to be asked not to return. Who is this banned from
Backpacker Backgammon Events Player? That is not important to other
Players. However if you are a T.D. please email me and I'll let you know
the name. As I said above I believe T.D.s should work together for
the good of the game. What other T.D.s do is their business but I will
share information with them.
The "problem match" happened quite early in the evening and the now banned
Player left as soon as it was over. As such the evening was given the
chance to return to being a social evening of backgammon and everybody
returned to having a good "chilled" evening.
The evening over I gathered up my bags and, with the help of Simon
Gasquione, got them into my car. I felt fine and decided to start my drive
down to the West Countrie. After a break somewhere near Bristol I later
drove along a glorious Cornwall coast road as dawn was happening and thus
to Fort Polhawn where I found the aftermath of what was obviously a
wonderful party. There were bottles, glasses and fag butts coffee cups all
over the place as well as sleeping bodies on sofas. My eyes spied 4
cushions on the floor and my brain told me they were my bed. An hour or
two later I was up and having coffee.... ahhh but that's another story and
report.
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