North England Meet
Saturday 13th August 2005
Allie and Irvbighead arranged a North England Meet for DailyGammon players. I, MikeMadMonk, could not make it but was happy to sponsor the event. Below are some of the comments posted on DailyGammon after the event:
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Well, despite the British weather doing its level best to thwart our plans, a good day it seems was had by all :)
Results were:- main tournament (7-point knockout) winner was Irvbighead (of course lol had his eye on that trophy since he got it *wink)
Runner up Sunflower - well played :)
Consolation (5 - point knockout) winner - well guess who? Ah yes that would be me then ;))
Runner up Blue-Duke - well played :)
Last chance (one - point knockout) winner - Sunflower
Runner up Irvbighead - well played :)
Tric-Trac winner - Gaz (1 backgammon and 4 gammons from 9 games - watch out Goodice the lad's on his way lol) - well played
Photo's and other reports to come along soon - after 11 hours of solid backgammon we're wilting a little here lol :))
Posted by Allie at Sat Aug 13 21:50:01 2005
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thanks for your hospitality Allie, sorry I missed the bulk of the day but I had a great time in the evening :) we must all do it again soon!!
special thanks to MikeMadMonk for donating the prizes, everyone really appreciated it :)
Posted by Gaz at Sat Aug 13 22:03:02 2005
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The dice were fixed I tell ya! Real dice wouldn't throw 6-6 every time I was on the bar!! :)
Thanks to Allie and MrAllie for being excellent hosts, and to Irv for organising it, and it MadMikeMonk for the prizes and trophies.
And to everyone who didn't/couldn't attend, you missed a treat.
Posted by codetyke at Sat Aug 13 22:06:19 2005
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well its 1.45 am but had to share this with you.
What a great day thank you Allie and Pete for hosting.
I arrived at about 10.30 the door was open so in I walked to a mountain of food enough to feed the whole street. Blue duke and Allie are there and Pete was at the barbers getting his haircut so he could look good when he picked up his trophy. Alas he made it to the semi finals of the main and last chance. The hot favorite with a DG rating over 2000 Codetyke was drawn in round one with Rob and the other 7 players got byes into round 2. He sails through round one into the quater finals to play cartoontime and then on to the semi finals where Sunflower was waiting with other plans. Well the favotite is beaten as Sue goes into the Final where Irvbighead is waiting nearly 4 years playing live can this be my 1st trophy well we had a fun match and i was chuffed to bits coming out on top after beating Blue Duke and pete on the way.
In the second game against Blue duke with me leading 1-0 it was looking gammon time for my opponent with the cube on 2 and crispin only needing to bare off 2 stones I hit one then spent the next 25 mins trying to get that second man back, I finaly did and instead of trailing 1-4 I now lead 3-0 Fantastic game .
The consolation for 8 players was well under way now.
Magic made her way into the semi final where she came up against Crispin And Codetyke is paired with Allie in the other 2 hard fought matches That lead Crispin in to the final against Allie Leaving Him to try and get Allies 2 stones back like I had to do against him in the Main. But Allie hung in there to win it telling me after it was one of the best games she has ever played.
The Last chance was a 16 bracket If you lost you just bought back in for £1 or played for free if you did not want to be in the prize money pool.
By now players were beging to play each othe again so revenge was on the cards
Here are some of the revenge matches Round one Pete beats Irvbighead, Rob beats Magic then Dot Beats Rob on his buy back after losing in round 2
In the Semi Finals after I had to buy back in I get revenge over Peter that sets up the revenge match of the day.
Sunflower angainst myself a repeat of the Main Final. what a game this was Sues Hands were on the trophey until i called up the dice gods from Dailygammon and they helped alot midway through the game i get in front and we are heading for a last roll decider with me having Two on the 2 point and sue with one on the 1 point me on roll woo hoo 2 trophies in one day coming my way but the whole room of players where calling the dice gods this time and they sent down on to this wonderful crowd of people a 6-1 and a worthy winner in Sunflower was announced.
Phew! 7 hours of great backgammon had we had enough no chance. Bye now Gaz had turned up and Pete set a score shet up for a 10 player Tric Trac. As most of you know MikeMadMonk devised this format where you play everyone a single game but the twist is you get .5 point if you lose and gammons and backgammons count. I told the players at the start you will need at least 9 points from your nine games to have a chance of winning. Gaz thought Phaaa only 9 he got 3 gammons in his 1st 4 games and went on to win it with 14.5 points
Now i have to share this with you but am not going to mention names. It's a unique play if ever you roll 6-1 try it you may end up winning a trophy lol.
Now the 2 players are talking and having fun and there is this little side issue of a game of backgammon going on one of them rolls a 6-1 and afew rolls later wonders why the bar point is not covered and the realises that she moved her opponents peices. They was both so engrossed in their chat that neither noticed and the game had gone on to far to move it back.
Summing up there was some fantastic matches some crazy moves some good plays and some bad plays but above all 10 people had a terrifc day and lots of fun.
Thank you Mike for the prizes and Jordon for this site that brought us together.
Looking forward to seeing you soon hopefully at london Live in November.
I am sure there will be more reports posted soon and Pictures will be up on the web in the near future
Posted by irvbighead at Sun Aug 14 01:36:01 2005
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Just to add my thanks to Allie and Pete, and Ivrbighead, for arranging this meeting and tornie, and to all the challenging players from DG for turning up to make such a great day, (and it was a very full day) backgammon and food wise. Being in the beginners ranking, I still had my moments of triumph. I was even taught how to roll the dice for myself. Thanks a lot folks.
Dot
Posted by magic at Sun Aug 14 09:23:21 2005
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What a day indeed :o)
Thank u sooooooooo much Allie & Pete for a perfectly lovely venue, a fantastic rolling banquet and a tremendously fun day ......just didn't want to come home !! Thank you too to Irv who worked tirelessly to make sure we stayed "on song" backgammonwise and was always there to answer our queries on procedures -- dont forget the winner's on the right.........and.... oh yes..........anyone seen my cigarettes ;o)
A huge thank you to MadMike for his generosity........Sunny's trophy has pride of place in our house and the signed book is already well read ( I shant mention the dice !!)!
Most of all thank you all.......to allie, pete, irv, magic, codetyke, gaz, blueduke, robbob for being truely great sports and such fun to be with !!!
luv, hugs and may the dice be kind !
Sunny & Toon
Posted by sunflower1 at Sun Aug 14 12:51:52 2005
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hi,
Just Back Home will be playing my match soon :) I has wonderful time yesterday and the food was NICE and also all the people i meet.. it alwent nice to see people behide that nick of thier
i would like to say a special thanks to Allie and Pete for Host :) also to Irv for organising it and MikeMadMonk for Prizes n Trophies
Right i have took some photo on my phone and i have upload it during last 10 mins and it up now for all to see it (might ya my phone is not Top Quailty lol)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97479974@N00/ enjoy them hope some more picture will come out soon
Crispy
Posted by blue-duke at Sun Aug 14 14:43:36 2005
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Brilliant photo's Crispin - that final match between us was an absolute corker! Our should be up soon - thanks to everyone for coming, Irv for running the show backgammon-wise and of course Mike for the superb trophies and prizes :) Irv we forgot the most important thing - remember the stuffed donkey conversation before Pete and I went to Spain? Well we got you one lol and intended to present you with him, but in all the excitement forgot and he's still here! - we could mail him to you bless he needs a good home :) Oh, and has anyone got a black fleece type jacket missing as we seem to have inherited one? :))
Posted by Allie at Sun Aug 14 15:32:50 2005
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fleece thing will be sunflowers, the cigs will be in the pocket, they always are when she looses them.;-)
Posted by magic at Sun Aug 14 16:10:23 2005
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Thanks crispy for photo's, good to have the first ones out so soon..;-)
Posted by magic at Sun Aug 14 16:14:00 2005
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Just wanted to add my thanks to Allie and Pete for being fantastic hosts, Irv for organising it so well and everyone for being great guests!
The games were played in a friendly spirit but with that little edge needed to keep things exciting.
I just got home after a long journey and feel shattered - partly because of the late night philosophising - what time did we go to bed?!!
Thanks once again
Posted by robbob at Sun Aug 14 17:38:53 2005
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Glad to hear that everyone had a good time. Thanks for all your great comments. It was a shame the weather didn't stay nice, but in the end it didn't matter as we all had a fantastic day.
My thanks to Irv for the organisation and Mike for the prizes/trophies. Also, I'd like to thank Allie for being a great hostess, BG player, and wife. I'm sure she will post later, but her head is a little fragile at the moment ;)
I have uploaded our photos to our web site. Go to http://www.georgecat.force9.co.uk/ and select the Backgammon option from the left.
Posted by Pete at Sun Aug 14 18:46:22 2005
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Half past four I seem to remember we called it a night Rob - after much deb ating about the meaning of life, the universe and everything lol :) The kitties are back and alternately fussing round us and fighting with each other - and my trophy now has pride of place in the centre of the mantelpiece! :))
Posted by Allie at Sun Aug 14 19:29:38 2005
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Great Pictures Peter, Come on Sunflower put the Kamasutra Dice away and lets see your pictures lol
Posted by irvbighead at Sun Aug 14 21:43:58 2005
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Wow you guys can keep the trophies, I want the food. Looks like it was a good time had by all. Allie you did a super job with the food, the pictures made me hungry. You should of had a trophy just for all that work. Pete some great picture taking. Thanks for sharing ;-)
Posted by imppoohbear at Mon Aug 15 02:16:41 2005
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Those kabobs did look extra delicious! :-)
Posted by bigboots at Mon Aug 15 02:23:38 2005
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Yeah the kebabs were mighty fine, courtesy of Dot AKA Magic, who also deserves a big thank you in all of this for putting a lot of effort in and bringing everything but the kitchen sink that we might need - cheers! :) Spacey and anybody else, I would seriously consider doing it, was such a great, great day and fantastic to meet people you've played and spoken to almost every day online for the past goodness knows how many months! As for the UK bunch, thanks again for turning up, being great sports and making it a fab day for all :))
Posted by Allie at Mon Aug 15 11:39:43 2005
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Hey Allie if we get a few hot weekends this year how about a DG picnic in the Peaks. I will do the tourney and everyone brings some food. If it rains we just go to the pub and maybe have a few games if landlord lets us.
Derwant res if sunny Castleton if wet 1st weekend in sept maybe. I will look into it
Posted by irvbighead at Mon Aug 15 11:47:56 2005
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Seems like you all had a good time - once again backgammon brings like minded people together. Pleased to hear that and thanx for the phone call on the day letting me know the results.
Posted by MikeMadMonk at Mon Aug 15 11:58:47 2005
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Mike you are indeed a star amongst men - thanks soooo much for your input into what was just a fleeting idea which became reality in such a splendid way :) (my trophy looks fab on the mantel piece!) Irv yeah i'd go for that deffo - the weather can't spite us twice - surely?? lol! :)
Posted by Allie at Mon Aug 15 12:14:58 2005
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New From Here
Irv, BG in the Peaks sounds like an aewsome plan...
...but yet again I've got trips, camps & training events organised with my Explorer Unit :-(
I'll see if I can sneak out of anything, once you've settled on a day! ;-p
Posted by BG Matt at Tue Aug 16 09:03:37 2005
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Matt its looking like Sep 24th going to look at some places the weekend if i get time
Posted by irvbighead at Tue Aug 16 09:05:17 2005
Backpacker Backgammon