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A different kind of game in LA
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: I almost never say anything about Giants, but... agree and some other points... (Phil Simborg)
Date: Friday, 4 December 2015, at 10:31 a.m.
Fun night in LA. Tonight 16 of my good backgammon friends showed up for dinner and some friendly competition. Because we had Giants in the room along with some intermediate players I decided to organize a competition that would allow everyone to participate and have a reasonable chance to win--and everyone went along with my suggestion and most all reported they really enjoyed it.
I seeded the top 8 players and called them the pros and the other half amateurs. We drew the names of amateurs out of a hat and they got to pick which pro would be their doubles partner. Then we had a simple doubles tournament, but with a twist I really like because it gives the weaker player a true opportunity to participate. Here were the rules:
The amateur makes ALL checker play decisions without consulting until the cube is turned. Once there is a cube it is full consulting and the pro is final say on decisions. The pro is also in charge of the cube.
However, during the non-consulting period the pro has the right to override one of the amateur's checker plays (per game).
In a Crawford or DMP game the amateur makes the first 3 moves with no consilting (no override) and then it is full consulting.
We had a $200 per person entry fee and paid 2/3 to 1st place and 1/3 to second. I won't name the participants except to say that my partner and I were knocked out in the first round by my son, Dan, and his partner, and Dan played extremely well. Dan's team won their second match and lost in the finals.
I know this sounds a little complicated and of course many top players will hate this because they must sit there and watch their weaker partner make some plays they don't like, but it evens out because there are some weak plays on the other side. The truth is that most intermediate players handle early game plays pretty well and for the most part the skill levels did not suffer that much--also some of our "amateurs" might easily qualify as low open players.
This is how I prefer doubles to be played--so that both players have a role and affect the outcome instead of relying strictly on the stronger player.
And of course this gave people a chance for All to play together and virtually all of the amateurs reported they really enjoyed playing with a pro and getting the excellent coaching and tips along the way.
I want to thank all who came for participating and for trusting me enough to try something new and different.
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