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Everyone Read
Posted By: Stick
Date: Sunday, 11 October 2009, at 6:44 p.m.
Do not post any new threads over the next ~24 hours, they will be deleted. You can post replies to already existing threads, like this one, but no new posts.
It will be tough for me to cover the lifespan of my relationship with Andy/WSOB but I will try to summarize and keep it as short and concise as possible. I will be more than happy to answer any and all questions that don't jeopardize other people directly. I'm sure things will be left out accidentally so I may revist my post and add on later. So many things to recall I will do my best.
I was first contacted by Andy/WSOB early/mid 2008 with the WSOB stuff going on. Idle conversation at first then it eventually turned into him offering me a deal from WSOB/Partouche. In short, the deal was nullified because of the problems he had with the company, Guedj, whoever/whatever, I really don't know the details on this and I won't speculate because I don't care. Fine. Moving on.
Once things were straightened out I was offered a new deal, and I quote What I could offer is a contribution of say 50% of your entry and registration and I would also ask you to be one of our ‘sponsored’ players wear WSOB brand while playing. I accepted after clarifying the terms. More on the quote front Re the offer, indeed, we would pay 50% entry and reg for each event ie €1375 x 3 / 50% i.e. €2062.5
To this point and time I have been paid nothing for my work in Cannes. In Prague I wasn't able to blog as I'd have liked and we exchanged emails regarding this. No hard feelings, though I was doing everything for the WSOB, commentating or typing online all day long when not playing because Andy asked me to, I wasn't going to fuss over a few bucks in the face of promoting backgammon. After Prague he emailed me saying they wouldn't need me for London and that was that. When you enter into an agreement with someone, let's say for example, promising to pay half their entry and registration fees for them to come to your tournaments, you can't simply cut it off without restitution. That's what contracts are for. I have all this in the emails of course.
He also requested of me Only one other request to include in this, would you mind please wearing our shirt or cap when you play in Monte Carlo? I said of course but nobody was ever able to get me a shirt or hat. In Cannes they only had one size shirt, XL. For those of you who know my size, XL is bit out of my range, but I wear the damn shirt anyway cause I said I would.
When signing up in Cannes I asked Andy personally if I should pay the registration in full or deduct it the 50% immediately. He said "we'll figure it out later" which I had no problem with. I remember saying specifically at that time "as long as I can trust you I'm not worried about it". Well, I see it's later and we've figured it out.
There were many problems with the tournaments, from clocks not being set, things not going off anywhere near on time, byes that are still incomprehensible, etc... Here's a tasty one though. In Cannes Steen noticed that we had to play an extra round (and it was an extra round, unlike what UBK originally thought though I haven't spoken to him since then about it) Steen approched the WSOB staff, maybe Andy, maybe Mike, likely both were consulted. I do not know these details, I was not part of the discussion. What I know is Steen told me since we had to play an extra round and everyone else got a bye into the money (3k euros) that he had negotiated the loser of our match gets a free entry into Prague. Super. I double checked with Mike before starting my match with Steen to confirm this. He said yes, that's what had been decided.
Ok, we get to dmp in this match and hedge based on this fact. I lose, I get tossed a couple bucks, and now have a free entry into Prague. Come Prague time guess what ... first off, I'm approached and they want to make sure there was actually an extra round because if there wasn't they weren't going to pay. Again, what the fuck? They should have checked this beforehand and if they didn't that's their problem. An agreement was made, money changed hands based on this agreement (our hedge) and if you would have told me at that time you were repealing my entry fee I'd have knifed you and not played in the tourney. Still... I have hopes for backgammon and the WSOB so I'm taking this all in stride, swallowing instead of shouting.
Next glitch in the gambit, they ask me to pay a registration fee for the tournament. This is so what the fuck I was shocked. Like when you win a seat to any event, poker, backgammon, etc... do you ever still have to pay the registration?? I mentioned it to Mike, then I let it die. My own fault for letting it die but there are sometimes things more important than immediate money when trying to promote the game.
Now after Cannes and more problems/issues ensued on my forums I start getting emails from Andy telling me to delete posts. One second he'd be a sweetheart with "Please just be a little but more supportive Stick; you are on the team" when in fact I'd been released from 'the team' and the next minute I'd get one of these random messages:
- I am certainly considering legal action against those publishing and indeed the publisher of public defamatory remarks being made on your forum
- a forum is not immune to liability, as has been proven in court
- You are not immune from prosecution. You obviously think you are but I simply will not tolerate any further inaction by you.
- I will consult lawyers on Monday
One of those had to be the straw that cracked this donkey's back. I had emailed Andy twice inbetween telling him to lay off basically and that I would ignore these remarks. The last email I told him to let it die after basically telling him to fuck off and if he let it die I wouldn't be posting this for the entire world to see. He didn't, so here it is, all the bullshit backgammon drama you can handle. Here is my entire last email to Andy:
Let me be cut and dry as it has become tiresome answer your emails and demands about my web site. I've hoped and wished for nothing but success for the WSOB, you personally, the game, etc... I bit my tongue a lot in the beginning hoping they were only bumps on the way to smoothing out the rocky road, but when I constantly receive what you think are threatening emails wasting my time while I'm trying to enjoy Europe I've had enough.
...here I list the above quotes where he threatens to seek legal council...
You clearly have no idea whatsoever what I can be held responsible for and unfortunately for you and your bully tactics thinking somehow you can tell me what is and isn't published on BGO, my site, I do. When you consult your lawyers on Monday (underlined at that) make sure to send them my regards and give them a big kiss from me.
Let it die now and I won't personally post anything else you'd find damaging, libelous, worthy of contacting lawyers, etc... on my site.
There is so much more that I will not publish because my hands are tied. The information comes from other individuals who have contacted me that Andy or the company, I'm not entirely sure if there's a difference, still owe him/her money. Unless these people contact me directly and say it's ok to go public with it it will remain silent but if you trust me, know there's still a lot more to the story. The information is from people I'd trust not random people I barely know. (like Mario Seq. or Eric Guedj, I only mention the two of them because they had issues with Andy and I don't know them all that well so while I'll listen to what they say I would never quote them without quoting them on something)
There is more in poor taste yet to come. The London finals being moved is an atrocity. How you can reschedule weeks beforehand is beyond me. It's beyond me because it hasn't even been rescheduled, it's in a state of limbo. No date has been pinpointed, they 'hope' to get qualifiers just as I'm sure they hope to get a tournament director. It resounds vibrantly that Mike Main, who I will add did a very nice job with what he had to work with during what I saw with the WSOB, is not the TD for the final leg of the WSOB on his home turf.
Has the thought that if I wanted return if indeed the finals was to be played 'later this year' I may not be able to? I'm an American citizen, I just spent 3 months in Europe, guess what the law says? [for those of you who actually know the law pass on replying, I, too, know it, that's not the point] You say their expenses will be covered yet never replied to what that constitutes. You don't have realistically 2 months til the end of the year, December is almost a half month if that. It's a dead month, nobody is traveling for WSOB during Christmas or New Years.
I'm sorry to say I think the finals of the WSOB will never take place, one point on which I hope to be wrong. If they do take place will the prize fund be the same? Will all the participants be able to make it? Will it happen by the end of the year? These questions and countless others will be answered in due time and someone will have to let me know how it comes out because this is one person who is not attending London and I urge you to do the same.
Stick
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