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BGonline.org Forums
But...
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: But... (Chiva Tafazzoli)
Date: Thursday, 7 June 2012, at 10:31 p.m.
...hopefully the TD wont allow known sharks to enter side-events aimed at novices and alike, right Chiva?
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To answer your question, you need events for everyone, and you need a ranking/rating system in place to "categorize" players.
I think there has been a shift over the last 5-10 years (in Denmark) in the backgammon population: No longer thinking backgammon as "gambling" but more as a "mind-sport". Poker has led the field of gambling, and the bots/video analysis, and newcomers in backgammon has moved it more in a direction like chess and bridge.
Nowadays we see very very strong players not seeking to play for money - avoiding high entry fee events, not buying in on side-pools, never putting a bet on the side of a league/team match. 10-15 years back, even in the low divisions, you almost had to explain yourself if you turned down an offer of putting $30 on the side of each match. My guess is, that in the lower ranked divisions in DBgF, 15 years ago you had a side bet on individual league matches for at least $20 in 75% of the matches. Now it's probably in just 25% of the matches.
"Gambling" is off course still a big part of the game for the top players, the trend is by far strongest within the players who has entered the game the last 10 years.
Therefore I think Phil's point is very valid and important, you have to cater for different people with very different objectives with their backgammon.
And the "poker potential" is something different again - there you have people who like to gamble, but don't like to loose to experts in a game they know they don't master. They would probably need "shark protected" events with some sort of stakes to be interested.
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