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BGonline.org Forums
Faster Masters -- a different perspective
Posted By: Jim Stutz In Response To: Faster Masters (Victor Ashkenazi)
Date: Wednesday, 3 September 2014, at 12:35 a.m.
I rarely have a chance to play live backgammon of any sort, and I only get to enter an ABT event once every year or two if I'm lucky. When I do get to the ABT I always enjoy entering the masters. I would be unlikely to attend a tournament that imposed mandatory faster-masters time controls.
1-min/10-sec may be fine for seasoned players who have the opportunity to play live several times a month, and have done so for years or decades, but it’s too rushed for an inexperienced, biennial warrior like me. The 10-second delay is particularly onerous. By the time I fumble with the dice, shake them legally, roll them out and they stop spinning, there is often barely enough delay time left for my opponent to say “re-roll, cocked die” (which happens not infrequently, in part, due to certain idiotic ABT cocked-die rules).
Some might argue that I don’t belong in the masters draw if I don’t want to play 1-min/10-sec. Those speedgammon experts might want to rethink that position. They should be happy to draw me in the first round, and see my $500-$1000 added to the prize money and side pool, even if the match takes somewhat longer. (And how much longer, really?... 15-20 mins? Probably less in most cases, I would guess.)
By all means offer speedgammon in side jackpots for those who enjoy that format, but let’s keep 2-min/12-sec for the masters (and for the main as well, of course), so as not to discourage new or relatively inexperienced players from participating. After all, we are trying to grow the game… Aren’t we?
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