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Side Events --about the money

Posted By: AdamStocks
Date: Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 10:55 p.m.

In Response To: Side Events --about the money (Phil Simborg)

Two points in response to your post Phil. Firstly a technical one - you say that "...remember, only the winners pay for the rake, and that means it doesn't affect most of us unless we are a winner...". This is simply incorrect. At the point at which a player decides to enter, he doesn't know yet if he will be a winner or not, so the risk/reward relationship should be based on expected return, which means that the rake, even when taken out of the winners' prize pool, impacts all players who entered. I'm surprised a player of your experience and knowledge is still falling for this basic misconception.

Secondly, although the philosophy of reducing entry fees to grow tournament fields sounds consistent with standard economic theory, the world of backgammon tournaments doesn't really work like that. Due to the considerable cost overheads, tournament attendees are overwhelmingly the 'hardcore enthusiast' players, and as highly competitive people, need the financial motivation of being able to get a decently juicy score if they do well, and reducing this motivation will just cause them to lose interest. If they want to play live backgammon for small money, they have the option of going to their local club/league etc. You can't expect to get 'the casual masses' to come because of reduced entry fees. The flat overheads involved are simply too high for that effect to kick in. There's nothing wrong with tournaments being 'aspirational' with decent prize funds - the extra glamour that provides could actually help to grow the game as a whole anyway. When I went to a recent tournament weekend (Blackpool 2013), there was a large George Formby appreciation society event happening at the same hotel in the big hall just down the corridor, and I don't suppose there was much, if any, prize money. But the attendees to that event are working to a different paradigm. Quite a large part of me wants to agree with you on this, but I just can't see how reducing the entry fees/prize funds would do anything other than help to kill the tournament scene.

Messages In This Thread

• side events
  David Rockwell -- Tuesday, 10 February 2015, at 8:40 p.m.
  • side events
    Jason Lee -- Tuesday, 10 February 2015, at 8:49 p.m.
  • Side Events (1st of a few posts)
    neilkaz -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 1:49 a.m.
    • Side Events (1st of a few posts)
      Fatboy -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 6:57 a.m.
    • Side Events --about the money
      Phil Simborg -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 4:06 p.m.
      • Side Events --about the money
        Bob Koca -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 4:15 p.m.
        • Side Events --about the money
          Jake Jacobs -- Thursday, 12 February 2015, at 2:28 a.m.
      • Side Events --about the money
        Fatboy -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 9:41 p.m.
      • Side Events --about the money
        AdamStocks -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 10:55 p.m.
        • Side Events --about the money
          Phil Simborg -- Wednesday, 11 February 2015, at 11:37 p.m.
          • Side Events --about the money
            AdamStocks -- Thursday, 12 February 2015, at 12:18 a.m.