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BGonline.org Forums
Chicago Report--looking forward to Charlotte
Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Sunday, 29 May 2016, at 1:31 p.m.
How can anyone play in a modified swiss tournament and want to play in anything else?
You know exactly when your match starts. You are guaranteed 4 matches and you can win the tournament until you've lost your 4th match, so even if some novice like Frank Talbot gets lucky and beats you (he beat me last night) you still have a shot at winning.
So what if you meet Mochy in the first round and lose....you aren't screwed for the next 3 days.
And if you are unluckly enough to lose 4 matches out of the 5 played the first day, you get put into a free-roll tournaments (The Herb Roman Special) the next day and can still compete and win something.
And you can play mini matches with money added by USBGF, Seniors, Faster Masters, Masters and doubles.
In Chicago from what I've seen so far everything is going like clockwork. Rory finally got smart enough to turn the auction over to someone who knows what he's doing and he didn't spend 30 minutes talking about his wife and daughter, so even that was better than ever.
Literally hundreds of matches are being recorded and streamed for the whole world to see, and of course, the food is terrific.
Okay, nothing is perfect, but modified swiss is the closest I've seen to perfect in my many years of playing backgammon.
I also like that EVERY ONE of my opponents used a clock with me...they had to if I wanted it but most welcomed it, and I want it. Every time. For the rest of my life if I can. Backgammon is a HORRIBLE AND BORING AND UNFAIR GAME without a clock in tournament play compared to playing with a clock. Sorry, I know some disagree, but times have changed and clock management and time management adds to the skill and fun of the game and keeps us all from being subjected to selfish abuse of time. My time is far too valuable to watch someone spend 10 minutes to decide how to play an opening 5-2 at gammon go. And how much fun is that for the spectators and for the growth and popularity of the game?
Bottom line, I'm having fun. It's a great format. Well run (congrats to Rory and his staff). Very nice people here...thank you to all the jerks who stayed away who bring their bad karma and mental illness to some tournaments (you know who you are). And thank you for all who came who are so pleasant to play and have around.
And for all of your great backgammon players and fun people that I really miss from around the world who missed this event, I urge you to come next year. And I encourage everyone to go to any tournament with a modified swiss format.
The next one is Charlotte, and I'll be there for sure. You want a lesson in how to run a tournament? Watch Jeb.
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