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Posted By: Matt Cohn-Geier In Response To: Scenario (Stick)
Date: Thursday, 12 August 2010, at 9:27 p.m.
So let's say, not-so-hypothetically speaking, that the player in question is I. Obviously I'm pretty biased about this situation but I'll give my thoughts.
First, I want to applaud everything that Bill Davis has done in Chicago and for backgammon nationwide. He runs a great club that meets every week, plus the special bimonthly and club championship events, and has an abundance of attendance and support. His yearly tournament in Chicago (now with Amy Trudeau) is one of my favorites and I love his creativity and enthusiasm for the game. He keeps records of points won, winning streaks, etc., and the club is always a great environment.
Now, maybe I can give my perspective as a player and as a professional. Obviously my equity in a $10 or $20 tournament or a $25 chouette is much better in the chouette. One might wonder about the disparity in stakes but it's just one of those oddities of Chicago backgammon culture and history. In spite of that, I actually like playing the Masters (the first, $20 tournament). It has some tough competition, it's single elimination, and most people are playing the Masters so there's not many chouettes available anyway. If there are players around to play side games and I'm still playing in the tournament it means I've advanced deep and have a shot at winning the tournament, so that's OK by me too. The only problem I have with playing in the Masters is I need to reserve 3-5 weeks in advance to have a spot. OK, that's fine, I understand, but as someone who can barely remember to change his shirt every day I can't really expect to be thinking about reserving a spot at the Bar Point Club 4 weeks from now when I am trying to figure out how exactly I am going to get out of Monte Carlo and whether or not I have a place to sleep tonight.
The Open (the second, $10 tournament) is another story. To start, it's half the entry fee, twice the number of players, has a consolation bracket, and pays more places. Although it's 7 point and 5 point matches instead of 9 points, it progresses much more slowly than the Masters. When I came to Chicago last year I played the Open after I got knocked out of the Masters, because I just like to play backgammon in general and it's what everyone else did. After about 5 or 6 tournaments I noticed that I was making a huge time commitment--and when I advanced deep in the tournament, due to all the factors I mentioned in the second sentence, I wasn't making anything anyway. Playing the Consolation especially was a big commitment. Also, matches in the Open would conflict with my playing in the chouette (sometimes Masters matches would also, but usually only the finals or semifinals). So that was out. I continued to play the Masters whenever I could.
Lately I find myself wandering around Chicago again, but I haven't been able to get into the Masters because I didn't reserve far enough in advance. I still like to play backgammon, I enjoy the social aspect of the club, and side games also provide me with nice things like rent and food. I still don't have any overwhelming desire to play in the Open, so I have been showing up to the club and just playing the chouette.
Am I in the wrong here? If so, please tell me. I have always done my best to support the game of backgammon and try to grow it. If I am wrong then I'd like to know. And, although it hadn't occurred to me before now, I'd be more than happy to donate $10 to Bill to use either towards his club expenses or to the tournament prize pool. Bill's club is great. I love his tournaments and his newsletter and I'd like to support it in whatever way I can. I just don't want to make the time commitment to playing in the Open, both because I don't want the tournament to conflict too heavily with the chouette and because I don't want to be playing matches at midnight.
I don't know if directors realize how much of a drag playing a slow match or waiting for a long time between matches is for a player like me. This isn't a clock rant but the push for clocks is not some petty grievance--I really can't stand to play slow matches anymore. I really can't stand to start a match late at night and have it go into the wee hours of the morning. Maybe if I was a better person, a stoic or a saint, it wouldn't faze me, but it does.
Anyway, I'd just like to reiterate how appreciative I am of everything Bill's done to support and grow the game of backgammon. There are only a few people in the backgammon world who have shown his kind of initiative. Who knows where we'd be without him, the ABT, and the Bar Point club.
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