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It was suggested to me by Ray of Village Games that I could run a
monthly evening of backgammon in The Lockside Lounge at Camden
Lock. Ray already does a Puzzles evening. I’d just finished after
3 years of running monthly Tric Trac Tournos in Stoke Newington so
I hummed and haaed about it for a couple of months before I gave
it a go. I sent out a simple email 24 hours before the trial
evening.
14 Players turned up. That’s good; a good number of players to do
things with. I had taken along various tournament formats and
pretty well decided upon the spot to give the following a go:
16 Player Main Tournament of 5 pointers, £5 Optional Pool, come
back ins for the 2 spare slots,
An 8 Player Consolation Tournament of 3 pointers, £5 Optional Pool
with come back ins until full and
A 16 Player Last Chance Tournament of 1 pointers, £5 Optional Pool
with come back ins until full.
I though that would probably keep the Players busy until 11.00
p.m. and allow other Players to slot in should they arrive.
There was no registration fee – something that I think Players
expected but were pleased to see didn’t happen. Some asked if
there would be trophies but were told that Winners would get a
slap on the back and applause from other Players.
All were in agreement so we set to; 12 entered the Pool, the Draw
was done and off Players went to play.
The Lockside Lounge is a largish venue over looking the West Yard
of Camden Lock. There was a nice breeze on the terrace and a few
matches happened out there though most of them happened on the
large (perfect for backgammon) tables inside.
Miranda was the first to lose and came back in to, after a while,
face Zoe leaving Mahmoud with some time to kill. A little bit
unfortunate that for Mahmoud for I was rather hoping that all
Players' play would be pretty continuous.
So that was the 5 pointer, 16 Player Optional Pool (£60 in it)
Tournament full. Next up was a 3 pointer, 8 Player Optional Pool
(£5) Tournament. Some Players entered as soon as they were knocked
out of the 5 pointer, others elected to stop for dinner. And
that’s the glory of having come-back-ins: when you lose you can
stop for a break or you can just turn up late and take the next
Tournament slot available.
I was keen to try the food as part of my looking at the venue.
£8.50 for bangers and mash isn’t the cheapest meal in town but the
bangers were delicious venison, the sauce wasn’t bisto and the
mash wasn’t smash. The meal easily passed my examination. Likewise
a pint was just under £3 – again not the cheapest in town but the
bar is well laid out and the service was prompt, friendly and
polite. Another tick box was ticked. The music was a little on the
loud side and the lighting a little on the low side but a quick
word with Dave the Landlord and the music went down and the lights
went up. Tick, tick.
In the 5 pointer Daniel had beaten his father Michael, Al beat
Tony but then lost to Daniel, Alexis beat Crispin, Alex beat Shez
but then lost to Alexis who in turn was beaten by Daniel. In the
lower half of the table Sean beat Suzy, Geoff beat Zoe but then
lost to Sean and re-entered Miranda lost to re-entered Zoe but
then Miranda lost for a second time to Mahmoud who beat Sean
setting up the final between Daniel and Mahmoud. 12 Players had
entered the Optional Pool, I gave the £60 to the Finalist who
split £25 each and played for the remaining £10.
The 3 pointer Tournament was full by 9.00 p.m. With just 14
Players I kept this to an 8 Player event. Only 3 Players entered
the Optional Pool so there was only £15 in it. With more Players
I’m sure the Pool would have been considerably higher. In the 1st
Round Crispin lost to Michael (thereby reducing those in the Pool
to 2), Suzy beat Tony, Al beat Shez and Zoe beat Alex. Round 2 saw
Suzy beat Michael and Al beat Zoe so Al had won the Pool even if
he lost the final.
Ever onwards and the 1 pointer 16 Player Optional Pool Tournament
kicked in. I had proposed the Pool to be a £5 entry but upon
looking at the Players who were probably bound for this Tournament
I reduced it to £3. It was a good idea and we had £30 in the kitty
by the time all 16 slots were taken. Tony was the first player in
and seeing as I wasn’t exactly run off my feet I decided to see
what playing in this event was like from a players point of view
and put myself in. We were then also joined by the Landlord Dave
and Barmaid Lindsay. If a venue is going to work for backgammon I
consider it vital that the Landlord has at least some
understanding of what his Clients are up to. Tick.
Remaining 1st round slots were taken by Crispin, Geoff, Tony,
Miranda, Shez, Tony, Geoff, Mike, Sean, Tony, Michael and Crispin.
Poor Tony entered 4 times and lost 4 times. In fact he lost every
single match he played. Semi-Finalists were Crispin, Miranda, Shez
and Sean with only Crispin and Sean on the Pool. Crispin lost his
match while Sean and Michael (the only remaining Pool players)
were half way through their 2nd Round match. This meant that they
might want to do a split on the Pool so I went over to tell them
this. However on inspection of their game I wasn’t sure I should
because Sean looked a pretty certain winner. However having come
over I did inform them of the situation and not too surprisingly
Sean was quite happy not to do a deal but at least Michael saw the
funny side of it and we all had a good chuckle. Miranda versus
Sean was the final with Miranda sick as a dog because she hadn’t
entered to Pool.
The Final of the 5 Pointer had now completed with Daniel becoming
the 1st Winner of a Backgammon in Camden event, the 3 pointer
completed with Suzy becoming the 2nd Winner of a Backgammon in
Camden event and shortly after Sean became number 3 leaving
Miranda content that she hadn’t entered to Pool.
This didn’t deter Miranda from trying to get a Chouette going but
everybody seemed to have played enough backgammon for one evening
and she got no takers.
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17 Players had a
good evenings worth of backgammon without dipping into their
pockets unless they wished to and 4 walked away with a profit. The
bar is well arranged for backgammon, the bar prices are
reasonable, the food was good and the music and lighting were set
to as needed upon request. Camden Town is an easy place in London
to get to and we were all done by 11.00 p.m. leaving Players able
to get home without having to resort to using cabs.
If we look at the Stats (see Tournament Charts page) we find some
interesting features of the format: Let's exclude Dave and Lindsay
as they only dipped in for a match a piece because they had the
bar to run and thus cannot reasonably be considered as dedicated
Tournament Players in this event and we discover that the 15 other
Players (myself included) played an average of 4.9 matches each.
That's more than you're likely to get at other evenings of
backgammon around Town. Ok - we played shorter matches than are
generally played there but I do believe that a volume of matches
makes for a better evening of backgammon than say longer matches
that end in a loss. Not everybody can be a winner, most will end
up as losers - it's my contention that it's better to play more
matches and thus probably win more than you would have done
otherwise. Given his circumstances Tony might disagree !
So all in all I think this venue is a goer. I particularly like
the idea of not charging Players to play in Tournaments and this
will I’m sure mean a much larger number of Players next time. It
has been suggested to me that I should charge at least £1 per
Player. Sure that would help with the viability of running the
evening but I'm against the idea because it makes the evening a
little bit more official and as soon as you do that it opens the
doors to Players lodging T.D. queries which are a pain in the arse
to deal with, slow the proceedings down and potentially mar the
evening for all. I'd sooner keep the evening as casual as possible
and rely on Players to play in a sporting and social manner. By
not charging an entry fee, without wishing to sound dictatorial
but rather looking after the interests of vast majority of decent
Players, it will be much easier to tell a pain in the arse Player
not to bother coming again.
I've had a good number of emails since the event from
Backgammoners asking about the future of this venue so I can only
imagine that the word has gone round that it was a good evening.
Given that and with a little advertising I think it is reasonable
to expect a turnout of 30 - 40 Players for the next one on Tuesday
4th October. As more Players turn up I’m sure that Chouettes will
happen. That’s fine but in view of the fact that Chouette Players
don’t generally eat there will be a £5 table fee levied to each
Chouette Player that does not play in a Tournament.
Of course Player feedback is vital, so if you have any comments of
questions please do not hesitate to email or phone me:
MikeMadMonk@backpacker-backgammon.com 07985-941729
That said it'll be impossible to email every would be Player on an
individual basis so if you are not already on it please join my
mailing list.
See yas next month.
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