23rd November 2008

46 Entries, 7 Tournaments, 28 Players, £1305 Prize Fund,
Julian Wilson wins Jackpot.

Our second event at this wonderful venue that's right by London Bridge Station making it easy to get to, we have the whole of the lower floor for our exclusive use, the food is good, the drinks are moderately priced, table service is provided and the feedback from players at the first event was very positive. So why did only 28 players come along? Ok, there was the first sprinkling of snow on my lawn when I woke up in the morning and this was the first bitterly cold Sunday of the winter season; had I not been running an event I might have been tempted to turn the heating up, checked the paper for the Sunday matinee and put my feet up indoors. But the day did brighten up a little as it got towards midday.  

We were there from midday. 2 new to Bg in London players, 1 experienced and one still learning the game, came along and played a few games so the "newbie" could gather is some skills. Others arrived and casual games got started.

The day also featured the Main Final of the Bg in London Doubles Tournament between Martin Hemming & Nicky Check versus "Arranged Marriage" (Chris Purchase & Graham Read.) The match was fully recorded by Adam Tansley and is now published in full. The match went all the way to Double Match Point, Nicky and Martin sounded like two old dowagers as they "discussed" their moves in the last game but whichever of their moves was actually played it worked for them and they will be awarded the Bg in London Main Doubles Shield on Tuesday 4th December at Bg in Camden.

We just had a perfect 8 for the 1st Tournament of the day. There were also a further 6 player up for a £25er Knockout, the 2 remaining seats were offered for sale as byes but players drifted away as I proposed this to them so I ran it the usual way of holding onto those 2 seats for take up by late or knocked out players. There were 12 players up for £10ers Knockouts so we did a random draw and started another 1 1/2 8 player Knockouts with 4 seats to be filled.   

The day progressed well enough, the players present enjoyed themselves, drinks service was good and the heating was turned down because the playing area became too warm - at least that was better then players being too cold.

In Jackpot 1 our two Finalists were Julian Wilson and Barry McAdam - a battle of two Brtish Bg Giants. The score moved on very quickly indeed with gammons on 2 cubes being won by both parties. By both their agreement Julian had the better dice, this was the quickest 11 point final I think I've ever seen with Julian as the winner.  

In the other Tournaments the winners were: Simon Barget (back from an absence), Joe Sarkis (new to Bg in London player), Mahmoud J (ever faithful Bg in London player), Andrew Gibson (of St Albans), Bijan (multi-game player), Martin Hemming (Doubles winner) and Catalin Bucur won a head to head.
 

A good day was had by those that came along. However 28 players is just not enough to keep things going. To be frank if we only get this number of players turning up to what is a fantastic venue I really cannot see Bg in London carrying on let alone growing. Without more bums on seats the bills just won't get paid. The £5 entry charge and 5% commission charge on tournament of £25 or over is as low a charge as can be made. The venue really is wonderful for backgammon - it's not me just trying to sell it. I'd like to use this venue for weekend long events during 2009 but unless the management of The Auberge see more players coming in the door for Sunday events, it's simple, they won't open their doors to us and lay on the extra staff they do. 

We're hoping to be back in there on Sunday 14th December. As a catering establishment they quite rightly would prefer a full blown Christmas Party booking so we're waiting to see if they take a booking or not. They'll let me know if we can have the venue on Mon 1st December or not. If we're there on Sun 14th Dec can I please ask, if you value the future of Bg in London, that you make the effort and come along. Thanx. 

 

Mike Main