18th August 2009

23 Entries, 2 Tournaments, 30 Players, £550 Prize Fund,
Sue Keeble wins Bristol Open Qualifier.
 

This was designed as a two part evening; A Bristol Open Qualifier for the ambitious top players and a Workshop for those coming into the game who wish to learn more. It would become a three parter with a Jackpot included.

We had 7 Students and 2 Tutors. We also had a number of experienced players who came along hoping to play in a Jackpot but could not play in the Qualifier because they couldn't make The Bristol Open so there was no point in them winning a prize that they couldn't use. I'd advertised that we would open up some jackpots after the first round of the Qualifier had been played, the Jackpoters knew this so slipping in as Tutors for the first hour or so and we had workshop matches happening all over the place. Thanx to all for understanding and acting upon the needs of the new players (the lifeblood) coming into the game.

We built up to 15 players in The Bristol Open Qualifier. The Registration and Entry fee to the Championship Flight of the Bristol Open 2009 (a weekend event) is £200 and given that the likely winner was going to be a London based player s/he would need at least 1 nights accommodation in Bristol plus some travel expenses. So the entry fee to this Qualifier event was set at £320 to be divided by the actual number of players that took part in it: £320 divided by 15 (to the nearest £) is £21 per head + a fiver registration fee. I threw in an Optional Pool of £50 which 3 players took up on. Given that this was a 16 player bracket (1 bye drawn at random) and that this tournament was now to be played on clocks (12 seconds, 2 minutes - the same as will be used in Bristol) I increased the match lengths to 7 pointers. Draw done, clocks set and handed out, off Qualifier players went to play.

Every corner I looked there were backgammon lesson games happening; Edward taught Karen, Monica and Alan taught Roya and Richard, Simon taught Gilberto and Neil, Steve was teaching Ersoy, Fintan had a stab at teaching a person unknown who was incapable of focusing on his lesson due to it (Editor: persona non grata) having put something too much into his body so Fintan justifiable gave up, Edward then taught Ersoy, Fintan taught Neil and Gilberto etc.  

Over in the Qualifier Sue Keeble claimed a scalp - Jon Barnes the current Biba British Open Champion. Impressive stuff Sue. Zoe gave way to Mourad, Sean to Mark Dixon (welcome to Bg in Camden), Andy Bell seems always to get drawn against Raj Jansari at Bg in Camden events and Raj progressed, Peter Bennet beat Michael Ross, Dave Ablett beat Malcolm Robertson and Ray Kershaw beat Ramin Foulad.

Round 2 would be:
Ray Kershaw v Mark Dixon,
Mourad Wahba v Raj Jansari,
Sue Keeble v Peter Bennet,
Dave Ablett v Shahro Zand.

I offered a Jackpot - 8 players, £10 entry, 5 pointers, no clocks. 8 players came forward, paid and were drawn at random. My damnable computerised drawn annoyed me because it threw up a terrible drawn for 50% of the players: Married for decades Monica and Alan Beckerson would play each other and Casinorip.com workmates Gilberto and Neil would also play each other. Was I tempted to re-do the draw? Yes. Would I break my set in stone code and re-do the draw? No. **** happens, deal with it, that's life.

Meanwhile the workshops carried on. I'd like to be able to relate who was now teaching whom but players and tutors were pretty well sorting themselves out by now so I left them to it while I jumped in as a tutor for Roya and Richard in between taking results as they came along.

I know that Sue Keeble has a better than one might expect record against Peter Bennet. She beat him at Jo and Dod's Wedding Tournament (and what an excellent event that was too) and has beaten Peter at at least 1 Biba event too. Hence whereas others might have easily slapped some money down on Peter to win this match I would have been reluctant to do so (not that I'm a gambler anyway.) When the match had finished I had no need to ask the result - Sue's body language, shoulders back and smile upon face, told me all I needed to know. Scalp 2 in Ms. Keeble's bag. Raj beat Mourad, Mark overcame Ray and Dave beat Shahro.

Qualifier Semi-Finals would be:
Mark Dixon v Raj Jansari,
Sue Keeble v Dave Ablett.

Meanwhile in the Jackpot Semi-Finals would be:
Michael Ross v Neil Weyman,
Simon Harding v Monica Beckerson.

Workshops still on-going.

Mark and Raj had had waits for their match so had squeezed a chouette session in but came out of that for their match. Meanwhile Sue tackled Dave. Mark and Raj, both quick and decisive players, offered to play on a reduced time allowance. However it was the Sue v Dave match that worried me on the time we had available. I should not have worried as much as I did as both Semis finished at pretty well the same time. Raj had beaten Mark and Sue looked a picture as I visualised her holding Dave's bloodied hair in her hand. Scalp 3 to Sue but please do put it in your bag Sue because it's not, to the rest of us, that attractive looking actually. Thank you.

Casinorip.com had given us an Added Prize Fund: £20 to the Finalist and £30 to the Winner both to be added to their Casinrorip.com accounts. So Sue would take at least £20 for her evenings scalping party, maybe the full package. But could she do it? Raj is a formidable opponent and un-phased by being in the limelight. Sue has had notable wins in other events (Weekend Knockout Winner of Bg in London 2003 and Consolation Winner of the Cancerbackup Tournament 2007) but these are not in the same league as Raj's considerable number of victories.

Over in the Jackpot the Final was contested between Michael Ross and Simon Harding. Simon has not been with us for some months because he's been travelling in South America but has a good (if slim) record here in Camden. He won so for the second time on Bg in London he is feature by photo here:
 

The Final didn't start until 10.50pm. Had I allowed the matches to be too long? Yes, but I had a word with the Manager of the Lockside Lounge and he was cool about my estimated time of completion. Thank you, good man and it's a pleasure to work with you. I didn't watch the match because I didn't want to apply pressure to the underdog and I rarely watch matches anyway so saw no reason to alter the vibe around this match. Besides a T.D. doesn't care who wins (though an Organiser does like to see different faces win.) However others did watch. I heard that Sue re-cubed Raj to 4 and that Raj dropped. Sue seemed to be holding her own. Sue must of then reached into her imagined bag and pulled out her imagined scalping knife. It was still sharp and a few games later Raj needed a toupee. Is Sue part Sioux Indian or something like that?
 

Another good evening in Camden. Just (hah!) 30 players came along for this hastily arranged event but that made for 30 people enjoying a balmy London evening playing and learning backgammon. There will be a good number of Bg in London players (about 25 - 30) attending The Bristol Open 2009 and I'll be there as The Technical Tournament Director working under Ian Tarr who's the Head T.D. Of course as a Tournament Director I have no preference as to who wins in Bristol. But as the Organiser of Bg in London I would, I freely admit, like to see Bristol trophies galore at Bg in Camden on Tuesday 1st September. Talking of our 1st Tuesday in the month September event and considering the turnout in August (68 players) we are fully expecting another bumper turnout. We were short of boards in August so please do bring yours along. We'll also have more staff on the T.D. team, there will be more staff behind the bar and in the kitchen as well as extra tables and chairs ready to swing into action as needed.
 

Mike Main