Games of Logic and Strategy (eg. Chess, Backgammon)

paxmaniac

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So I'm just waiting to hear back so I can get my backgammon club off the ground. I have heard from about 20 people (mainly chicks) that are interested in playing so I'm eager to get the ball rolling. Will let you know how it goes.

Nah, that's just your fan club. They'd turn up for tiddlywinks.
 

red+black

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Next Tuesday will be the inaugural gathering of my backgammon club. Happened to stumble across a suitable venue in Carlton and they were more than happy to take us. So far it's just me and 3 females, so that probably means I won't have any trouble winning :D.

Called the Vic Commission on Gambling Regulation on Tuesday, still waiting to hear back from the Exec Commissioner on a number of questions I put to him.

Anyway, hopefully my club can get some momentum going. I haven't been playing much lately, I'll need some practice over the next few months if I'm to go back to Vegas in November and defend my titles!
 

red+black

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Final is still going, "Mochy" leads "Trabi" 18-14 in the 25-pt match.

For the first time I believe, the World Championship final is being played with a clock. Each players gets 15 seconds per move and 50 minutes reserve time.

These two players are arguably the best in the world, so this is a much anticipated final pairing.
 

red+black

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The 2009 Australian Masters and Queensland Backgammon Championships

http://www.sydbg.uniq.com.au/qld_masters-09.html

David Saab was a surprise entrant and finished runner-up.

dscf0867f.jpg
 

red+black

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Posted this in the iPhone thread in the Computers forum.

OMG! I played Word Ace for 3 hours non-stop last night in bed when I should have been sleeping. It's so addictive!

Mixture of scrabble and texas holdem poker. You can play on the internet against other iPhone users, or even Palm Pre users. You can add friends and just play against them, or select a random table and play against strangers. Or play in practice mode against bots. And it also has a chat facility. And it's free!

My friend code is 81257 if you want to add me.

[YOUTUBE]ARczWpi2Jow[/YOUTUBE]
 

Cartman121

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Haha that looks awesome. Went in to buy an Ipod Touch 2 days ago and ended up having a long chat to one of the assistants, he basically wound up telling me to wait 1-2 weeks as there may be a new model announced during that time. I hope he's right as otherwise i've wasted 2 weeks that I could have used playing Word Ace!
 

red+black

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New instalment of underwater backgammon:

[YOUTUBE]frpWMKZxPZ0&fmt=18[/YOUTUBE]

In case you missed last year's:

[YOUTUBE]2Q0ZVNf8fkw&fmt=18[/YOUTUBE]
 

red+black

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Part 1 of Falafel's Game, a documentary on world-class backgammon player Matvey "Falafel" Natanzon:

[YOUTUBE]9rQMv4--sWc&fmt=18[/YOUTUBE]
 

red+black

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I hadn't played at the Melbourne Backgammon Club all year until 3 weeks ago. I've had some differing opinions with the club organiser as to how things could or should be run. Anyway, I've played the last 3 weeks and tonight I had a very satisfying moment.

Normally don't play chouettes (ie. money play rather than tournament play), but play I did and I was in the box, meaning it was me against a team of players. As was par for the night, I started with a 64 and rather than run as I had done all evening, I made the deuce point. I usually split and bring one down, that is, 24/18 13/9, but I wasn't in the mood for that tonight. Anyway, I got to a good position and doubled Albert (the captain) and Bob (teammate). Bob dropped, Albert considered his options before not only accepting the cube but choosing to beaver. To beaver is to accept a cube in a money game, turn it over again, but keep it. So he owned the cube on 4. He's a far better player than me so probably thought he could outplay me and get to a position where he could win or at least send the cube back.

Well he never got into a position to send it back and he kept an ace anchor as long as he could as I bore in then off. I left him one shot which he missed before I had three men left on my deuce while he had one left on the ace point. I rolled and took two off, leaving Albert needing a 1 to hit or a 6 or better to avoid the backgammon. He had a 5 point board and a hit would have saved a gammon, but what did he roll? 32, missing the blot and failing to get out, losing a backgammon and 12 points.

Great game this backgammon :thumbsu:, albeit often frustrating :(
 

red+black

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LOL. There are definitely some terms to get to know!

chouette, money play, tournament play, box, team, run, deuce point, split, bring one down, doubled, captain, dropped, the cube, beaver, ace anchor, bear in, bear off, shot, backgammon, 5 point board, gammon

I'll give some explanations later.
 

red+black

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win - 1 point; gammon - 2 points; backgammon - 3 points

So with the cube on 4, a backgammon is a triple game (3 points) x the cube (4) = 12.

They play $3 per point, so it's not huge stakes. In the 70s and 80s when backgammon was big, especially in the US, it was not unheard of to play for $100 a point.
 

red+black

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Random footage from the recent World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo.

[YOUTUBE]MPFi_-DL4is[/YOUTUBE]
 

red+black

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Phil Laak playing some high stakes backgammon ($120/pt) in Las Vegas during the 2010 WSOP.

Phil accepts a double with a high anchor behind what looks like a 4-prime.

[YOUTUBE]Ei1bDM5foXE[/YOUTUBE]
 
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