Forum Archive : Tournaments

First backgammon tournament From:   Mislav Radica Date:   16 May 2007 Subject:   Impressions from European Championship... Forum:   GammOnLine The European Championship was held in Velden (Austria). It was my first live tournament ever. During the tournament I made some conclusions which can be useful for me for another tourney and maybe for some readers too. Any opinions and comments are very welcome. The first think that I found was that counting pips (just difference) from the beginning of the game is not so difficult as I expected. After few warm-up matches it becomes pretty easy. Off course, you can stop with counting when the position becomes clear and count absolute pips for both play when considering a racing double. The second thing which I found is important was that it is better not to play in small jackpots and side events while you waiting for your next match. To make some results you have to play well in 3-4 matches in the row and if you play too much backgammon you get tired and play with a lack of motivation which is a danger. You just have to want to win the match. In my next tourney no more jackpots. I was surprised how cool I was during play. I expected more steaming but was surprised how much I enjoyed to be calm in the most exciting parts of the match. It is something which you can't find in online playing. Such feeling when you calmly shaking you dices looking for the joker which can save your life and stay calm further when you get it. This is drug that I discovered on this tourney. Off course it applies in opposite direction too. When your opponent rolls joker .... It can also be useful to play one short match vs gnubg in the morning before matches just to be in better shape. And if you can, don't drinks beers between matches, only water. Raccoon  writes: > ... what I found was that counting pips (just difference) from the > beginning of the game is not so difficult as I expected. I think most players would find pipcounting to be easy with just a few hours of practice. I've never bothered keeping a running total from the beginning of the game, but some players do. My practice in games where a cube decision will depend on the pipcount is to count pips only once, several rolls before the possible cube action (by either player). Usually you don't even need to pause to count; you can do it on your opponent's time. Having counted once, it's easy to keep running totals for a few moves. For instance, if you count a position and decide that you're a little short of a double, then you can easily tell by the rolls that come when you've reached a doubling position. Chuck Bower  writes: > Play one short match vs gnubg in the morning ... just to be in better > shape. I've never heard of this but it makes sense. Since I don't have a local club or other forms of local competition, the only time I play over a real board is at tournaments. I find that when I arrive I get acclimated by playing a match, either by entering a side event or just with a friend. > Don't drink beer between matches ... I'll raise a glass to that advice!   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Tournaments

Adjusting to face-to-face play  (Paul Epstein+, Feb 2006) 

Adjusting to face-to-face play  (Daniel Murphy, June 1999) 

Avoiding disputes  (Kit Woolsey+, Oct 2007) 

Baffle box to roll dice  (Ken Bame, Mar 2012) 

Calcutta auctions  (David Moeser, Nov 2001) 

Calcutta auctions  (Roland Scheicher+, Dec 1998) 

Calcutta auctions  (Anthony R Wuersch, Oct 1994) 

Calcutta problems  (Marty Storer, Dec 2002) 

Clock ethics  (Patrick Gibson+, Mar 2009) 

Clock rules--Digital clocks  (Chuck Bower+, Oct 2003) 

Clock rules--End of turn  (Carlo Melzi+, July 2001) 

Clock rules--How do they work?  (Gregg Cattanach, Oct 2002) 

Clock rules--Illegal move  (Brendan Burgess+, Feb 2000) 

Clock rules--Why forfeit instead of penalty points?  (neilkaz, Sept 2010) 

Clocks and older players  (Stick+, July 2010) 

Clocks--Arguments against them  (Timothy Chow, Jan 2011) 

Clocks--Common arguments against  (Chuck Bower, Feb 2006) 

Clocks--Losing on time  (Jason Lee+, Mar 2004) 

Clocks--Pros and cons  (Michael Strato+, Jan 2004) 

Clocks--Should they be part of the game?  (Kit Woolsey, June 1995) 

Clocks--Why use them  (Stick, Jan 2011) 

Compensating for byes  (Hank Youngerman+, Dec 1998) 

Factors that affect attendance  (Stick, Oct 2009) 

"Fighter's bracket"  (Chuck Bower+, Sept 2010) 

First backgammon tournament  (Mislav Radica+, May 2007) 

First backgammon tournament  (Ed Collins+, Dec 2006) 

Hedging  (Jason Lee+, Apr 2009) 

Hedging  (Marv Porten+, Feb 2009) 

Hedging  (Tad Bright+, Jan 2003) 

Hitting clock instead of rolling  (Bob Glass+, Mar 2010) 

Keeping score during a match  (Gregg Cattanach, June 2007) 

Links to tournament rules  (Daniel Murphy, Oct 2009) 

Major tournament attendance 1998-2008  (Daniel Murphy, July 2008) 

Making notes during play  (Randy Pals+, Aug 2008) 

Manually recording a match  (Kevin P+, Apr 2007) 

Manually recording a match  (gammonus+, Feb 2006) 

Manually recording a match  (Daniel Murphy, Aug 1999) 

New U.S. Rules  (Gregg Cattanach+, Dec 2007) 

Newbie questions  (Donald Kahn, Oct 1999) 

Playing at Monte Carlo  (Achim, July 2007) 

Playing-off 3 remaining players  (Gregg Cattanach+, Apr 2007) 

Recording matches  (Robert Maier, May 2009) 

Recording matches  (Chuck Bower+, Sept 2003) 

Recording matches  (Sean Dakin+, Aug 1999) 

Round robins  (Hank Youngerman, Nov 2001) 

Rules for doubles play (with a partner)  (steve+, May 2012) 

Seeding  (Roland Scheicher+, Dec 1998) 

Skill level  (Kirk J. Rupnik+, Nov 1998) 

Skill levels  (Leonardo Jerkovic, Aug 2012) 

"Stop pots"  (Chuck Bower+, Sept 2010) 

Swiss format  (Osman Guner+, May 2001) 

Swiss format  (Osman Guner, Oct 1998) 

Swiss format  (Hank Youngerman+, Mar 1998) 

Tournament formats  (MikeMadMonk+, May 2003) 

Tournament rules  (Daniel Murphy, Apr 2001) 

Tournament rules links  (Daniel Murphy, Oct 2009) 

Types of events  (Daniel Murphy, Nov 1997) 

Uniform rules and procedures?  (Michael Crane+, Mar 2003) 

Variable side pools  (Art Grater+, July 2011) 

Vegas trip report (fall 2004)  (Gregg Cattanach, Nov 2004) 

Vegas trip report (spring 2005)  (Gregg Cattanach, May 2005) 

Videotaping matches  (André Nicoulin+, Nov 2000) 

What is a "Monrad format"?  (Daniel Murphy, Sept 2000) 

What is a "side pool"?  (Daniel Murphy, Nov 1997) 

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