Backgammon: UK Masters
The last time I played backgammon, I was lying on a ridiculously tranquil beach in Dahab, Egypt, sipping ‘milkshakes’, indulging in the local brand of herbal sustenance, and whiling away the days listening to trance and losing the day’s meal money (about £1.50) over the gammon board (I also learned how to play poker here but that’s another story).
Since then, I’ve completely forgotten the game, and so, in completely different surroundings and minus the local herbal sustenance, I ventured down to Leicester Square’s Empire Casino where the latest leg on the World Series of Backgammon tour, the UK Masters, had nestled in our capital’s welcoming bosom.
128 of the world’s top players contesting a prize pool of £150,000 over 4 days of hot gammon action. Like a backgammon version of the Champions League, eliminated players from main event had the chance to play for consolation and ‘last chance’ prizes.
The familiar faces of Gus Hansen (playing and on hand to provide TV commentary), EPT Barcelona champ Sander Lylloff, and his roommate (and equally proficient backgammon player) Mark Teltscher were all in attendance, plus hot Eastern European star Maria Huntcheva and a smorgasbord of the world’s top players, including Francois Tardieu, ‘bigged up’ as possibly the world’s foremost exponent. And like those halcyon days in Egypt, the place seemed to be full of Israelis.
In the end, the main event was won by Englishman John Hurst, besting the genial German Christian Plenz in a victory that was heralded “the best British backgammon win for 30 years”. In the best-of-25 final, the score see-sawed back and forth until, in a fairytale finale, the score moved to 12-12 with a decider to go. After 3 days of ‘leaps’ from the ‘roof’, ‘anchors’, doubling cubes and ‘mid-points’, Hurst finally triumphed after the German was left with too much to do in the final game. “Tired” was Hurst’s answer to microphoned bundle of energy Jessie Cantrell’s question, “How do you feel?” come the late, late close of play—tired and richer, to the tune of £30,000 plus a £10,000 seat in the WSOB Final and a £5,000 Gold Cube. Christian Plenz picked up £9,700.
The WSOB continues its journey in the New Year at the Nordic Games and the Riviera Cup in Cannes in the spring.
Faces of the WSOB
Introducing WSOB Winner, John Hurst
How long have you been playing?
Regularly about 12 years. My local pub in Battersea started having a backgammon night which I attended. It was pretty small, about 10 people.
Have you turned professional?
No it’s just a hobby really.
Is the UK Masters the toughest line-up you’ve faced?
There were lots of Danish players who are very strong. Also Falafel, who is a top player.
At what point did you think you could go on and win it?
Probably at the quarter-final when I beat Maria Krancheva. But at that stage, anyone can win. Normally at backgammon tournaments, different people will win. If you played a tournament 50 times, you might get 40 different winners.
Are you a natural gambler?
I’m a gambler, yes. I bet on horse racing now and then and use Betfair exchanges quite a bit.
How has the online game changed the game?
All the major gaming sites offer backgammon these days. You’ll see a lot more players than there were a few months ago. Also a lot of Turkish and Greek players are coming online to play.
What’s coming up next for you?
I was at a tournament in Venice recently. The Nordic Open in Copenhagen is coming up in March. And Gammonitis are running tournaments all over England, so I’ll be at a few of those.
One of the best players in the world, Falafel got his nickname from his time sleeping rough on the streets of New York, where he’d take on tourists for $5 games of chess just to be able to eat. With falafel often being the cheapest form of sustenance, the nickname soon followed.
Born in Russia, he moved to Buffalo when he was 2 or 3. He grew up there and after finishing high school, he started studying Accounting and Business Administration. But he felt that wasn’t the right path for him. He didn’t feel comfortable with a regular life of 9 to 5 and was in search of something else. Finally, his mother got sick of him and threw him out of the house and he went to New York. No money, no job, nothing.
He started to exploit the little knowledge he had as an average chess player to challenge tourists for amusement for $5 or $10 and tried to survive day by day. He would sleep on park benches and underground stations and would spend a buck or two on the cheapest dish, being falafel, which later became his nickname.
One day, he bumped into a bunch of backgammon players and thought “I can play that too”, and before he knew it, they took all his money. He apparently replied to one of them: “One day, I’ll be the best”. He fell in love with the game and became a true student of it. He was obsessed by the depth of backgammon and wanted to know everything about it, the ins and outs and he studied every day by playing, analysing, watching other people, talking to them and learning. That was his calling. He became better and better and when the computers and specialised software arrived, he used them as tutors and reached almost perfection.
Falafel is now ranked no.4 in the world and can be seen regularly taking down games for $100,000. How things change.
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