Serving the Backgammon Community
Backgammon Giant Falafel is having a brain operation tomorrow.
Phil Simborg posted the hospital address for those of you wanting to personally wish him a speedy recovery. You may follow this link:
If it weren’t for Falafel and Phil, there wouldn’t be a Voice of Backgammon. My appreciation for their support is huge. Thank you, Falafel, for being you and doing so much for the game and me personally. I wish you a full and speedy recovery.
The latest addition to the American Backgammon Tour is the Cherry Blossom Championship at the Hyatt Regency in Herndon, VA May 10-13, 2018.
This tournament features two innovations of note.
World Champion Bill Robertie will host a dinner for the novice players on Saturday, May 12 5-7 pm with Q&A, tips, and a free autographed copy of his book Backgammon for Winners. If you’re new to the game, you won’t want to miss this!
And the AP BluffGammon Invitational makes its debut on Sunday, May 13 at 11 am. Here’s how it works: Player A shakes his cup and “rolls” in a way that the dice stay under the cup, hidden from the opponent. Player A then peeks at the dice and announces “the roll” but doesn’t have to tell the truth. If player B believes that A has actually rolled what was announced, player A gets to play that roll. If B doesn’t believe A, then A lifts his cup, revealing the true roll. If A was lying, then B gets to call the number A must play. If A wasn’t lying when B “called” him, then A can choose any number to play. This type of gammon is a bit poker like because a lot of bluffing is going on. And it teaches you to quickly learn which are your best numbers.
Of course, Voice of Backgammon Larry Shiller will be there doing interviews, taking pics and vids, and doing commentary with BMAB experts on important matches. Get advance notice of live events by subscribing at YouTube and twitch.tv.
Finally, as with all ABT Tournaments, GammonPoints will be awarded to Novice, Intermediate, and Open winners. See where you stand at gammonpoints.com.
Haven’t made plans for the weekend? Come, say hello, and join the crowd!
Mochy was running the tournament so he wasn’t playing. Or was he?
The student Mochy has been mentoring the most, Kazuki Yokota, beat Kenji Shimodaira, in a close and hard-fought match to 17.
Here was the position with Kenji leading 16-15, post-Crawford, with the cube at 2:
Kazuki successfully defended the backgame and beat Kenji in the race to win. See the entire match here.
Mochy is making his mark not only as the only Super Grandmaster but through his proven talent as a teacher and mentor. Congratulations to both Mochy and Kazuki on the victory.
Join us live in Tokyo as Jorgen Granstedt meets Hino Takayuki in the Jorgen Challenge live from Tokyo at Mochy’s 24th Japan Open.
Grandmaster Michi will be doing commentary with Voice of Backgammon Larry Shiller on YouTube.
Join us live starting now at youtube.com/ and twitch.tv!