The Columbus Backgammon Club

For the 2019, we’re making a slight change to the tournament prizes. Instead of paying three places with a 50/30/20 split we’ll now be paying four places as follows:

1st place (winner of the Main final) – 40%
2nd/3rd place tie (loser of the Main final) – 25%
2nd/3rd place tie (winner of the Consolation final) – 25%
4th place (loser of the Consolation final) – 10%

My hope is that this will lead to a better tournament experience. I’d like to thank Dan Dabney from the Bloomington Backgammon Club (Bloomington, Indiana) for his help in analyzing our Main/Consolation brackets. His website is https://tourneygeek.com/.

Between December 22 and January 7 Dan and I discussed topics related to these brackets on a regular (almost daily) basis. He published some of these results on his website. Other results were discussed via email. If you’re interested in more details, contact me and I’ll give you a general summary of some of the additional discussion. Based on Dan’s analysis I’m comfortable in concluding that our brackets (as of January 2019) are a highly efficient way (as a combination of speed and “fairness”) to run this type of backgammon tournament (a tournament with a Main bracket and a Consolation bracket for players not cashing in the Main bracket). In particular, some of the other brackets that I considered were much slower without improving “fairness” much. Thanks, Dan!

Congratulations to the 2018 Columbus Backgammon Club Player of the Year, Jon Stephens! With consistently strong results in the second half of the year Jon won the annual points race by a 117-point margin. Jon finished with 461 Masters Points. His closest challengers were Trevor Dierkes (344 points) and Maron Cury (329 points).

Jon won an impressive 67% of his matches this year with a 31-15 record. He won three tournaments (February, August, and December), finished second once (September), and finished third two times (July and October).

For his efforts Jon will win an engraved doubling cube which will be presented to him in early 2019 in recognition of his achievement. Congratulations, Jon!

A large crowd of 14 players attended this month’s tournament. Entering the tournament Jon Stephens held a 62-point lead over his closest challenger, Maron Cury, in the Player of the Year race. Not only did Jon win enough points to stay ahead, he ended up winning the entire tournament, defeating second place finisher Edwin Jones in the Main Bracket final. This was Jon’s third tournament win of the year! In the Consolation final Trevor Dierkes defeated Stu Cohen to win third place. We also welcomed a new player, Brendan Leal, who plans on attending more tournaments in 2019.

The full tournament bracket for December can be found here. The final 2018 Masters Points standings can be found here. Thank you again to all who came out to play, welcome again to Brendan Leal, and congratulations to our December winners:

1st – Jon Stephens
2nd – Edwin Jones
3rd – Trevor Dierkes

The next tournament will be held January 13 in the Polaris Mall food court.

12 players attended November’s tournament, which even included a holiday band/parade passing through the mall! In the end Maron Cury won for the second month in a row. Maron defeated second place finisher Loren McCumber in the Main Bracket final. In the Consolation final Stu Cohen defeated Edwin Jones to win third place.

The final tournament of the year will take place on December 9. It’s currently a 2-player race for Player of the Year. Going into this final tournament Jon Stephens (381 points) holds a 62-point lead over Maron Cury (319 points) who has rapidly gained ground the last two months. Congratulations to both players!

The full tournament bracket for November can be found here. The current Masters Points standings can be found here. Thank you again to all who came out to play and congratulations to our November winners:

1st – Maron Cury
2nd – Loren McCumber
3rd – Stu Cohen

The next tournament will be held on December 9.

For those who didn’t play in the November tournament, note that we have moved our playing location a very short walk (about 30-40 feet) from our previous playing location. Our previous playing location is being turned into a new restaurant. We are now located near the group of TVs in front of Chick-fil-A (still in the food court).

Wrapping up the September tournament, David Steinberg defeated Trevor Dierkes to win the Consolation and finish in 3rd place. The Masters Points for September have been adjusted to reflect David’s Consolation win. (David gained an additional 27 Masters Points from what was previously reported.)

13 players attended the October tournament. Maron Cury won the event, defeating Dale Berlin in the Main Bracket final. In the Consolation final Jon Stephens defeated Edwin Jones to continue his excellent results for the year.

With two tournaments remaining in the year Jon Stephens (364 points) has a 73-point lead over Mike Rezai (291 points) in the annual standings. Several other players are close behind Mike. But there’s more to play for than just the top spot! Each year Columbus sends a team to the Ohio Valley Challenge Cup (OVCC). Clubs are supposed to send (invite) players based on their annual standings. So the top 6 or 7 players (depending on whether the event uses 6-player or 7-player teams) at the end of the year automatically qualify for Columbus’ OVCC team. The event will be in Cincinnati this year, probably in March or April (date to be determined). Columbus won in 2015 and 2018. I’d love for Columbus to win for the second year in a row!

The full tournament bracket for October can be found here. The current Masters Points standings can be found here. Thank you again to all who came out to play and congratulations to our winners:

1st – Maron Cury
2nd – Dale Berlin
3rd – Jon Stephens

The next tournament will be held on November 11.

Our September tournament was held on September 9. 12 players attended, including one new player, Frank Bresky. Dale Berlin won the event, defeating Jon Stephens in the Main Bracket final. This is Dale’s second tournament win of the year. Jon’s second place finish was enough to vault him into the lead in the annual standings with three tournaments remaining.

In the Consolation, David Steinberg and Trevor Dierkes made the finals. Due to time constraints, however, they will play their match next month.

The full tournament bracket for September can be found here. The current Masters Points standings can be found here.

Thank you again to all who came out to play, welcome again to Frank Bresky, and congratulations to our winners:

1st – Dale Berlin
2nd – Jon Stephens
3rd – David Steinberg or Trevor Dierkes

The next tournament will be held on October 14.

Mike Rezai has announced a change to his Saturday afternoon backgammon schedule. Instead of single-elimination Jackpot/Knockout events he now plans on holding round-robin events (every player plays a match against every other player). These will be at 1:00 pm most Saturdays (an hour later than the traditional 12:00 start time for Sunday tournaments). For new players, these round-robin events are extra events in addition to our regular monthly tournaments.

Dates: Every Saturday (except when we have a regular monthly tournament the next day) at 1:00 pm
Format: Round-Robin, 5-point or 7-point matches (depending on the number of players)
Entry Fee: $20, 100% return (a small donation is possible; ask Mike for details)

An optional $20 side pool is available for interested players.

The first few round-robin events have been added to the upcoming events calendar on the website.

A large crowd of 13 players played in this month’s tournament, including Loren McCumber. Loren is new to the Columbus Backgammon Club, though he played in the Greater Columbus Backgammon Club from the 2001-2006 era.

Jon Stephens won four matches in a row to win his second tournament of the year, defeating second place finisher Edwin Jones in the Main Bracket final. In the Consolation final, shortened due to time constraints, Mike Rezai defeated Chris Yep to win third place.

Mike Rezai still leads the annual standings, but Jon’s tournament win pushes him into second place just 9 points behind Mike. With 4 tournaments remaining this year, the top 4 players are all within 50 points of each other. Several more players also still have realistic chances of finishing atop the annual standings. There’s a good chance that the 2018 Player of the Year will come down to the final tournament of the year on December 9!

The full tournament bracket for August can be found here. The current Masters Points standings can be found here.

Thank you again to all who came out to play, welcome again to Loren McCumber, and congratulations to our winners:

1st – Jon Stephens
2nd – Edwin Jones
3rd – Mike Rezai

The next tournament will be held on September 9.

Nine players made it out to Polaris Mall on a very hot day. In the end Mike Rezai won his second tournament of the year, defeating second place finisher Chris Yep in the Main Bracket final. In the Consolation final Jon Stephens defeated Dale Berlin to win third place.

With five tournaments remaining in the year it’s a tight race in the annual standings. With his latest win Mike Rezai has now jumped ahead of Trevor Dierkes by 5 points, but several other players are close behind.

The full tournament bracket for July can be found here. The current Masters Points standings can be found here.

Thank you again to all who came out to play and congratulations to our winners:

1st – Mike Rezai
2nd – Chris Yep
3rd – Jon Stephens

The next tournament will be held on August 12 (the usual 2nd Sunday of the month).

Are you a backgammon beginner? If you are new to the game or tournaments in general, we have an event for you! This summer I’m planning on hosting a few beginner-level events. There is no cost to join these events. The first such event will be Tuesday, June 26 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Feel free to stop by anytime you want during this 3-hour window; you don’t have to arrive at 6:00 pm or leave at 9:00 pm.

The focus of these events will include casual play, basic strategy discussions, informal lessons, etc. I’ll also discuss general backgammon rules and tournament rules, etc. if there’s interest.

Look for a “Columbus Backgammon Club” sign on one of the tables.

Our normal playing location is at the Food Court at Polaris Mall near the Upper Level parking lot entrance near Dick’s Sporting Goods/Field & Stream. We’re in the corner near the doors connecting the food court to the parking lot. See the “Our Home” section on the right sidebar of this webpage for more details.