- Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Backgammon tournaments are played all over the world. Some are online and others are played in person. All have an entry fee of some sort. The winner gets a payout that can be as simple as their entry fee returned or a huge sum up of $100,000! Live tournaments are held year round but mostly spring and summer. Backgammon tournaments are of utmost importance to those who like the game and might even be considered as big as poker tournaments in those circles.
Online and table side tournaments usually include players from all over the world. Obviously online is an easier venue in as no one has the expense of leaving their home. There are continually running tournaments online. This is great action for those that like to play in more than one tournament at once. Players can be more cut throat on their tactics and make moves they normally wouldn’t as tournament pressure increases. This can lead to good moves as well as bad mistakes in the game.
Unfortunately, some of the online tournaments are not about how you play but whom. These are called ladder tournaments. A ladder tournament is based on you playing and winning against your opponent. The more you win the farther you go. Two players are put against each other and the winner goes on to play the winner of another pair. This continues until only two players remain, they play each other, and one of them wins the entire tournament.
Tournaments are often played by matches instead of a single game. A match is several games against a single opponent. To win the game, the winner must have the highest number of points at the end of the match. Some games even have a point limit, where the first to that number wins. Live tournaments feature a second chance game for those that lose the first round. The winners of both the regular tournament and second chance as well as up to fourth place take home a portion of the prize.
Of course, a regular tournament is similar to a ladder tournament in that the winners progress by winning. But a regular tournament tries to pair off people of the same level for the whole tournament and a ladder tournament it depends on when you get in on the tournament (for the on-going variety) and who is available to play against. Swing tournaments are quickly becoming popular, played by awarding each player a number of chips at the beginning and with each time limit round the value of the games increase in chips, with random opponents until one person has them all.
A person who is new to tournaments can learn the ropes easily online with a free school, free entry tourneys and cheap sit and go's too. Getting better is easy and dedicated players can move quickly to bigger payout tournaments.
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