|
Roy Hollands Trophy Tournament Report by Michael Crane |
||||||
| Main
(40 / 8): Despite the large sum of 'added' prize fund money the turnout of just 40 was a little lower than I'd expected. This didn't bother the forty entrants as it still meant that with the prize fund entries of this year we had a first prize of £710.00 going to the winner. Not bad for a small turnout. As usual with the 'Roy Hollands' we played a Swiss format qualifier on the Saturday of 4 x 7-point matches and the top 8 went through to battle it out in a Sunday Knockout. Those 8 were: In each match the first mentioned went
through to the semis and the latter dropped into the Consolation. |
 Peter Wilson - Main 1st
|
|||||
| Meanwhile,
back at the final. The match swung back and forth with no-one really
pulling ahead more than a couple of points until it went to 9-9. The next
game was soon doubled for DMP (double match point) and after a few moves
the pivotal roll of the match was this:
How would you have played this roll? Play safe: 6/1 or 6/2 3/2 or 8/3; or hit and cover with 8/4* 4/3? Paul decided that hit and cover with 8/4* 4/3 was the best move. This left black (Peter) with just 3 rolls, 5-3 and 4-4 to re-enter and hit. Not many shots, just over 8%; but, if the fly-shot comes out it's the match lost not the point. Peter prays to the dice Gods and they deliver; 5-3. Peter re-enters, Paul sits on the bar and Peter eventually lets him in during the bearoff. Paul can't recover and loses the tournament.. |
|
|||||
| Was Paul's move correct? Certainly it provoked mixed comments from the spectators. According to JellyFish it was the correct move by far with an equity of 0.402, well ahead of the next roll of 6/1 with just 0.205. But, many argued, myself among them that to risk the match on this move was unnecessary. Playing safe now MIGHT have led to difficulties next roll but that was an unknown factor; better to keep it safe and see what comes next. Had Paul played it safe he would have had 10 rolls next time that left a blot, four of which left an indirect shot off the bar. Surely it's better to wait and see? The odds were that he'd roll one of the 26 good rolls and thus have an excellent chance of winning the tournament. Although Paul's play was technically "correct", from Peter's point of view it was the chance he'd been waiting for . . . and he took full advantage. Well done, Peter and hard luck, Paul |  David Nathan Consolation 1st |
 Ralph Eskinazi Consolation 2nd |
||||
| Consolation
(36): With a field of forty and eight already playing in the Main this made my job easy as far as the Consolation went. I made provision for the Main 1st round losers to join in and we had an eventual field of 36. From the non-progressive side (last 8) Jeff Barber beat Gerry Carolan and David Nathan beat Paul Gilbertson. From the progressive side Michael Proto beat Paul Watts and Ralph Eskinazi beat Steve Rudall. In the semis Ralph knocked out Michael and David knocked out Jeff. In the final David fought back from being 6-2 down post-Crawford to steal it away from Ralph who seemed to have had a loss of concentration and made (as far as the onlookers were concerned) some very poor checker plays in the last DMP game. David was delighted with the victory and Ralph took defeat graciously. |
 David Nathan Suicide 1st |
 David Nathan Suicide 2nd |
||||
| Friday
Knockout (18 plus re-entries): I think I might have at last found my forte; Friday Knockouts! Again I got to the final, this time against Jeff Barber but, as usual against Jeff, I lost to the better man. Doubles Knockout (12 teams plus 4 buy
backs): |
Suicide!
(64 open draw): With an open draw of 64 the pool money in this 3-point knockout is always a good one and this was no exception. Through sheer good luck and grit I managed (once again) to get to the semis but was cast aside by Robert Bush whilst Uldis lapikens suffered the same fate via Jon Sharpe. In the final, Jon emerged the winner leaving Robert with the Runner-up trophy. It was a great weekend but tinged with sadness over the news of the death of Emmanuel di Bona's wife, Keren at the age of 52. She died after a short illness on Thursday 24 August. She had been a suffer of MS for about 15 years but her death was due to an unrelated medical condition which arose suddenly and unexpectedly. As a measure of their affection and sympathy for Emmanuel in his tragic loss, players collected the sum of £152 which has been passed onto the MS Society via the Funeral Directors. Emmanuel has many friends throughout backgammon and on their behalf I offer their condolences to Emmanuel and his children. |
|||||
| Results Roy Hollands Trophy: | ||||||
| Main (40): 1 Peter Wilson 2 Paul Barwick 3/4 Steve Hallett 3/4 Kevin Stebbing 5/8 Michael Proto 5/8 Ralph Eskinazi 5/8 Paul Watts 5/8 Steve Rudall |
Consolation (36): 1 David Nathan 2 Ralph Eskinazi 3/4 Michae Proto 3/4 Jeff Barber |
Suicide (64
open draw): 1 Jon Sharpe 2 Robert Bush 3/4 Michael Crane 3/4 Uldis Lapikens 5/8 Connor Dickinson 5/8 Michael Damaniou 5/8 Dave Motley 5/8 Daphne Smith |
Friday KO (18): 1 Jeff Barber 2 Michael Crane 3/4 David Nathan 3/4 Rosemary Bensley Doubles (16 open draw): 1 Blood, Chouette and Tears 2 Don't Run, We Are Your Friends 3/4 Teddy Tubbies 3/4 25% |
|||
