Dice Arena, the online backgammon platform, is running qualifiers for the World Series of Backgammon Shootout, the final round of the World Series of Backgammon Season III, to take place on February 6-7, 2009 at the Adam Street Club in London.

The qualifiers for the cheap seats will take place every night; the qualifying event for the $480,000 shootout that will be attended by big backgammon stars such as Falafel, Gus Hansen and Masayuki Mochizuki will take place on January 31, offering at least one package prize worth $9000 including the $8100 entry and expenses.

Off-line qualifiers will take place in London, Tokyo, Chicago and South Africa.

I’ll keep you updated on what happens.

The World Series of Backgammon Season 3 will reach its climax in London in February 2010, when up to 48 players compete or the biggest prize in Backgammon –  the WSOB Championship, with a guaranteed prize pool of U.S. $480,000.

In an announcement released to the press, WSOB officials said the ’64 player draw’ will be made up of the seven players who have already qualified from the WSOB tour this year and up to 41 other players, who can either buy into the round of 64 for $7,500 or buy into the round of 32 for $15,000 per seat.

Otherwise, players can make the grade during a series of online qualifiers running on the WSOB backgammon platform, starting in January 2010.

“We are expecting the cream of the crop to qualify and buy in to this event, which offers the biggest prize pool in today’s game.”

Players who have already qualified for the shoot-out hold seats worth $15,000 as they will enter the action in round 2 in a 64 draw event. All other qualifiers will take the hot seat in round one to stand a chance of finishing in the last eight, all of which will win a share of the prize pool. The prize pool is underwritten by Will Cockerell’s own company, WVLC Productions*.

Event Details:

The shootout will take place on 6th and 7th of February 2010, at the Adam Street private members’ club, just off The Strand in Central London. The event will include live online video streaming of some of the key matches, supported by expert commentary.

I can’t wait to see some of the matches online.

As we get closer to the event, I’ll let you in on more details, as they become available.

We love writing about the European tour because it has become so popular with our European readers.

The Cyprus Backgammon Tournament will be held in Nicosia (Lefkosa).

The venue is the Golden Tulip Hotel & Casino, an awesome site located right on the border, and accessible to Greek, Turkish and international guests.

The tournament is part of the European Backgammon Tour and replaces the Venice stop, which was canceled this year.

Three divisions and various side-events will be offered during the 4 days of the event.

The tournament features 5,000 euro added prize money and the winner be granted a free seat at the next stop of the EBGT.

Masterpoints will be awarded to all participants of the Masters Division.

If you can’t be there in person, watch this space for news of the tournament.

Are you aware that the World Series of Backgammon is just around the corner? Well, I certainly hope so! If not, I would have to ask you where you have been hiding at!

Anyhow, on the 24th of this month, we will all be treated to something special. The World Series of Backgammon has partnered up with a new network and on the mentioned day, the official launch will be held in Cannes, no less, and during the WSOB live event. Jadestone Networks is actually the entity behind the other party. It has signed the World Series of Backgammon for its new backgammon network.

If Jadestone Networks does not ring a bell, maybe you are more familiar with GamArena and DiceArena. These two popular gaming networks are actually owned and run by Jadestone Networks.

The backgammon network has been running since last month and is already gaining some attention. In fact, they have already partnered up with other well known groups such as Bwin and Nordicbet. Of course, nothing beats hooking up with the WSOB, don’t you think?

Both parties are excited. The people from Jadestone Networks say that “All of our partners are hungry to launch our new version and player numbers in the network have grown every day since early June. We want to become the largest network and to be the first choice for dedicated backgammon players across Europe and this partnership with the WSOB underlines just how serious we are.”

On the other hand, the people at WSOB say that “We’ve been building up to this online backgammon launch on our WSOB site for some time, but we think it was worth the wait; the Jadestone platform is absolutely the right solution for us. From July 24 all backgammon enthusiasts will be able to play online via our site and qualify for WSOB offline events in cities such as Cannes and Prague and for the WSOB Championship in London this October where the expected prize pool will top Euro 300 000. We have a strong field of players lined up to get rolling on our new online site.”

So, I guess the next several months are going to be quite busy for us!

Carol Joy Cole

Previously, I wrote about the King of Backgammon. This time, let us pay homage to the fairer sex and talk about the Backgammon Queen from Flint. The American Backgammon Tour recently held a U.S. Open in Washington D.C. from the 4th of June to the 7th of June. The person who emerged victorious is a 60-year-old retired librarian by the name of Carol Joy Cole.

According to stories, Carol Joy Cole learned backgammon in the 70s, and no, it was not by choice. She says that she forced herself to learn the game so that she could keep up with her kids, who had learned the game from their baby sitter. Well, from that forced learning more than 30 years ago, Cole has indeed gone a long way.

She is actually one of the founders of the Flint Backgammon Club. She has national tournament titles under her belt, and she has participated in international tournaments as well. Her most recent victory at the U.S. Open is not some little thing, either. In fact, she kicked the butt of the 1989 Backgammon World Champion AND now holds the distinction of being the first ever woman to win the U.S. Open tournament!

What does the Queen have to say?

“It was a huge thrill. I definitely was an underdog in that match. I was ecstatic. (Runner-up Joe Russell) was a very gracious opponent. He knew it was a competitive match. I didn’t win just on luck.”

Good on her! For those who are interested in joining the Flint Area Backgammon Club:

- When: Meets at 7 p.m. every Thursday
- Where: Days Inn, 2207 W. Bristol Road, Flint
- Details: There are no membership fees and the club is open the public. Free lessons are offered to the inexperienced and small tournaments are played each week.