Com pe t it ive Ba ck ga m m on in Th e USA
Did The Chicago Bar Point Club Spoil Me? Perhaps it did, because it is a very w ell- run club. Cert ainly I am old and m aybe m y peers j ust died; but nope, I see t hem as I t ry t o reconnect w it h t he gam e. I played com pet it ive backgam m on a decade ago for a few years; I alw ays liked t he gam e. Most of you w on’t know m e because I w as never anyt hing
m ore t han a sm all fry of t he gam e am ong in t he land of t he Giant s. I did have great t eachers, yet I w as a poor st udent . I like m at h, how ever I enj oy playing m ore by feel t han crunching num bers. This caused m y t eachers ( Abbas Zalt ash and Mary
Hickey) t o resign t hem selves t o m y short com ings.
The Chicago Bar Point is a prem ier club due t o t he qualit y of t he players and how it is run. My friend Jon Viet or quips “ I t ’s a t ough chouet t e” and it sure can be t here. I really j oined t here because a
Abby w e decided on Novi. I w as fresh m eat and played in t he novice, doubles wit h Abby ( w ho
refused t o help m e m uch) insist ing t hat I w ould not learn anyt hing if w e only used his brainpow er. I
bought Neil Kaz in t he auct ion and he did not cash. I did have fun on m y m aiden voyage t hough. I lost in t he sem is at Springfield, but paid for m y t rip. I w as sw am ped in Vegas and I did w in t he Beginner Division in t he Chicago Open. Of course t here w as a price, now I w as considered an int erm ediat e. I w as quit e excit ed t o earn m y 3.13 ABT point s and be ( albeit a very sm all) part of BG hist ory.
in Chit ow n “ Big cit y ~ Sm all t ow n” . By t he t im e, Pops w as bet t er Gam esgrid w as breaking up and I j ust st opped playing ( not m uch live act ion in
Nogales or Havana) . I spend m uch of m y t im e in Havana, Cuba and in t hose days int ernet w as very challenging t here.
Fast forw ard t o t his March and I decided t o st art playing BG again. Pops had died aft er a long bat t le w it h Alzheim er’s, m y m om had died of a broken heart aft er losing her favorit e son and aft er t w elve years of caring for m y dad, m y libert y has
ret urned. I w as off t he grid as t hey say. Well, I heard Gabriella had t aken over Gam esgrid and renam ed it . Aft er days of t rying t o rem em ber m y passw ord I w rot e her, no response. I ex plained m y sit uat ion t o Mam abear ( Mary) w ho t old m e
Gabriella’s healt h w as failing and darn if she knew w ho t o call. ( Mary is st ill m y favorit e hick) . I w rot e GridGam m on four w eeks ago and no response. I w rot e t he USBGF ( w ho’s w ebsit e is kaput ) at t heir Facebook page, no response. I t ried t o call, nope. I t ried t he ABT Facebook page and called, no
j oined Gam m on Sit e on a t rial basis, ( m y handle is Spencer) . Believe m e I wish I w as playing on m y Bob Zavoral board, but I need t o shak e t he rust off, first .
I t racked dow n Tam i Jones t oday, hoping she m ight have a sneaky num ber, nah. You see, I ’d really like t o play on GridGam m on, heck I even spoke t o Kenny w ho said he w as off t he grid t oo. My point is t hat it sure should not be t his difficult t o get back int o t he gam e and w ow ie for t hose w ho have no cont act s! I t seem s t here are t oo m any
Nat ive Am ericans and not enough chiefs. Perhaps I should j ust sm ile and say not hing, be a good
