Hindsight
Joined: 02 Feb 2009
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 Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 1:11 am Post subject: Backgammon master, Tim Holland, RIP |
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Tim Holland, Backgammon Master, Dies at 79
By DENNIS HEVESI
Tim Holland, who was widely considered the world�s greatest backgammon player during that ancient board game�s modern heyday, in the 1960s and �70s, died on March 10 at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 79.
The cause was emphysema, his daughter, Vanessa Holland, said.
In winning tournament after tournament and three world championships, Mr. Holland brought a cool self-confidence to the rapid-fire clacking of the checker-like pieces (the �men�) around the 24 narrow triangles of the backgammon board.
�He did not speak; he did not smile; his eyes rarely left the table,� Jon Bradshaw wrote of Mr. Holland in his 1975 book, �Fast Company� (Harper�s). �There was a palpable arrogance in his play. He rolled the dice and moved the men about the board with the poise of a man who knows that victory is only a matter of time.�
Mr. Holland won the World Backgammon Association championship in 1967, 1968 and 1971. (No championship tournaments were held in 1969 or 1970.) Besides retaining the title, he pocketed more than $30,000 in prize money for each of those championships. By the early 1970s he was averaging $60,000 a year in tournament money, and that did not include significant earnings from bets he had placed on himself or his percentage from the winnings of the highest bidders at tournaments where the best players were �auctioned off.�
�Holland is generally believed to be the best backgammon player in the world,� The New York Times said in a 1974 article describing the renaissance of a game played in the days of the pharaohs.... |
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/us/17holland.html?hpw
One of these days I want to figure out how someone can win that consistently.
I have used two backgammon programs, and one was easy to beat, the other nearly impossible -- and that one apparently cheats on the dice rolls. I guess I should try playing online again and see if I have improved.
It seems to me that perhaps the biggest part of winning is the doubling cube Knowing when to bet and when to fold seems to be the big variable. But the story didn't go into that much.
I wonder if you can still make a living playing backgammon? |
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