PartyGammon Million Seats Going... Going... and Soon... Gone!

by Michael Strato - 14 december 2006

The tournament will be held from January 21-25, 2007 at the famous Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas.

GammonLife.com, currently ranked as the #1 Backgammon Community Website, will be doing the exclusive Internet coverage from PartyGammon Million. Our team will be at the scene to report daily on the progress with news articles, ladder updates of the Main and Consolation flights, as well as lots of photos of the action from the tables, and special events and ceremonies - the Welcome Cocktail Party, Calcutta Auction, Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony. What an exciting time for backgammon!

We’ll capture the glamour and the emotion of backgammon as a lifestyle at the peak of its glory. You will see images of the awesome Atlantis venue, and the players – the champions and the lovely women of backgammon - including just interviewed Victoria Smirnoff, and Miss Gammon 2007 - Stephanie Kardos.

And what about this cool added prize – a special watch created with a backgammon theme worth over $20,000 – from Swiss watchmaker and sponsor Marc Rouah of Time-Wise SA.

Here is a list of 44 players now registered or pre-registered as direct buy-ins as well as the three or four that won a free entry as an added prize at live tournaments sponsored by PartyGammon:

Abe Mosseri

Alex Lehmann

Bill Phipps

Bill Robertie

Bob Wachtel

Carter Mattig

Christian Toth

David Wells

Doug Mayfield

Ed O'Laughlin

Frank Frigo

Frank Talbot

Fred Chamanara

Gino Scalamandre

Hans Ronald Reinhardt

James Vogl

Jean-Philippe Rohr

Jim Pasko

John O’Hagan

Julian Fetterlein

Kazuhiro Shino

Kent Goulding

Malcolm Davis

Mark Schiffer

Mark Teltscher

Matvey 'Falafel' Natanzon

Mike Corbett

Mike Senkiewicz

Mike Svobodny

Mochizuki Masayuki

Morten Holm

Nack Ballard

Noah Siegel

Peter Heitmüeller

Peter Jes Thomsen

Philip Vischjager

Rafael Lopez

Rageb Shadallah

Ray Fogerlund

Raymond Woo

Stepan Nuniyants

Steve Hammond

Victoria Smirnoff

William (Jake) Jacobs

Twenty-five other players have won online qualifiers at PartyGammon for a total of 69 ready to go to The Bahamas next month. Because of strict policies regarding player information and privacy issues, PartyGammon cannot release the names of those that have qualified online, although their names will be known once they are playing in the live event.

However, GammonLife has heard from various sources in the backgammon community (most often from the qualified players themselves) that amongst the 25 are these known live tournament players:

Akiko Abe                    

Andreas Humke            

Arkadiy Tsinis

Eric Guedj

Jeremy Bagai

John Fooladi

John Clark

Jürgen Orlowski

Katja Sophie Spillum Svendsen            

Lasse Hjorth Madsen

Michiko Matsumiya

Michel Serrero

Nodar Gagua

Odin Spillum Svendsen

Stuart Hosen

It is likely that another 12 to 15 players will qualify online between now and the tournament, possibly more.

Player International, organizer of this event, is currently attending several inquiries from other players interested in playing, of which some are coming from backgammon aficionados with deep pockets that do not play on the international circuit but want a shot at the minimum $500,000 first prize, and of course, the thrilling experience of participating in what will be the biggest backgammon event in the history of the world.

You may have noticed that many of the world class Danish players are not listed? Mads Andersen, Lars Bonding, Sander Lyloff, just to name a few. Word is that a good quantity of top Danish players are about to register en masse.

We were informed yesterday that Kageyama Michihito of Japan will register soon, and possibly two or three other top players from Japan. As this article was being written, an email has come in from two players in Brazil asking where to send their entry fee. Leo Fernandez and Raul Timmermann of Argentina have said they will register soon.

And there are so many others. Question is: Why would any top professional player want to miss this event?

Big names like Paul 'X-22' Magriel, Neil Kazaross, François Tardieu and Gus Hansen have all said they are keen on attending to play.

We’re waiting on answers from many of the Giants of Backgammon, like Jorgen Granstedt, Dirk Schiemann, Jerry Grandell, Johannes Levermann and Paul Weaver.

Where are the former World Champions? Michael Meyburg, Jon Kristian Røyset, Dennis Carlston and Joseph Russell? And the UK’s finest such as John Slattery, John Broomfield, Chris Ternel and Peter Bennet? And so many other players, men and women from so many other countries? Many of these will register soon.

A long list of Americans too, Steve Sax and several others have said they will surely participate, but 2006 ABT Champion Richard Munitz said he will not be able to make it.

Two-time Paris Masters Champion Ralf Jonas of Germany, who has beat a lot of the names listed above in those Paris Masters events he won, has not checked in yet nor have a few other top players from Germany, such as those previously mentioned (i.e. Schiemann, Meyburg, Levermann) as well as Najib Sallamzy (though originally from Afghanistan), a Monte Carlo Super Jackpot Champion - knowing him well, it is very doubtful that he will let this opportunity pass.

And the list goes on and on. We feel very confident that the 128 seats available in this tournament will be filled, and very soon now too. And when they are all sold out, there will still be another 10 or 20 players wishing they had acted sooner. So it’s coming down to the wire, get registered today!

Remember if you want to buy in direct to this event you must pre-pay your entry fee of $10,000 and it’s on a first-come, first-serve basis - the tournament is limited to 128 seats.

For instructions on how to pay your $10,000 entry fee please contact:

Michael Strato - editor@gammonlife.com

We can also help you arrange a special deal for your hotel accommodations through PartyGammon – a quantity of the specially-priced rooms (from a block of rooms reserved months ago) are still available. Get a room soon to avoid paying more somewhere else and then having to hike over to the Atlantis Resort every day. Rooms at Atlantis for these dates are scarce (if even available) as many celebrities will be there attending the Michael Jordan Invitational Golf Tournament, which ends the day before PartyGammon Million begins, and it is likely that many of those celebrities will be on extended vacations. Plus, The Bahamas is bustling with tourists in January.

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