World Series of Backgammon
Encyclopedia
World Series of Backgammon (WSOB) is a major televised live tour. The television shows capture the match action, jeopardy and background around some of the world’s largest backgammon
tournaments, and have broadcast throughout Europe on Eurosport
1 and 2 whilst being distributed worldwide by ESPN International
.
In May 2010, World Series of Backgammon launched it first online tour, the WSOB Online Tour on its own online backgammon and poker platform, PlayWSOB.com. PlayWSOB also offers qualifiers for major offline events including the 2010 World Backgammon Championships as well as free play and cash games.
Season I launched in 2006 with an 8 hour television series presented by Kara Scott
and John Clark broadcast on Eurosport 2 in 44 European countries capturing the Riviera Cup and team event, the Nations Cup from the Palm Casino, Cannes
. Sean Casey of Ireland
triumphed in the Riviera Cup against Georgia's Nodar Gagua and USA defeated Denmark
in the Nations Cup.
Season II, 2008, expanded to events in London
- the UK Masters saw a 128 draw in the main event, the largest backgammon event held in the UK for 30 years; the world's largest event, the Nordic Open joined the WSOB tour for the first time and saw the Championship field increase from 78 to 153 players and finally on the 08 tour, WSOB Cannes, which recorded 155 Championship players, second only to the World Championships. The television series expanded to 15 hours and saw superstar poker and backgammon player Gus Hansen
join John Clark in the commentary box. New Yorker Jessie Cantrell hosted with further contributions from experts Sander Lylloff, Falafel Natanzon and Morten Holm.
2008 also saw the introduction of WSOB's own 'final table', the €160.000 WSOB Championship which rewarded the best players from the tour and Super Satellite winners with €10,000 value seats to the 16 players finale. Frenchman Frederic Andrieu won the Gold Cube and the €100.000 champion's cheque. More than €500,000 in prize money was won on the second season.
2009 sees the WSOB tour re-format its schedule. WSOB events in Cannes, Prague and London to be followed by the 2009 WSOB Championship, where up to €320.000 will be won from a 32 player draw.
ran three online qualifiers for the WSOB final table at Cannes aka WSOB Championship. Since 2009, WSOB offers the possibility of qualifying online to the WSOB Tour.
In July 2009, World Series of Backgammon launched a shared platform with Dicearena.com offering satellites for its events in Prague and London.
In January 2010, WSOB offered satellites to its $480,000 guaranteed WSOB Championship, aka the 'Shootout' which saw the best players from the 2009 tour and a number of buy-ins at $7,500, compete for the second largest prize pool in the history of the game. The event was played by many of the best players in the world including Gus Hansen who bought into the Round of 16 for US$30,000.
In May 2010, World Series of Backgammon ended its agreement with Dicearena and launched its own online backgammon and poker platform, PlayWSOB.com licensing technology from Melita Gaming Network, who also supply to TrueMoneygames and several other poker brands.
In October 2011 World Series of Backgammon announced a partmership with the largest online gaming operator in the world, Bwin.com, for online backgammon creating www.bwin.com/wsob to provide an online tour with a lower buy-in to attract all levels of players. The new tour mimics the major live tournaments run by WSOB and includes a series of events, a points race and the WSOB Championship. The WSOB Champion wins the coveted Gold Cube® and an official backgammon board made by Geoffrey Parker Games and worth apparently €2400.
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
tournaments, and have broadcast throughout Europe on Eurosport
Eurosport
Eurosport is a pan-European television sport network operated by French broadcaster TF1 Group. The network of channels are available in 59 countries, in 20 different languages providing viewers with European and international sporting events...
1 and 2 whilst being distributed worldwide by ESPN International
ESPN International
ESPN International is a family of networks around the world. It was begun in 1989 and is operated by ESPN. It consists of:Asia: *ESPN SEA*ESPN SEA 2*ESPN China*ESPN Hong Kong*ESPN India*ESPN Malaysia...
.
In May 2010, World Series of Backgammon launched it first online tour, the WSOB Online Tour on its own online backgammon and poker platform, PlayWSOB.com. PlayWSOB also offers qualifiers for major offline events including the 2010 World Backgammon Championships as well as free play and cash games.
About WSOB
World Series of Backgammon ("WSOB") is a televised, high stakes backgammon tour founded in 2006 by television producer and backgammon player, Andy Bell.Season I launched in 2006 with an 8 hour television series presented by Kara Scott
Kara Scott
Kara Scott is a Canadian TV personality, journalist and poker player.Born in northern Alberta, Canada, Scott moved to the United Kingdom in 1999 and worked in the UK media until 2009 when she moved to California...
and John Clark broadcast on Eurosport 2 in 44 European countries capturing the Riviera Cup and team event, the Nations Cup from the Palm Casino, Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
. Sean Casey of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
triumphed in the Riviera Cup against Georgia's Nodar Gagua and USA defeated Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in the Nations Cup.
Season II, 2008, expanded to events in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- the UK Masters saw a 128 draw in the main event, the largest backgammon event held in the UK for 30 years; the world's largest event, the Nordic Open joined the WSOB tour for the first time and saw the Championship field increase from 78 to 153 players and finally on the 08 tour, WSOB Cannes, which recorded 155 Championship players, second only to the World Championships. The television series expanded to 15 hours and saw superstar poker and backgammon player Gus Hansen
Gus Hansen
Gustav "Gus" Hansen is a professional Danish poker player who lives in Monaco. In his poker career, Hansen has won three World Poker Tour open titles, the 2007 Aussie Millions main event and was the season one winner of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament...
join John Clark in the commentary box. New Yorker Jessie Cantrell hosted with further contributions from experts Sander Lylloff, Falafel Natanzon and Morten Holm.
2008 also saw the introduction of WSOB's own 'final table', the €160.000 WSOB Championship which rewarded the best players from the tour and Super Satellite winners with €10,000 value seats to the 16 players finale. Frenchman Frederic Andrieu won the Gold Cube and the €100.000 champion's cheque. More than €500,000 in prize money was won on the second season.
2009 sees the WSOB tour re-format its schedule. WSOB events in Cannes, Prague and London to be followed by the 2009 WSOB Championship, where up to €320.000 will be won from a 32 player draw.
Online qualification
In 2008, the online backgammon site Play65Play65
Play65 is an online backgammon operator established in 2004 by an Israeli-based company, SkillEmpire, that hosts real-time backgammon games and tournaments. With its client software available in 21 languages, including English, Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, etc. Play65 has more than 5,000,000...
ran three online qualifiers for the WSOB final table at Cannes aka WSOB Championship. Since 2009, WSOB offers the possibility of qualifying online to the WSOB Tour.
In July 2009, World Series of Backgammon launched a shared platform with Dicearena.com offering satellites for its events in Prague and London.
In January 2010, WSOB offered satellites to its $480,000 guaranteed WSOB Championship, aka the 'Shootout' which saw the best players from the 2009 tour and a number of buy-ins at $7,500, compete for the second largest prize pool in the history of the game. The event was played by many of the best players in the world including Gus Hansen who bought into the Round of 16 for US$30,000.
In May 2010, World Series of Backgammon ended its agreement with Dicearena and launched its own online backgammon and poker platform, PlayWSOB.com licensing technology from Melita Gaming Network, who also supply to TrueMoneygames and several other poker brands.
WSOB online TV channel
In April 2010 WSOB launched its own online TV channel using the Vimeo video platform showing full length shows from its archive of match-play television coverage.In October 2011 World Series of Backgammon announced a partmership with the largest online gaming operator in the world, Bwin.com, for online backgammon creating www.bwin.com/wsob to provide an online tour with a lower buy-in to attract all levels of players. The new tour mimics the major live tournaments run by WSOB and includes a series of events, a points race and the WSOB Championship. The WSOB Champion wins the coveted Gold Cube® and an official backgammon board made by Geoffrey Parker Games and worth apparently €2400.
See Also
- BackgammonBackgammonBackgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
- List of World Backgammon champions
- High Stakes Backgammon (TV series)High stakes backgammonHigh stakes backgammon was a TV series capturing world class match-play backgammon from the 2005 World Championships in Monte Carlo.Hosted by Kara Scott, commentary by Paul Magriel and John Clark.Production Company, 8mm Productions...