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The London Victoria casino, or “The Vic” as it is affectionately known, is hosting two of the Grosvenor UK Open qualifiers. The first of these is this Saturday 22^nd February, starting at 11.30am. Boards will be provided but please remember to bring your own precision dice!

First, just to dispel any confusion about the Vic’s location, please note that it is not near to Victoria station. The full address is 150 – 162 Edgware Road, London W2 2DT and the entrance to the casino is not in Edgware Road itself but just round the corner in Harrowby Street. The venue is marked on the following map:
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In a symbolic reversal of the replacement of backgammon by poker over the last dozen or so years (in many venues, and also as the favoured game of many players of both games), a determined crowd of 40 backgammon players sat down at noon on Saturday in the card room of the Brighton Grosvenor.

All card tables had been removed and replaced by rows of trestle tables bearing serried ranks of tabletop backgammon boards. This was the first in a series of eight events to be hosted by Grosvenor casinos round the country, from each of which one lucky (and/or skilful!) player will emerge with a seat in the UK Backgammon Open.

Grosvenor looked after the players well, providing an overflow playing area in the restaurant, a delicious hot buffet after the first round of play, and free tea and coffee all day. I think most players would agree that they got value for their £10 registration fee, even if they suffered an early exit. For those who did, there were 8-player jackpots for various entry fees with 100% return.
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