It was a tale of two cities. And both players had great expectations.
Urogdy hammered Mac 15-8 in a San Francisco tourney that had spanned three sessions... but March Madness took a turn when the pair walked down the red carpet to Hollywood's Starlight Arena. Revenge was at hand and Mac handed JohnnyU a 15-7 slap down. This was her largest margin of victory in the modern era.
Becky Bearoff reports the highlights from the Bay Area's premier backgammon hall:
The fans at San Francisco Backgammon Hall got to see JohnnyU continuing his run. But it took three sessions to secure back-to-back wins for the champ.
Entering the Friday night session, Mac was down 4-3, but quickly tied it at 4. On the next three consecutive games, Molly cubed, Johnny U accepted, and he went on to win all three, ratcheting the score to 10-4. The wins did not come easily, especially the first one. Ju successfully escaped 2 men buried behind a 5-point prime to eke out the win.
"Magic 6-2s to escape and then lucky that Mac didn’t hit the 4 she needed to put me back in the slammer. Pure luck of the dice. Thank the Gods”, JU spoke after the nights action.
The third cubed-game featured the return of Pepper "The ghost". In a must win for the racer after falling into a slump, Ghost started with a 6-5 and never looked back.
Urogdy continued the string of victories to six, after three one pointers.
When the board flashed 13-4. Mac had seen enough and called a timely time out.
This disjointed tourney concluded last night, with Mac cubing and winning the first two games to double her score. But her third cube was where it ended. With Mac on the cusp of three 2-pointers in a row, Urogdy nailed a desperation "1" to stem the tide of the bear off. JU closed tourney #32, winning 15-8.
Both players spoke after...
"Not sure what happened tonight. Mac was a bit hostile and aggressive with the cube. We got lucky. All good cubes, but we worked some magic, played hard, used the momentum in our favor and had a good performance by the Ghost. Back-to-back wins outscoring Mac 30-14 is what we needed to get back on track. Also got to see some friends in my college town." JU
"Showed up angry and exhausted in the second session. My cubes did not net the points I hoped for, JohnnyU’s coffee seemed a bit tart. We did show some strength in the final session, but the margin was too wide." Mac
Chip Checker reports the highlights from the Hollywood's Starlight Arena:
Talk about a game-changer! The stars were out last night in beautiful Southern California. And unlike the north, where Mac seemed to be operating in a fog, she came out with guns a blazing like some Western Hollywood star.
"There's a new score keeper in town", she joked as she spun around her colored markers like 6-shooters, expertly holstering them back. Those markers may have helped, or her BG karma with the Gods, or maybe it was the bright lights of Hollywood, but whatever it was, it was all Mac last night.
Molly blasted out of the gate with a 6-0 run in a 1-2 1-2 punch. It wasn't till game #5 when JohnnyU broke the ice with a single. But that was no momentum builder. Mac went up 7-1 and then 8-1 on a wicked set of 6s. JohnnyU missed a Gammon on the next game but cut into the lead 8-2.
The crowd who had been calling for the Ghost all night, finally got their chance to see him race entering the grid in at a 104-104 race. Mac was hotter and doubled him out of the game. 9-2
In the most critical game of the match, Urogdy was up big, closing in a gammon with a two-point cube. Greed took over when JU had a chance to move past Mac during bear off, but instead opted to take off an additional checker. This tactical error resulted in a 5-1 to reveal a blot, followed by a Molly "1" for the hit, followed by rolls of Urogdy that would be classified under "atrophy" for weakness. Molly won the 2-pointer, moving the needle to 11-2!
"It was a blunder that relinquished any chance of getting back into the contest. A 4-pointer would have made it 9-6. But my move barely improved my chances for a gammon. Bad move even with the odds highly in my favor. But you know that giving your opponent a 0/18 chance is better than a 1/18 shot. Yes, I ran the math. 4-1, 5-1, 6-1... that’s 6 of 36 or 1/6 chance of opening a blot. And it would require a one in three for her to hit... so, it was only a 1/18 scenario. And that, my friends is a microcosm of the tourney. In two games I missed gammons on the final roll, and then missed a gammon on a 1/18 chance (and lost 2) . We also failed in three races." JU
Urogdy fought back to 11-6 after winning back-to-back cubes. Then the pair split the next two to make it 12-7. The Ghost came in but was thwarted by doubles 3s and double 2s on Molly final rolls; lighting the Crawford sign (Hollywood has one dazzling Crawford sign, as you can imagine). The Ghost tried again at Crawford, but Mac held on and the win. A big one! 15-7
Mac after the game, "Thank the F%&king Backgammon Gods. It’s been a tough week. We went underground, burning sage leaves and doing some other stuff that is not suitable to repeat on the air. We have not spoken to the press as we prepared for Hollywood. Well rested, stars aligned, the Gods giving back... We kicked ASS!"
Checker pressed Mac about the schedule, “As the winner, not sure where we will be heading. Gonna check out the weather and pick a spot. Tonight, we party with the stars!"
BOX News: Justin Rolls Reporting
Ghost is DEAD? Mac on Track? JU to VAX?
Like SUPERNOVAS, both of backgammon's biggest stars imploded in Cali. First the MacMeltdown (which I hear McDonalds is test marketing in the Bay Area. It's like a Ruben with some angry sauce).
And then the JU-90# Weakling Show at the Starlight, causing Arnold Schwarzenegger to leave the arena in disgust when JU was down 11-2. “The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow. He'll be back”- Arnie told Hot Hanna as he boarded his limo.
The big question will be the future of Pepper the Ghost who won in SF but dropped the ball 3 times in Hollywood. Is the Ghost dead?
And rumors also have it that JU is taking a needle. Clearly, he needs a shot in arm after last night. Peanuts aren't gonna cut it.
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