Denis Etienne of Geneva, Switzerland is the winner of the 2010 Swiss Open, held last weekend at the Casino Barriere in Montreux, Switzerland and was partially sponsored by Play65. Etienne had played the very tense final against the famous German backgammon player Tobias Hellwag; first leading 10-0, then 12-2, and finally winning 15-14.  Play65 Swiss Open qualifiers champion, Gian-Reto Iseppi, has championed the second consolation tournament.

Denis Etienne, 54, deputy editor in chief at the Tribune de Genève, and a veteran GammonEmpire player, did not win Play65 Swiss qualifiers, but he has won several online qualifiers in the past: "thanks to Play65, I could go to the Portuguese Open in Estoril (2008) and the Nordic Open in Copenhagen (2010)." He said when switching the interviewer seat with Play65.

"I play backgammon for 30 years, but seriously for 5-6 years. In Estoril, my first big tournament, I was the Consolation finalist. Otherwise, I played mainly in Switzerland, where the best players traditionally came from the German-speaking part, but it is maybe changing (Geneva is in the French-speaking part ;-). Here, I was Swiss Clubs Champion (with Geneva in 2007), and last year I won the Geneva Open."

"The backgammon association in Geneva is young - founded in 2005 - but thanks to its president (Alexandre Ben Lassin, who is a good player too), it has grown very fast. Today, there are 60 regular members, some of them are excellent players and, as it is an international city, players come from all the parts of the world. "

Playing Online Backgammon

"Backgammon online I began playing on Yahoo. For some years, I have been playing mostly on GammonEmpire and sometimes on TrueMoneyGames.

- How do you see the connection between online and live backgammon? Play65 sponsorship of the Swiss Open, for example.

"I find that they are excellent initiatives. It is surely well for the backgammon sites; it also helps the tournaments’ organizers, and it is excellent for the players too (who can qualify themselves at low cost)… So, it is win-win-win situation. Actually, it is an important component, now even necessary, of backgammon promotion."

Future Plans

"In December, for the first time, I will be taking part in the Meribel Backgammon International Tournament in the French Alps, everybody says it is the nicest (not including Geneva Open and Swiss Open, of course ;-)"

Play65 is happy to bring back the backgammon arena tournament, where €4000 are split between the top 32 winners and the 1st finisher walks home (in his gladiator sandals) with €1400 first prize!

The backgammon arena tournament will take place on Sunday, September 5th at 20:00. Entry fees are €46, but there is a satellite tournament today, at 18:00 GMT (entry fees: €6.60).

Don’t forget that every tournament you enroll, adds VIP points (and Shop points) to your balance; these points would magically turn into cash once you gather at least 650 of them to enter the first Bronze VIP level, and could be redeemed at our VIP gift shop and our cashier.

Gaming Intelligence reported on the launch of Play65 Backgammon VIP Club. Since the content might be available only to members, we bring you here the entire article:

While Swiss Backgammon Open qualifier winner, Ginaretto Iseppi, is getting ready for the Swiss Open 2010, Play65 Japan Open qualifiers are about to take place.

Japan celebrated backgammon festival, Japan Open, is scheduled to October 9-11, 2010, but Play65 qualifiers will begin next Saturday.

To win a $575 seat to the Championship Flight – where you can win an entry to the final World Backgammon Tour stop at Enghien les Baines near Paris, France – mark your calendar on August 28 and September 4 at 11:00 GMT ($75 buy-in; 8 players minimum).

To win a $140 seat to the Intermediate Flight – where you can win a 150,000 yen (about $1750) trip to an international backgammon event paid by Japan Backgammon League – play the August 28 freeroll satellite at 11:00 GNT (free entry; 3-5 points).

Japan Open is the biggest and most important backgammon event in Asia, and this year, it became a part of the World Backgammon Tour, and has 2009 World Backgammon Champion, Masayuki Mochizuki (Mochy) as the tournament director. Besides, it is probably the only backgammon tournament opened with a special sushi party.

Play65 is happy to introduce the first VIP Club in backgammon – Play65 VIP Club.

Play65 VIP Club includes three progressive levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
VIP players earn VIP Points and Shop Points on every real money backgammon games played at the software.
Bronze level players earn 1 VIP point & 1 Shop point for every $1 stake
Silver players – 1.5 per $1
Gold – 2.5
Your VIP status is being recalculated every month based on your last month activity.

VIP Points are used measure your VIP level
You’ll need 650 points to reach Bronze VIP level
3000 points for Silver
10000 points for Gold

Shop Points can be used for Play65 Gift Shop, open exclusively for VIP members, offering everything from backgammon sets to game consoles and laptops that can purchased with your Shop Points, i.e. the money you had already spent playing backgammon online; Shop Points can also be used for Play65 tournaments’ entries or be traded in cash.

For more information, check out Play65 VIP Club FAQ

Team Play65 also known as "Mama Boyz" has been representing Play65 at the Danish Backgammon Federation tournaments since 2008. 2009 was the team’s championship year, as it ended with their overplaying the team “Nemo” and winning the Danish Team Tournament. For the opening of backgammon tournaments season in Denmark, it is about time you’ll meet the team members.

Karsten Bredahl is Team Play65 captain, backgammon player and teacher, two times Nordic Open champion and the highest rated players in Denmark.

Karsten has been playing at the Danish Backgammon Federation from 1993, and since then he had achieved 55 results, more than any other member, including two Nordic Open championships and four Danish team tournament wins (including the last one with Play65). In 2007, he achieved the highest rating in Denmark, a record that has not been broken yet. On top of playing backgammon, he also teaches the games to students in local backgammon clubs.

Casper Brandenborg aka Scraperband, has been playing backgammon since the mid 1990s, almost exclusively in live events. He had finished second at the 2007 Danish Singles Championship and was part of Team Play65 during the championship year.

Claes Norreen aka Kalibalak (which means "watch out" in Arabic)

Lasse Hjort Madsen

By Karsten Bredahl, Team Play65 Captain

The champions of The Danish Backgammon Team Tournament 2009-10, which finished in March, became (as most players are aware of) the very strong team from the Mama Boyz Club sponsored by Play65: Team Play65.

Team Play65 started the season with 2 defeats (only 2 victories of 8 possible matches) but from round 3 their name were written all over the Team Tournament and after 88 matches to 17 points they ended up with 54 victories and winner of the title as Danish Champions. None of the players on the team had a negativ score, and the topscore of the team (capt. Karsten Bredahl) also became the topscorer of the entire elitedivision with 16 wins (in 21 matches) which was 3 wins more than Mik Larsen, who ended up on 2nd place with 13 wins (in 22 matches).

But last season is long gone by now and during the Summer Lars Chr. Bentzon (aka Busti) made Denmark proud by becoming the 5th Danish World Champion.

Furthermore the next season of team backgammon begins in only 4 weeks so who can remember what happened 6 months ago?!

Now is the time to forget about vacations, work and families. Backgammon is all that matters from now on. The teams in the Danish Team Tournament can look forward to thousands of exiting 17-pointers during the next 6 month! Positions will arise and debates will take place in the Danish forum…

528 of these matches will take place in the elitedivision and the defending champions from Team Play65 will do whatever is in their power to win the title again and make Play65 proud but they are up against the strongest players in the world so it is going to be a tough call and very exciting.

Play65 is holding special qualifiers for the Swiss Backgammon Open, where you can win tickets to the Main and the Intermediate divisions of the Swiss Open 2010, that will take place along the Backgammon Swiss Championship between 27 and 29 of August 2010 at the Casino Barrière in Montreux on the French-speaking western-side of Switzerland. Play65 also sponsors the drinks served during the welcome cocktail on Friday 19:30. Organized by the Swiss Backgammon Association, the Swiss Open and Backgammon Swiss Championships are expected to be attended by some of the top players in backgammon.

Play65 Swiss Open qualifiers will start tomorrow, on August 2 at 19:00 (GMT) and continue to run daily until August 7; €9 entry fee, 6 players minimum, first prize - free entry to the final qualifier on August 8 19:30 (entry fee: €50, first prize: free €375 seat to the Swiss Open Championship). To win free €140 seat to the Swiss Open Intermediate division, you can enter Play65 freeroll on August 7, at 19:30; no entry fees, 8 players minimum.

Play65 Swiss Open Bonuses

For this special occasion, Play65 is offering special bonuses for first time depositors and frequent players alike.
First depositors can deposit minimum $50 and maximum $150, insert the bonus code GAMEON65, and have their first deposit matched back with a 100% bonus.
Play65 frequent players can enter the bonus code Swiss50 and earn 100% bonus, up to $150.

The 35th World Backgammon Championship took place this July in Monte Carlo. The champion is Lars "Buster" Bentzon of Denmark, member of the Danish Backgammon Federation who is best known as Gus Hansen’s close friend and former manager. Bentzon becomes the fifth Dane who wins the world championship, but unlike most of his fellow countrymen he says he does not plan to pursuit a career in poker. The semi finalist and the only famous player who had reached the top four, Pia Jeppesen, was also from Denmark.

This year, the World Backgammon Championship was attended by only 158 players, less than the 178 who played last year and even less than the 238 who played in 2005, for example. Several players claim that it is the timing (alongside the WSOP no-limit Hold’em championship) and the location (far, expensive and isolated from any other backgammon activities) are to blame in the low attendance rates. If this video is representative, it seems like there is more backgammon action in the World Series of Poker:

Play65 backgammon allows you to connect to Facebook (and/or other popular social networks including Myspace, Twitter, Yahoo, Linkedin, Google and Wodpress) using Play65 login info. That way, you can share your online backgammon achievements with your friends; brag about winning games and raising rating levels; announce on logging in, enrolling to tournaments or creating private tournaments (and at the same opportunity, inviting them to join).

To connect your Play65 account with your social network/s account/s, simply login to Play65. Note that below the usual login window there is a new box, where you can select a social network and login (or register with Play65 login details if you do not have an account), by clicking the corresponding icon.

If you do have a social network account – insert your social network login info, click OK and connect your accounts. From now on, a Play65 login would connect you to your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers, your Wordpress blog readers or other online social network contact persons.

If you do not have a social network account – you can open one now using the same username, password and email you use when logging in to Play65, then click Allow when asked by the chosen network to approve your request. From now on, you can login to your new social network simply by clicking Play65 icon on your desktop.