1.

The biggest backgammon tournament of the month is tonight at 21:00 GMT and you have a chance to get a piece of the $15,000 guaranteed prize pool and be one of the 16 lucky winners who’d share between $300 and $4000 prizes. Registration is still open, hurry up and enroll.

2.

If you are more into little wins, you might be happy to know that $0.5 is no longer the lowest bet limit, as you can now play backgammon for as little as $0.1, and pay only 3cent rake. Note: only in small bets ($0.1 - $0.49) the rake is fixed on 3cent and is taken from both players.

Play65 invites you to celebrate the 10/10/2010 and the upcoming winter in a special $15,000 online backgammon tournament at 9:00 PM GMT (or 10/10/2010 at 10:00 PM in Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm, Vienna, Copenhagen and others). Fifteen thousand dollars will be shared between the 16 top finishers; the winner of the 11-point final will be awarded with a $4,000 prize.

Entry fees are priced at $200, but there is more than one way you can earn a free entry into the biggest backgammon tournament of October:

- Online satellite tournaments everyday at 19:00 and 21:30 GMT. Entry fees: $14
- Free online qualifiers exclusively for VIP members on 2/10/2010 for Silver and Gold players at 19:30 GMT and 9/10/2010 at 19:30 for Gold players.
- Members of Play65 VIP Club can also purchase the $200 tournament entry fees using their Shop Points.

Play65 hosts exclusive online qualifiers for the World Backgammon Tour Grand Finale, which is scheduled to 1-2 November 2010 in Enghien-les-Bains near Paris and guaranteeing a €32,000 prize pool. Only 16 players will compete at the Grand Finale: six of them are winners of the 2010 WBGT stops, another six are the top ranked in the WBGT Point Race standing; three more seats will be taken by winners of live satellites organized by various backgammon federations worldwide. The last qualifier can be you.

Play65 WBGT Grand Finale qualifier will take place on Saturday, 2 October 2010 at 18:00 GMT, where a €2000 seat will be awarded to the winner; entry fees: €250. Satellites to the Grand Finale qualifier take place everyday between 13 and 30 of September at 18:30 GMT. Entry fees are only €25.

World Backgammon Tour Stops & Point Race

The Grand Finale will close the first season of the World Backgammon Tour, an international tour that was opened early this year with the Nordic Open, continued with the US Open and the Swedish Open and will go on with the London Open on 24-26 September, the Japan Open in October and the French Open that precedes the Grand Finale.

Backgammon players who compete at the Championship Division of the WBGT stops gather points that are used to rank them in the Point Race. The top six ranked players (currently with Backgammon Giants Michihito "Michi" Kageyama of Japan and Matvey "Falafel" Natanzon of Israel) will play at the Grand Finale along with the WBGT stop winners.

Play65 Backgammon is happy to be one of the founding sponsors of the US Backgammon Federation, along with the top presenters of the backgammon game including several Giants of Backgammon, national and world backgammon champions, tournament directors and other supporters of the game. The USBGF and Play65 share the same devotion and enthusiasm about the backgammon game and they both intend to promote its positive aspects in clubs, tournaments and in online play.

USBGF Honorary Founding Sponsor

Another surprising supporter of the backgammon game is the Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic who has received an honorary lifetime membership (and a matching doubling cube) from the US Backgammon Federation. Ivanovic, who had recently played the US Open (not the US Backgammon Open obviously), often stated that backgammon - against the computer or her previous coach – used to be her number one locker room pastime.

Potential Honorary Sponsors…

Backgammon was also a favorite pastime of the Green Bay Packers’ locker room, as several members of the American football team were occupied by it in between matches. Backgammon was played at a private jet flight by two hockey team owners - Nelson Skalbania and Peter Pocklington – and played a crucial part in the history of hockey.

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 he was led 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. "

"The Swiss Backgammon Championship & Open was organized by Marcel Liechti, president of the Swiss Backgammon Association and former champion of Switzerland. The championship took place perfectly: magnificent room, friendly atmosphere, cocktail receptions offered, schedule pretty well respected."

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