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Backgammon NewsAugust 22, 2009Walter Trice dies at 60Backgammon player, author and theorist Walter Trice, has passed away during his afternoon nap, aged 60. Walter Trice, who lived in Massachusetts, USA, was ranked at no. 8 on ABT all-time standing and no. 26 in the recent Giants of Backgammon list. He authored the classic backgammon book Backgammon Boot Camp and co-authored (along with Jake Jacobs) Can a Fish Taste Twice as Good? Doubling in an Unequal Backgammon Match. He had also developed the effective pip count method, which may be renamed as Tricecount in his memory. Walter Trice has been playing backgammon professionally for over 30 years, mostly in the American Backgammon Tour (ABT) events. In the last couple of years he won a side event at the 2008 Las Vegas Open backgammon tournament and the consolation division at the 2007 Ohio State Backgammon Championships. In 2004, he has championed the Las Vegas Backgammon Open and the Indiana Open Backgammon Tournament. Backgammon Books and TheoriesWalter Trice was known in the international backgammon community mostly for Backgammon Boot Camp, compiling articles originally published in various online platforms. Published in 2004, Backgammon Boot Camp is considered an essential book for backgammon beginners that aim to make a fast leap to the intermediate or even advanced level. His second book, Can a Fish Taste Twice as Good?, offers a mathematical analysis of backgammon games played by opponents who vary in their skill levels, thus it approaches mostly addicts. As a backgammon theorist, Trice has also created a backgammon program called Bearoff Quizmaster, focusing on cube action in the bearoff phase of the backgammon game, and developed the effective pip count method, which calculates the player's pip count with the addition of the wastage of the position. To calculate a player's pip count, he has to multiply the average pip value of a roll (49/6) by the average number of rolls required to bear off his entire checkers. |
