New on MOB

• Mochy explores very rare position (in English!)
• Bob Wachtel freezes in Meribel Backgammon 2010
• Bob Wachtel goes back to the cradle of backgammon
• Bob Wachtel plays the Norway Cup
• Bob Wachtel visits the less traveled backgammon tournaments in Europe
• Mary Hickey Enjoys her Backgammon Success
• Bob Wachtel Finalizes Swiss Backgammon Championship 2010
• Interview with the Unflappable Bob Koca
• Bob Wachtel Plays with the Kids of Bristol

Ed O'Laughlin of Florida in the USA has played live backgammon for many years. Now retired from his regular day job, O'Laughlin has been getting out to more and more events and says that playing professional backgammon has become his life.

Even before the age of the backgammon bots, Ed O'Laughlin has been a top player for many years. There is a match that was recorded against Paul Magriel at the 1991 Las Vegas Open, that was later taken and analyzed by Snowie when that bot was released in the late 1990s, and which shows that, back then, O'Laughlin played at an Advanced level, at 6.6 over all error rate and that Magriel played at an Expert level, with a 4.4 overall error rate. Back in 1995, O'Laughlin was rated #2 on Kent Goulding's International Rating List. Today, Ed has often been recorded playing at less than a 3.0 overall error rate, or what is considered a World Class level.

At the 32nd World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo in 2007, Ed O'Laughlin faced Sven Rumcker of Germany in the final of the Super Jackpot. Ed would have surely won the match had it not been for a game in which he says he should have won at least a gammon. With one checker remaining to bearoff, Rumcker, waiting on his 1 point hits the checker and O'Laughlin rolls bad long enough for Rumcker to come around and bearoff all his checkers! Ed still won a lot of money in that event for coming in second.

In the last couple of years, O'Laughlin has been getting out to Europe to play in most of the PartoucheGammon Tour (PGT) and World Series of Backgammon (WSOB) events. He won the PGT Masters at the 7th International Paris Master & Open Backgammon Tournament in March of 2006 against Leonid Riskin of Russia/Germany. He also won the Open Championship Division of the PGT - Forges Partouche Backgammon Challenge in June of 2008.

Back home in the USA, O'Laughlin has won many events, such as the Championship flight at 26th Annual Chicago Open Backgammon Tournament in 2005 and the Masters at the same event in 2004. He also won Bill Robertie's 3rd Boston Open in 2004 where he also snatched the Masters Jackpot. In 2002, he won the Open at the Georgia Championships and the 24th Pittsburgh Championships.