Walter Trice - USA

    Walter Trice lived in Massachusetts, USA until his death in 2009, and has played in live backgammon tournaments for more than 30 years. Trice rarely, if ever, plays in international events outside the USA but is a highly respected backgammon analyst and theorist the world over. He is the co-author, with Jake Jacobs (currently Giant #14) of a book released in 1996 called “Can a Fish Taste Twice as Good? Doubling in an Unequal Backgammon Match” and has written the Bearoff Quizmaster as well as other backgammon programs.

    Most importantly, Walter Trice is the author of Backgammon Boot Camp, a book released in 2004 which in these modern times is recommended as the “must-read” book for any beginner, and for that matter, advanced player, looking to improve fast. The book consists of a series of highly acclaimed backgammon articles first published online. The articles were then taken, updated and re-written to some extent, and published in a book by Fortuitous Press.

    The original idea for the series came from Michael Strato, the well-known international backgammon consultant and online magazine editor, who asked Trice to write a weekly beginner series starting with the most basic of strategies – Strato kept asking for more, Trice kept writing, and a year later it had reached a level where even advanced players said they were learning something new.

    Trice has appeared in the top #32 Giants of Backgammon ranking list on four occasions with his highest ranking at #23 in the 2005 poll. In recent years alone, Walter has won first place in the Championship flight of the Las Vegas Backgammon Open in 2004, an event in which there were 101 participants with 27 rebuys. He also won the 64-player Championship of the 2004 Indiana Open Backgammon Tournament.

    In June of 2004, Walter married his long-time sweetheart, Donna McDermott, and went on a beautiful honeymoon with her to a lovely island off the coast of Maine.