Backgammon info

[Waterproof]

Wrong [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

"his name and some identifying details have been changed"- Cigar Aficionado

Trust me. It's Svobodny. I've heard the exact same stories- minus a few detail changes- about him before. You think just some hustler could live that life with minimal skill? No way, he would hit a wall and go bust... just like poker... [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

"Also, I thought Svobodny was American. This "Simon Jones" guy is from the UK."---> details changed

[Waterproof]

As for having minimal skill...
"Today, Simon is widely regarded by cognoscenti as one of the top three backgammon players in the world." -CA


Also...
"Michael Konik, Cigar Aficionado's gambling columnist, is the author of The Man with the $100,000 Breasts and Other Gambling Stories." -CA

Svobodny was the one who lost that bet... I see a connection here [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[iceblink]

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They've also got a couple of his earlier works at one of the museums over in Madrid, which is also a great city with tremendous nightlife.


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It's the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, it's pretty good. It has, I think, two or three Dali pieces (including the one w/ the tigers and the elephant w/ the huge legs, i forget the name)
It also has this famous van gogh.

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Hmmm, that's interesting Soss, cuz I don't remember going to that museum when I lived in Madrid back in 1990.... and I woulda remembered the Van Gogh! Wonder if it was opened after 1990.

The museum I was thinking of is the Museo Espanol de Arte Contemporaneo (MEAC). It has some very early Dali pieces that are more realistic in style, like the well-known one showing the back of a girl looking out a window.

[arx]

Daliman, yoou should make it a priority to come over this year. 2004 is officially Dali´s year over here.

http://www.dali2004.org/lang.html

BTW, the Thyssen museum opened in Madrid just a few years ago, like 99 or 2000.

[iceblink]

Good point, Waterproof. Didn't think they would change a detail like his country of origin--after all, there are a lot of BG players in the US. Maybe he wanted the added layer of smokescreen.

Funny you should mention Konik's $100,000 Breasts book. I just got around to reading it last month. Very good collection of gambling stories, though I was disappointed to see that he didn't include the BG one. Wonder if that guy ever had the implants removed.... Have you read Konik's other story collection, Telling Lies and Getting Paid?