Is Go played for money?

Question

Playing for money in this meaning would be single games played for some stake, not tournaments with a prize money.

Backgammon has a large tradition to be played like, chess a smaller one (I think). I havn't heard of Go in such a context. Is this (widely) done?

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '12 at 16:55

In the West, Go is almost exclusively played for fun. The exception here would top players who strive for tournament price money. This is actually a pretty important, there have been intense discussions between the organizers of the major Go tournaments/congresses and top players about the sum and distribution of money.

In Asia, Go is more often than not played without money on stake, however, betting on your own games is well known, too, especially for older folks. In Japan, there is a basic differentiation how money is distributed according to the result:

In ban-go the winner simply takes it all.
In me-go money is exchanged according to the territory at the end, so winning with a large difference is advantageous.

In Korea, betting games are called Bang Neki, typically with a fixed sum for winning and extra money for each bang (score difference of 10 points).

Well considering everything I know about Go in Asia comes from a cartoon, and in it there is gambling (Mitani), +1 to you — BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft, Jun 15 '12 at 15:48
The online go server http://www.tygemgo.com/ supports betting on games as part of its service. — ulty4life, Apr 07 '13 at 03:10

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 15 '12 at 12:56

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There is no particular tradition of players gambling over a game of Go. Go is generally a teaching game, where a higher-skilled player will grant an opponent a number of handicap stones in order to even the playing field. This is not really compatible with the cutthroat atmosphere that wagers bring to the table.

answered Jun 15 '12 at 12:56

Hyppy

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This is very true, I never understood how handicap and betting can be used together in the same game. – mafu Jun 15 '12 at 15:05
@mafutrct Handicaps with betting make perfect sense, if you are offering 1:1 odds on the outcome of the game there is no incentive for the weaker player to take the bet. With handicap you can try to get a 50:50 win ratio and so make the bet "fair". - Not that this has anything in particular to do with go, but with all betting games in general. – Nick Jun 15 '12 at 16:39
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@Nick Yes, but wouldn't you always try 'sandbag' the other player (claiming you're weaker than you really are)? – mafu Jun 17 '12 at 15:17

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 11 '12 at 21:18

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If you go to Chinatowns, particularly in New York or San Francisco, you can find games played for money.

Some of them are run honestly, in other places, you might get robbed.

answered Jul 11 '12 at 21:18

Tom Au

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 19 '14 at 02:19

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Korean baduk servers (baduk = Go) have a bet system.

answered Jan 19 '14 at 02:19

arboreal84

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Is Go played for money?

4 Answers4