Henrico man pits wits against Monopoly’s best

Growing up the youngest of six children, Henrico County resident Ellis Baggs was the one being beat at board games by his older brothers and sisters.

Years later, Baggs is the one who routinely comes out on top at board games. The environmental lawyer at Hunton & Williams is so successful at Monopoly that he qualified for this week's 2009 Monopoly U.S. National Championship in Washington.

"He beats me all the time," said his wife, Cheryl. "I was like, 'Why can you not use this to gain something for us?"

At stake for the winner at Wednesday's championship: $20,580 (the equivalent of the bank in Monopoly) and a chance to vie for the world championship in October in Las Vegas.

The first Monopoly World Championship was held in 1973; since then, 12 players from 10 countries have won titles. Spain's Antonio Zafra earned the last world title at the 2004 world championship in Tokyo.

Baggs says he nearly missed his chance to compete. After competing in an online tournament at popular gaming Web site pogo.com, Baggs was ranked 24th, one off the target number.

"I came home . . . missing it by one spot," Baggs said.

But a few days later, he received an e-mail informing him that he was one of the 28 participants for the national championship.

The two-day tournament offers one round tomorrow night at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington County and two more Wednesday morning at Union Station in Washington.

From there, the four players with the highest score will compete for the championship Wednesday afternoon.

Monopoly remains a staple in the Baggses' home. The family of four owns four varieties of the board game and Monopoly: The Card Game.

The Baggses' 7-year-old son, Emil, is quickly learning strategies of the game, such as which properties have higher returns when bought and developed. Their 2½-year-old daughter, Ruth, isn't old enough to play but excitedly says 4 is her target age to start.

"We're all interested in learning to be good sports -- not sore losers and not sore winners," Baggs said. "There are a lot of lessons that can by learned by playing Monopoly and board games in general."

Baggs is expecting the competition to be fierce at this week's tournament as the players vie for a spot in the world championship later this year.

Of his chances, he said, there is a low probability of advancing "because everybody is cutthroat at this thing, I understand. If the dice are nice, then maybe so."

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or .