Becker book
Albert Steg (Winsor)
I can't help speaking up for Bruce Becker's book 'BG for Blood'
because it was the first book on the game I ever read, back in the 70's when
it came out. (I was in 7th grade). Sure, we've all learned a lot since
then, and there are more accurate and high-powered books out there.
Serious beginners who want to become advanced as quickly as possible
and are willing to study hard while playing frequently I would advise to
read Magriel and then go straight to Robertie's books.
However, as far as books that provide a lively introduction to
fundamental strategic aspects of the game go, Becker's pretty good! At
least he writes in a vigorous, conversational way that doesn't put you to
sleep. Magriel's book is a great work, but I would never drop it on
newcomers to the game. Those of us who play "seriously" often forget that
not everyone plays for money. Becker's book may well motivate newplayers to
get hooked on the game, when Magriel might put them to sleep.
I haven't read the book lately, but I would bet that less of it is
"wrong" than is suggested by calling it "garbage." For the beginner, the
greatest bulk of it is probably sound (ditto for the generally pooh-poohed
"Cruelest Game" by Cooke). (Cooke's 'Paradoxes & Probabilities' on the
other hand, is way off the beam, because it purports to treat more delicate
decision-making, but does so erroneously, potentially causing severe damage
to your game). In short, Becker's book is okay as a first book, but if you
want to win any money at the game, it had better not be your last!
Finally, for those readers who do know the game to an advanced or
expert level, the arrogance of Becker's tone, the sheer brass involved in
championing his opening 6-5 play (two down) is hilarious. My favorite
passages are on the last page of the book in a discussion of scoring
gammons,etc:
"There are also some players who do not allow gammons in games that
have not been *voluntarily* doubled at least once. . . .In practice,
however, all it does is coddle the lesser player; I don't think he should
stay out late at night playing backgammon if he needs this kind of
protection." (And this was more than a decade before "Hans and Franz"!)
. . . and again with reference to the practice of automatic doubles:
"Some players limit this practice, so that the cube may be turned up
once, but not again. . . . And, of course, some cowards don't allow turning
the cube at all. Here, you take your choice."
Having said this much, I consider whatever debt I owe to Bruce
Becker for the money I made in highschool playing for a quarter a point with
his book in mind paid in full. My opponents hadn't read anything at all.
Incidentally, I'd love to hear whatever happened to the man. Anyone able to
chip in on Igor's report that the man was, himself, fictional?
-Albert Steg
--
"When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books,the
first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt
themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasure.
-Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel"
Darse Billings
"Backgammon for Blood".
The observant reader will have noticed that the people saying the book
is terrible are generally very strong players, so their opinions hold
a lot of credibility.
I too feel it is a book full of false statements and dangerous ideas,
but as an intermediate player who is still learning the game, I can
also see the reason for the differing views...
"Backgammon for Blood" *will* help the novice player improve her game,
and that *will* result in winning more games against other novices...
More importantly, it does force the reader to *think*, since it poses
questions and challenges the more widely accepted views on strategy,
such as those found in Jacoby and Crawford's 1971 introductory book.
In this respect, Becker's book does some good, and we now know that the
staid ideas of the old school really were in need of being challenged
and refined.
In "Backgammon for Blood", there are perhaps two sound ideas for every
bad one, which might suggest that it has some value. Unfortunately,
this high noise-to-signal ratio makes the book nearly useless to the
serious student, because she has no way of separating the grain from
the chaff.
But I think it is a useful exercise for the serious student to critique
Becker's book. For example, you can examine his opening moves, deciding
which ones are reasonable alternatives (eg. slotting moves) and which
ones are complete and utter garbage (eg. 6/5, where he thinks 24-13 is
lame!).
Luckily, the first time I read "Backgammon for Blood", I never took his
ideas very seriously, particularly after reading his totally bogus
chapter on the doubling cube. (He teaches us that the cube has nothing
whatever to do with math or probabilities -- it's all about gusto, and
how intently you stare at your opponent!-) Consequently, I didn't have
to waste a lot of time "unlearning" bad ideas.
By comparison, Magriel's "Backgammon" book deserves all of the lofty
praise it receives, and will particularly appeal to the student with a
precise, systematic, and logical mind.
I returned to Becker's book only after I had studied Magriel's treatise,
and thus had developed a more solid foundation of backgammon fundamentals.
I think re-reading Becker's book with a critical eye helped me learn some
of the pros and cons of dynamic play, as well as exposing some flawed
ideas and bad habits which could easily have crept into my own game.
Cheers, - Darse.
--
Go is better than Chess. Poker is more lucrative. Sex is more fun.
Darse Billings, 7 kyu; 2065 CFC; meaningless IRC sb/hand ratios:
Hold'em +0.23 ; HiLo Omaha +1.20
James Takahashi
by "Backgammon for Blood" in the late 70's-- I wonder what my
reaction would be to a 2nd reading in the 90's?
All this Becker-bashing got me wondering about what would be the
consensus absolute *worst* bg book? I recall having read a book
(also in the mid to late 70's) titled "Alpha Backgammon" which
still makes me chuckle when I recall it. It was purportedly
written by a former world bg champion (although his name
escapes me)-- the aspect which makes it my "worst ever" candidate
was that it instructed the reader how to use a meditation
technique to influence the rolls of the dice! It even included
strategy for what dice to wish for in various situations.
Can anyone top this?
Patti Beadles
written by Arthur Prager. It's really slimy.
Among the tricks it advocates are:
- Inserting a needle into a cigarette before a game, so that the ash
grows without falling, driving your oppoennt crazy;
- "The safety pin strategem";
- Cheating by embedding metal in the checkers and using a magnet under
the table to move them.
We're talking serious slime here.
--
Patti Beadles |
pat...@netcom.com | All you touch and all you see
pat...@ichips.intel.com | is all your life will ever be
or just yell, "Hey, Patti!" |
David Hochron
tongue-in-cheek.
David
Albert Steg (Winsor)
In a previous article, jm...@sequent.com (James Takahashi) says:
>
>All this Becker-bashing got me wondering about what would be the
>consensus absolute *worst* bg book? I recall having read a book
>(also in the mid to late 70's) titled "Alpha Backgammon" which
>still makes me chuckle when I recall it. It was purportedly
>written by a former world bg champion (although his name
>escapes me)-- the aspect which makes it my "worst ever" candidate
>was that it instructed the reader how to use a meditation
>technique to influence the rolls of the dice! It even included
>strategy for what dice to wish for in various situations.
Now *there's* a hilarious book. The author is "Baron" Vernon Ball,
and I'd love to know where he earned his "World Champion" title as
advertised on the cover. I think he's still around because Carol Joy Cole
mentions runing into him at a tournament in the Carribean or somewhere, and
that she was able to get a stock of this out-of-print book for all of us
collectors out there. (I think it costs $10).
The book is the only one I 've seen, though, that offers advice in
positions that we often regard as completely beyond help. for instance, in
the bear-off with two checkers on one's own ace-point and an opponent on
roll with a checker on the ace- and three- points, Ball encourages us:
"X does not sit idly by and accept as fact that he will lose. X
knows that 2-1's do appear and that he knows how to help make a 2-1 appear
more often than probability. X visualizes a 2-1 on his mental screen and
concentrates while O is rolling the dice. . ." (p.186)
Yep, this book has it all. Chapters on psychokinetic ability, meditation
techniques, and and appendix of various drugs and their effect on your
playing ability (actually, I know some people who need to read that
chapter).
The really sad thing about this book is that it has the potential to
lure vulnerable people into an unwarranted belief in paranormalphenomena.
I've found no game that encourages the fallacy of "selective memory" more
than backgammon. Players practicing "Silva Mind Control" will find their
efforts "rewarded" about, oh, I'd say about 1/18 of the time. They will
seize upon these successes as evidence for paranormal ability and forget the
times when it doesn't work, or, just as likely, say "I didn't concentrte
hard enough."
Ever notice how your own "jokers" seem "only fair," while while those of
your opponent seem like unholy aberrations of nature?
None of this, though, makes _Alpha Backgammon_ the worst book out there. At
least it's amusing to look at and is produced in a reasonably atractive way.
My vote for worst book is a cheaply produced hardback edition of _Backgammon_,
by Walter Gibson. Boring title (only Magriel gets away with it), uglyprint,
boring prose, inaccurate diagrams and bad advice. No redeeming factors
whatsoever.
Albert
SGokmen
as...@k12.ucs.umass.edu (Albert Steg (Winsor)) writes:
Hey guys, put things in perspective!
When Becker wrote that infamous book in mid 70's (I think), the ideas
were very novel at the time and I think the game was played in a
fairly unsophisticated way by todays standards. Very few people
really understood timing or backgame. I used to make a great living
playing BG in South of France and Paris in late 70's (upto $500 a
point!), seen a lot of the so called experts of the time including
Dwek going bust more than once.
The *feel* of the game is the hardest part to get from a book there
is simply no alternative to playing against top players to master the
game, ideally in a chouette so you can limit your losses and ask dumb
questions. Also the mental aspect can only be gained through real
experience. You have to be capable of altering your game to your
opponents mental state, sometimes hitting those blots even when there
are better plays elsewhere, because some people just hate being hit
more than others and that 66 puts them straight to tilt heaven.
I have not played much in over 10 years, (burnout after 10 hours a
day for 5 years), and I am sure that the game has advanced
tremendously since, but seeing all these references to these old
books inc. Magriel (our Bible at the time), make me wonder!
BTW any players in Las Vegas area ?
DrBillS
(SGokmen) writes:
>> When Becker wrote that infamous book in mid 70's (I think), the
ideas
were very novel at the time and I think the game was played in a
fairly unsophisticated way by todays standards. Very few people
really understood timing or backgame. I used to make a great living
playing BG in South of France and Paris in late 70's (upto $500 a
point!), seen a lot of the so called experts of the time including
Dwek going bust more than once.
Backgammon for Blood was good enough that I lived off my winnings for
6 months in L.A. (while I was "unemployed") after I read it and
followed his game plans. In fact I gave up Backgammon after this,
not becasue of burnout, but becasue I could not find an opponent who
could beat me more than very occasionally.
Bill
Gerald E Mortensen
: Backgammon for Blood was good enough that I lived off my winnings for
: 6 months in L.A. (while I was "unemployed") after I read it and
: followed his game plans. In fact I gave up Backgammon after this,
: not becasue of burnout, but becasue I could not find an opponent who
: could beat me more than very occasionally.
: Bill
come on over to FIBS. i'll bet we can rustle up some competition for
you.
jay (wilfo)
--
** Gerald E. Mortensen (aka Jay) Syracuse Research Corp. ***
** Research Engineer Merrill Lane ***
** (315)426-3269 -- gmor...@mailbox.syr.edu Syracuse, NY 13210 ***