.Free lesson
Donald Kahn
world's best. They cost me, and I pass them along as a gift.
dk
If being hit 11/36 means being gammoned, and you are not a favorite if
missed, it is a marginal take.
2A 3A. You should play on for a gammon where you would cash
otherwise.
3 points in front of a double anchor is a pass. Should cash it.
Be liberal with doubles in tournaments. You will get passes, and if
taken, they don't redouble efficiently.
With one man back, attack and run. Don't try to play pure.
4A 8A. You can double if you have gammon chances..
Don't overprotect a lead. Europeans do this.
4A your initial double is normal.
2A against many away, play as if you own the cube.
Take policy at 2A. Cube is dead and you can't win a gammon, so it is
more conservative than normal. 25%
if there are no gammons against you.
When can you double at 2A4A? Never if there is any gammon chance.
Wait for near 84%, his take point.
5 pieces on the 3 point is a favorite to save gammon.
Aggressive unstacking is the way to avoid gammons.
2A 3A. You can double, if no gammon possibility, at 75%, his take
point.
3A 2A, fast double fast pass.
4A 2A, double early only on gammon threats. Otherwise you can wait,
because opp, has a low take point.
If a squeeze looks likely, break the anchor while he has a blot.
Avoid races when the cube is gone. Hit where you might not otherwise.
Leading 4A 5A don't get gammoned holding the cube. Turn it to 4.
When opp is on the bar against your 4 or 5 point board, take the play
you would if you knew he would fan.
Split early to avoid gammons.
Against an opening 6-5, 3-3 should make 5 and 3 points.
Given a choice of hitting a 2nd piece or making an inner point, make
the point.
8 pieces off and 1 closed out, your have 50%. 10 off, you have 75%.
11 off, double and pass.
5 off, 1 closed out is a pass. 6 off is a take.
Opp has 13 off, 2 closed out, you have 33%
12 off, 25%
11 off, pass his double.
Be happy to miss your market with a small pass.
Don't bury checkers against a back game. Extras in the home are
wasted. Against a 1-3 backgame, slot the 2 point and don't cover it.
Hope that he hits it, so you can recycle it and make the 9 point.
Then the backgame goes broke. Don't be in a hurry to double a back
game. It is a low volatility situation.
If you are 5A 3A and take the cube, you can recube when you get to
50%. Actually your window opens at 37½%.
When playing on, given a choice, play safest. Don't get beaten by a
fly shot.
In a long game, if you can make the 15 or 16 point, do it.
3A 6A is a good score for the leader. If the trailer takes and
recubes and wins, leader still has 40%.
4A is a tricky score. You can take pretty much as for money. The
trailer has to figure on passing or recubing.
When going for a closeout after a hit in the bearoff, if you have to
close to win, slot the 4 5 or 6 points.
1-3 and 2-3 backgames are improved by being hit. Not so 1-4. This
usually degeneratees into an ace point game.
At 5A 5A redouble early.
If the 4 point is open, a 3-5 backgame is better than a
4-5.
Robert-Jan Veldhuizen
wrote:
>Following are some notes I made during a lesson with one of the
>world's best. They cost me, and I pass them along as a gift.
Thanks Donald! I understand most of them and agree with the guidelines,
but some are different from my "own" guidelines (often derived from
books or articles here in rgb) or maybe just a bit imprecise:
>Given a choice of hitting a 2nd piece or making an inner point, make
>the point.
I think this is generalizing too much. There are lots of factors: Do you
hit loose in the homeboard or somewhere else? Any return shots? How many
points have you already made? Do you have any high points open? Do you
have builders ready for a (near) close out?
Are there other blots left after picking up the second one? If you don't
pick up the second one, can you pick it up later? Is your own position
wide open after any move or is it relatively safe? If your opponent
anchors, will you be favorite to win the race safely?
Sure, a rough guideline can't answer al these questions, but the way it
is stated now it doesn't seem very useful to me really.
I remember some guideline written here, about the choice of hitting a
2nd piece or making a home board point. I believe it mentioned some
borderline: 3 points made or less, make another point; 4 points made or
more hit the 2nd blot. Not sure if I recall that one right though.
At least I think there are many many situations in which hitting the 2nd
blot is definitively better than making another point. A pretty obvious
example is when there are lots of return shots from the bar which would
be pretty serious, you'd rather hit two and be realtively safe probably.
>8 pieces off and 1 closed out, your have 50%. 10 off, you have 75%.
>11 off, double and pass.
I've read some other figures about this. I remember Brian Shepherd
mentioned as a rough guideline 5% per checker off, in case one is closed
out and you have an almost perfect bear off for the rest of them.
Apllying that rule gives lower percentages here: 40, 50 and 55%
respectively.
>5 off, 1 closed out is a pass. 6 off is a take.
Applying Brian's rule would give 25 and 30%, but I recall the actual
figures were slightly lower (23, 28?). Still, 5 off with a perfect
bearoff for the other 9 could be a borderline take if you have recube
vig?
>Opp has 13 off, 2 closed out, you have 33%
>12 off, 25%
>11 off, pass his double.
Not sure about this one, what do others think?
--
Robert-Jan/Zorba
ma...@my-dejanews.com
don...@easynet.co.uk (Donald Kahn) wrote:
> Following are some notes I made during a lesson with one of the
> world's best. They cost me, and I pass them along as a gift.
>
Nice post .
Right now i bet on 50-100 reply !
Here is my first one.
Congrat Donald.
>Leading 4A 5A don't get gammoned holding the cube. Turn it to 4.
Sure ,but not too much quickly !
Let us look some exemples !
player on roll wins 0.330 G/BG 0.000 BG 0.000
player not on roll wins 0.670 G/BG 0.330 BG 0.020
Kit Woolsey match equity table says:
Match length 11 score 7-6 cube 2
No double = 43.960
Double/Take = 38.780
Double/Drop = 75.000
Double/Redouble = 33.000
player on roll wins 0.330 G/BG 0.000 BG 0.000
player not on roll wins 0.670 G/BG 0.500 BG 0.020
Kit Woolsey match equity table says:
Match length 11 score 7-6 cube 2
No double = 39.880
Double/Take = 35.890
Double/Drop = 75.000
Double/Redouble = 33.000
player on roll wins 0.330 G/BG 0.000 BG 0.000
player not on roll wins 0.670 G/BG 0.650 BG 0.020
Kit Woolsey match equity table says:
Match length 11 score 7-6 cube 2
No double = 36.280
Double/Take = 33.340
Double/Drop = 75.000
Double/Redouble = 33.000
player on roll wins 0.400 G/BG 0.000 BG 0.000
player not on roll wins 0.600 G/BG 0.500 BG 0.020
Kit Woolsey match equity table says:
Match length 11 score 7-6 cube 2
No double = 42.260
Double/Take = 41.700
Double/Drop = 75.000
Double/Redouble = 40.000
player on roll wins 0.400 G/BG 0.000 BG 0.000
player not on roll wins 0.600 G/BG 0.550 BG 0.020
Kit Woolsey match equity table says:
Match length 11 score 7-6 cube 2
No double = 41.060
Double/Take = 40.850
Double/Drop = 75.000
Double/Redouble = 40.000
player on roll wins 0.500 G/BG 0.000 BG 0.000
player not on roll wins 0.500 G/BG 0.500 BG 0.020
Kit Woolsey match equity table says:
Match length 11 score 7-6 cube 2
No double = 45.660
Double/Take = 50.000
Double/Drop = 75.000
Double/Redouble = 50.000
That's goood !!
Bye.
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Jim Williams
Could someone explain this. I can't translate this sentence
into a position.
> Avoid races when the cube is gone. Hit where you might not
> otherwise.
What does "gone" mean? Crawford game? Opponent owns it?
Match score precludes doubling? Precludes opponent from doubling?
All the above?
Thanks for the free lesson.
Daniel Murphy
>> 3 points in front of a double anchor is a pass. Should cash it.
>
>Could someone explain this. I can't translate this sentence
>into a position.
You are playing against a 1-2, 1-3 or 2-3 backgame. All your remaining
checkers are in your home board. You have probably already taken some
checkers off. And you have 3 points in front of your opponent's back
checkers left to clear. Example: you have already cleared the 6 point and
still have the 5, 4 and 3 points left to clear against your opponent who
holding your 1 and 2 points.
Assuming your opponent also has some semblance of a winning position if he
hits a blot, Donald seems to be suggesting that your position is NOT too
good for you to double, you should double, and your opponent should pass.
Robert-Jan Veldhuizen
wrote:
>> 3 points in front of a double anchor is a pass. Should cash it.
>
>Could someone explain this. I can't translate this sentence
>into a position.
I think coming in against a backgame is meant, if you get in safe and
then have only 3 points left in front of the double anchor, you should
cash with a double/pass? However, I think that in most cases you would
already have doubled much earlier, at least I tend to double backgames
in (for the gammon chances), not out. But maybe I'm wrong there?
>> Avoid races when the cube is gone. Hit where you might not
>> otherwise.
>
>What does "gone" mean? Crawford game? Opponent owns it?
>Match score precludes doubling? Precludes opponent from doubling?
>All the above?
More or less all of the above. In (reasonably close) races, you can
usually make (very) efficient (re)doubles, significantly increasing your
equity whether or not you get a take. If you can't cube that's a
disadvantage, esp. if you're ahead in the race, but it only really hurts
I think if your opponent *can* cube.
So the Crawford game doesn't seem too much reason to avoid a race
because neither will double, but your opponent holding the cube with
good recube potential is bad for races.
--
Robert-Jan/Zorba
Sander van Rijnswou
notes he took. Here are a few questions about some
of those points. Can anybody shed some light on them?
> If being hit 11/36 means being gammoned, and you are not a favorite if
> missed, it is a marginal take.
This I don't get, Let's say my equity after
not being hit is -0.100 (since Im not a favorite) then
my present equity is about
(11/36)*(-2)+(25/36)*(-0.100)= -0.680
which is a clear drop not a marginal take.
Now if I were favourite if not hit, I'd get:
(11/36)*(-2)+(25/36)*(0.100)=.541
which with a good life cube might be takeble.
> If a squeeze looks likely, break the anchor while he has a blot.
What's a squeeze?
> When opp is on the bar against your 4 or 5 point board, take the play
> you would if you knew he would fan.
Does this mean that I should agresively slot in my home
board to go for the close out. Or does it really only
refers to my outfield?
> Against an opening 6-5, 3-3 should make 5 and 3 points.
This is a position in Robertie's 'Advanced Backgammon' !
He agrees with you, and so does the Jellyfish version 1
roll out. However in the list of Jelly replies compiled by
Torsten Schoop and in the list of Snowie replies
compiled by Rene Cerutti, we see:
Opening 65 (runs)
33: 24/21 (2), 13/10 (2)
Opening 64 (runs)
33: 8/5 (2), 6/3 (2)
So there we go...what IS the correct play (probably
there are matchscore considerations here as
the anchor play will reduce your gammon risk and the
attacking play will increase your gammon gains.)
Sander.
Alexander Nitschke
>
> A few days ago Donald Kahn posted a number of
> notes he took. Here are a few questions about some
> of those points. Can anybody shed some light on them?
>
>
> > If being hit 11/36 means being gammoned, and you are not a favorite if
> > missed, it is a marginal take.
>
> This I don't get, Let's say my equity after
> not being hit is -0.100 (since Im not a favorite) then
> my present equity is about
>
> (11/36)*(-2)+(25/36)*(-0.100)= -0.680
>
> which is a clear drop not a marginal take.
> Now if I were favourite if not hit, I'd get:
>
> (11/36)*(-2)+(25/36)*(0.100)=.541
>
> which with a good life cube might be takeble.
>
I understand this that it is normal to assume that not all games are
gammon losses if hit. There will always be some single losses or even
wins, so the equity if hit is not exactly -2, but rather -1.8 or better.
If we assume -1.7 the total equity is -0.59 and so a take with a live
cube. -0.541 is pretty much always a take in such a situation.
Best wishes
Alexander
ma...@my-dejanews.com
don...@easynet.co.uk (Donald Kahn) wrote:
> Following are some notes I made during a lesson with one of the
> world's best. They cost me, and I pass them along as a gift.
>
> dk
>
> missed, it is a marginal take.
>
> otherwise.
>
>
> taken, they don't redouble efficiently.
>
> With one man back, attack and run. Don't try to play pure.
>
> 4A 8A. You can double if you have gammon chances..
>
> Don't overprotect a lead. Europeans do this.
>
> 4A your initial double is normal.
>
> 2A against many away, play as if you own the cube.
>
> Take policy at 2A. Cube is dead and you can't win a gammon, so it is
> more conservative than normal. 25%
> if there are no gammons against you.
>
> When can you double at 2A4A? Never if there is any gammon chance.
> Wait for near 84%, his take point.
>
> 5 pieces on the 3 point is a favorite to save gammon.
>
> Aggressive unstacking is the way to avoid gammons.
>
> 2A 3A. You can double, if no gammon possibility, at 75%, his take
> point.
>
> 3A 2A, fast double fast pass.
>
> 4A 2A, double early only on gammon threats. Otherwise you can wait,
> because opp, has a low take point.
>
>
>
>
> you would if you knew he would fan.
>
>
>
> the point.
>
> 11 off, double and pass.
>
>
> 12 off, 25%
> 11 off, pass his double.
>
>
> Don't bury checkers against a back game. Extras in the home are
> wasted. Against a 1-3 backgame, slot the 2 point and don't cover it.
> Hope that he hits it, so you can recycle it and make the 9 point.
> Then the backgame goes broke. Don't be in a hurry to double a back
> game. It is a low volatility situation.
>
> If you are 5A 3A and take the cube, you can recube when you get to
> 50%. Actually your window opens at 37½%.
>
> When playing on, given a choice, play safest. Don't get beaten by a
> fly shot.
>
> In a long game, if you can make the 15 or 16 point, do it.
>
> 3A 6A is a good score for the leader. If the trailer takes and
> recubes and wins, leader still has 40%.
>
> 4A is a tricky score. You can take pretty much as for money. The
> trailer has to figure on passing or recubing.
>
> When going for a closeout after a hit in the bearoff, if you have to
> close to win, slot the 4 5 or 6 points.
>
> 1-3 and 2-3 backgames are improved by being hit. Not so 1-4. This
> usually degeneratees into an ace point game.
>
> At 5A 5A redouble early.
>
> If the 4 point is open, a 3-5 backgame is better than a
> 4-5.
>
>
It is time to reactivate your interest for this nice post.