Beginner's luck
ptane...@my-dejanews.com
X to play 65
Double match point
O O X O ^ O | | O O ^ O ^ X
O X O O | | O O X
| | O X
| |
| |
| |
| |
X | | X
O X X X | | X
^ O X ^ X X | | ^ X ^ ^ ^ ^
______________________________________________
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
This is an awkward roll. I played {22/11}, but not sure it's right.
O then rolled 61. That gives:
O to play 61
O O X O ^ O | | O O ^ O ^ X
O O O | | O O X
| | O X
| |
| |
| |
| |
X | | X
O X X X | | X
^ O X ^ X X | | ^ X ^ ^ X ^
______________________________________________
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
He played {10/3*}, leaving 2 blots in his board! Obviously not much
experience at this game. But I cooperated by fanning.
Next he rolled 32. That leaves us with:
O to play 32
O O O O ^ O | | O O ^ ^ ^ X
O O O | | O O X
| | O X
| |
|X |
| |
| |
X | | X
O X X X | | X
^ O X ^ X X | | ^ X ^ ^ X ^
______________________________________________
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
He thought awhile, and I figured he's trying to decide which blot to
cover. But he uncorked {8/5, 7/5}, again leaving 2 blots! Where did this
guy learn to play bg? Anyway, I flunked again, he covered his blots, ran
his back stones out, and won easily.
OK, so he got away with it. Would it be unfair to publish the name of
this novice? Let's see - I have it written down on my scorecard - here it
is - Kit Woolsey. I dunno, maybe with some study, think Mr. Woolsey has
any future in this game?
---
Paul T.
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Sander van Rijnswou
I think that the key to understanding these moves is this:
If X escapes his last checker he wins. Period.
Eventhough O might get one or two shots during the bearoff, by
that time his board will have collapsed. Also O's gammon risk is small
since he has an anchor.
So O's strategy should be: contain that last man no matter
the cost.
It is a bit (well little bit to be honest) like position 94 in
Backgammon for profit of Joe Dwek.
(I got it from Bgblitz, tnx to Frank Berger)
^ ^ X O X X | | X X X X ^ ^
X X X | | X X
X X | |
O O O O | |
O O O O O | |
X O O O O O | | ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
O to play 6-1
The 6's are blocked. What's the proper 1? My first reaction was
3-2. However the proper play by a very wide margin (over 0.2 equity) is
2-1*. Leaving two blots in your homeboard.
The reason is that that the alternative (not hitting)
will lose the game immediatly. (Note that almost all X's numbers wil
point on you here)
I just hope that one day I'll make these plays over the board ;-)
Sander
Robert-Jan Veldhuizen
> Here's a game from one of my tournament matches a few weeks ago.
>
> X to play 65
> Double match point
>
>
> O O X O ^ O | | O O ^ O ^ X
> O X O O | | O O X
> | | O X
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> X | | X
> O X X X | | X
> ^ O X ^ X X | | ^ X ^ ^ ^ ^
> ______________________________________________
> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
>
> This is an awkward roll. I played {22/11}, but not sure it's right.
JF-level7/1000 agrees.
> O then rolled 61. That gives:
>
>
> O to play 61
>
> O O X O ^ O | | O O ^ O ^ X
> O O O | | O O X
> | | O X
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> X | | X
> O X X X | | X
> ^ O X ^ X X | | ^ X ^ ^ X ^
> ______________________________________________
> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
>
> He played {10/3*}, leaving 2 blots in his board!
JF-level7/1000 plays the more obvious 10/4 8/7. JF wasn't trained for
DMP games however, so it might underestimate winning chances for plays
that risks gammons.
I'm not sure here, I think it could be somewhat close. The quiet JF move
gives X 6's and 24 plus 25 to escape (15/36) and O will have a hard time
escaping his backcheckers then (best hope probably a fly shot).
Leaving two blots certainly makes the game more interesting and against
weaker opponents (I have no clue whether Paul would fit into this
category from Kit's POV ;-) is perhaps more profitable.
If it's necessarry and wise to make such a bold play here, I don't know.
After Kit's play, 2's, 3's and 54,55 and 56 (20/36 hits and 5/36 escapes
is actually better) still give X almost a free road home and a hit
reduces O's racing equity a lot. What's more, the third checker back
won't do O's timing that much good if he gets primed which is rather
likely.
Hmm...I suspect Kit's move might be a "blunder" (>0.05 eq loss)
actually!
>
> O to play 32
>
> O O O O ^ O | | O O ^ ^ ^ X
> O O O | | O O X
> | | O X
> | |
> |X |
> | |
> | |
> X | | X
> O X X X | | X
> ^ O X ^ X X | | ^ X ^ ^ X ^
> ______________________________________________
> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
>
>
> He thought awhile, and I figured he's trying to decide which blot to
>cover. But he uncorked {8/5, 7/5}, again leaving 2 blots!
JF again plays the more natural 7/2 and again I agree. Leaving two blots
is an unneccessary risk here. X is favorite to hit and has no problem
playing the other part of the roll so the 4-prime is of very little
value. Whether X enters on 5 or hits, he is a big favorite anyway, so O
should try to reduce the hits instead of trying to make points in order.
--
Robert-Jan/Zorba