• Not too fast!

    From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to All on Thu Dec 22 21:11:24 2022
    GNU Backgammon Position ID: tncLACCMt5EBMA
    Match ID : UQlnAXAAEAAE
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ O: gnubg
    | X O | | O O O O O X | 7 points
    | X | | O O O O O X |
    | | | O O |
    | | | O |
    | | | |
    v| |BAR| | 11 point match
    | | | |
    | | | X |
    | | | X |
    | X X | | X X | Rolled 61
    | X X X | | X X O | 2 points
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ X: axel (Cube: 2)
    Pip counts: O 84, X 145

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Thu Dec 22 20:19:59 2022
    On 12/22/2022 3:11 PM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    GNU Backgammon Position ID: tncLACCMt5EBMA
    Match ID : UQlnAXAAEAAE
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ O: gnubg
    | X O | | O O O O O X | 7 points
    | X | | O O O O O X |
    | | | O O |
    | | | O |
    | | | |
    v| |BAR| | 11 point match
    | | | |
    | | | X |
    | | | X |
    | X X | | X X | Rolled 61
    | X X X | | X X O | 2 points
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ X: axel (Cube: 2)
    Pip counts: O 84, X 145

    Was this a double before the roll? Maybe not, but I would have thought
    about it. In any case, it's likely to be a double next roll, if nothing disastrous happens, so I don't want to risk losing that double with a
    risky play. 11/5 6/5 for me.

    ---
    Tim Chow

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  • From Stick Rice@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Thu Dec 22 20:43:50 2022
    On Thursday, December 22, 2022 at 3:11:26 PM UTC-5, Axel Reichert wrote:
    GNU Backgammon Position ID: tncLACCMt5EBMA
    Match ID : UQlnAXAAEAAE
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ O: gnubg
    | X O | | O O O O O X | 7 points
    | X | | O O O O O X |
    | | | O O |
    | | | O |
    | | | |
    v| |BAR| | 11 point match
    | | | |
    | | | X |
    | | | X |
    | X X | | X X | Rolled 61
    | X X X | | X X O | 2 points
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ X: axel (Cube: 2)
    Pip counts: O 84, X 145

    Not too fast? 5pt before the dice hit the felt. As for cubing before the roll as Tim mentioned, I wouldn't cube anyone here except XG.

    Stick

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  • From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Sat Dec 24 15:36:13 2022
    Axel Reichert <mail@axel-reichert.de> writes:

    GNU Backgammon Position ID: tncLACCMt5EBMA
    Match ID : UQlnAXAAEAAE
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ O: gnubg
    | X O | | O O O O O X | 7 points
    | X | | O O O O O X |
    | | | O O |
    | | | O |
    | | | |
    v| |BAR| | 11 point match
    | | | |
    | | | X |
    | | | X |
    | X X | | X X | Rolled 61
    | X X X | | X X O | 2 points
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ X: axel (Cube: 2)
    Pip counts: O 84, X 145

    This position was more a psychological problem: Over the board, I first
    saw the blot on the bar point, grabbed the back checker and hit. After
    all, it cannot be that bad to escape from a five-prime and strengthen
    outfield control, especially when behind in the race. As a big fan of backgammon for idiots (paraphrased from Phil Simborg: "hit, else point,
    else cover") I did not look elsewhere and did not notice that the
    opponent is likely to crash very soon, making an escape much easier and
    safer. But after the hit, X gets gammoned in more than 40 % of his
    losses.

    In hindsight, with a minimal amount of thinking I would have avoided
    this 8-times whopper. Time to subscribe to the Zizka Method

    https://backgammoncoaching.com/buy-a-book/

    ? Maybe. For completeness:

    Rolled 61:
    1. Rollout 11/5 6/5 Eq.: +0.743
    0.585 0.075 0.002 - 0.415 0.179 0.018 CL +0.257 CF +0.743
    [0.001 0.001 0.000 - 0.001 0.002 0.000 CL 0.005 CF 0.005]
    Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 6) with variance reduction
    658 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 445148145 and quasi-random dice
    Stop when std.errs. are small enough: limit 0.0050 (min. 36 games)
    Play: world class 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Skip pruning for 1-ply moves.
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    Different evaluations after 2 plies:
    Play: 1-ply cubeful
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    2. Rollout 13/7 6/5 Eq.: +0.036 (-0.707)
    0.425 0.046 0.001 - 0.575 0.335 0.055 CL -0.282 CF +0.036
    [0.001 0.000 0.000 - 0.001 0.002 0.001 CL 0.005 CF 0.004]
    Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 6) with variance reduction
    964 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 445148145 and quasi-random dice
    Stop when std.errs. are small enough: limit 0.0050 (min. 36 games)
    Play: world class 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Skip pruning for 1-ply moves.
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    Different evaluations after 2 plies:
    Play: 1-ply cubeful
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    3. Rollout 13/7 11/10 Eq.: -0.038 (-0.781)
    0.399 0.042 0.001 - 0.601 0.293 0.035 CL -0.333 CF -0.038
    [0.001 0.000 0.000 - 0.001 0.002 0.000 CL 0.005 CF 0.004]
    Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 6) with variance reduction
    837 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 445148145 and quasi-random dice
    Stop when std.errs. are small enough: limit 0.0050 (min. 36 games)
    Play: world class 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Skip pruning for 1-ply moves.
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    Different evaluations after 2 plies:
    Play: 1-ply cubeful
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    4. Rollout 13/12 13/7 Eq.: -0.081 (-0.824)
    0.383 0.042 0.001 - 0.617 0.281 0.031 CL -0.367 CF -0.081
    [0.001 0.000 0.000 - 0.001 0.002 0.001 CL 0.005 CF 0.004]
    Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 6) with variance reduction
    754 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 445148145 and quasi-random dice
    Stop when std.errs. are small enough: limit 0.0050 (min. 36 games)
    Play: world class 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Skip pruning for 1-ply moves.
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    Different evaluations after 2 plies:
    Play: 1-ply cubeful
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    5. Rollout 13/12 11/5 Eq.: -0.110 (-0.853)
    0.391 0.041 0.001 - 0.609 0.347 0.054 CL -0.385 CF -0.110
    [0.001 0.000 0.000 - 0.001 0.001 0.000 CL 0.005 CF 0.003]
    Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 6) with variance reduction
    1054 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 445148145 and quasi-random dice
    Stop when std.errs. are small enough: limit 0.0050 (min. 36 games)
    Play: world class 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Skip pruning for 1-ply moves.
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    Different evaluations after 2 plies:
    Play: 1-ply cubeful
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    6. Rollout 24/18* 11/10 Eq.: -0.110 (-0.853)
    0.366 0.082 0.005 - 0.634 0.451 0.015 CL -0.193 CF -0.110
    [0.001 0.000 0.000 - 0.001 0.001 0.000 CL 0.005 CF 0.003]
    Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 6) with variance reduction
    1743 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 445148145 and quasi-random dice
    Stop when std.errs. are small enough: limit 0.0050 (min. 36 games)
    Play: world class 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Skip pruning for 1-ply moves.
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]
    Different evaluations after 2 plies:
    Play: 1-ply cubeful
    keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 8 more moves within equity 0.16
    Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]

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  • From ah....Clem@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Sat Dec 24 11:47:28 2022
    On 12/22/2022 3:11 PM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    GNU Backgammon Position ID: tncLACCMt5EBMA
    Match ID : UQlnAXAAEAAE
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ O: gnubg
    | X O | | O O O O O X | 7 points
    | X | | O O O O O X |
    | | | O O |
    | | | O |
    | | | |
    v| |BAR| | 11 point match
    | | | |
    | | | X |
    | | | X |
    | X X | | X X | Rolled 61
    | X X X | | X X O | 2 points
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ X: axel (Cube: 2)
    Pip counts: O 84, X 145

    When in doubt make the five point?

    It nicely blocks O's runner most of the time and makes her board crunch.
    After the crunch we should be able to waltz our runners around the
    board at our leisure.

    The hit is tempting, but I'll make the five point.

    --
    Ah....Clem
    The future is fun, the future is fair.

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Sun Dec 25 08:15:50 2022
    On 12/24/2022 9:36 AM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    This position was more a psychological problem: Over the board, I first
    saw the blot on the bar point, grabbed the back checker and hit.

    Especially when I play weaker opponents, I use the semi-joking rule of
    thumb, "Leave blots to confuse the opponent." That is, when a safe play
    and a bold play look about equally good to me, I'll make the bold play,
    because it usually gives the opponent some tricky decisions whether to
    hit or not to hit. Making the wrong decision in such positions can cost
    a huge amount of equity.

    I did not look elsewhere and did not notice that the
    opponent is likely to crash very soon, making an escape much easier and safer. But after the hit, X gets gammoned in more than 40 % of his
    losses.

    More to the point, I would say, is that X loses about 60% of the time
    instead of about 40% of the time. Breaking anchor and leaving blots
    when the opponent has you massively outboarded is typically only a
    candidate when your opponent has no checkers back and it's your last
    chance to send a checker back, and even then it's not always right.

    In hindsight, with a minimal amount of thinking I would have avoided
    this 8-times whopper. Time to subscribe to the Zizka Method

    https://backgammoncoaching.com/buy-a-book/

    Have you read this book? I've considered buying it but haven't yet.

    ---
    Tim Chow

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  • From Axel Reichert@21:1/5 to Timothy Chow on Mon Dec 26 09:11:26 2022
    Timothy Chow <tchow12000@yahoo.com> writes:

    On 12/24/2022 9:36 AM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    when a safe play and a bold play look about equally good to me, I'll
    make the bold play, because it usually gives the opponent some tricky decisions whether to hit or not to hit. Making the wrong decision in
    such positions can cost a huge amount of equity.

    A nice one! I use this in the opening, but not as a general guideline.

    https://backgammoncoaching.com/buy-a-book/

    Have you read this book?

    No. Neither Dirk Schiemann's tome on theory. But both are on my shopping
    list. Have you read Dirk's book?

    Best regards

    Axel

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  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to Axel Reichert on Mon Dec 26 08:06:08 2022
    On 12/26/2022 3:11 AM, Axel Reichert wrote:
    No. Neither Dirk Schiemann's tome on theory. But both are on my shopping list. Have you read Dirk's book?

    I started reading it and intend to get back to it.

    I have been reading Michy's third book, "Back Checker Strategy."
    I like it better than his first two books, because there are more
    ideas in the third book that I haven't thought about before.

    ---
    Tim Chow

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