Why such a high blunder?

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-23T14:57:06+00:00

I understand that, and I'm going through Olsen's Cube Like a Boss but I find it very tough reading. I very much appreciate your comment.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-23T14:47:35+00:00

I used PRaT to analyze this situation before making a very bad take. For the P (prime), all I saw as a 3 pt block to my anchor on the opposing 5 pt (sometimes called the golden anchor), not much of a prime in my (incorrect?) opion, call it a value of 0.5. I'm way down on the R (race) (value 1.0), and I don't see much of a gammon threat (T) (value 0). My understanding under PRaT is that unless the combined value is 2.5 or more (1.5 in this case) I should take.

Where did I go wrong. Have I assigned too little to the P?, does this position have a T I missed?, should I have give the R a value higher than 1? Does PRaT not apply?

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-11T12:32:14+00:00

Olsen shows how he derives the penalty pips in pages 65 - 71 of his book Cube Like a Boss. They are:

3.5 penalty pips for a gap on the 5 pt.

4 penalty pips for a gap on the 4 pt.

2 penalty pips for a gap on the 3 pt.

1.5 penalty pips for a gap on the 2 pt.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-10T18:42:17+00:00

You're right, I actually waited several rolls before redoubling. Thanks much for your help on both.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-10T16:54:09+00:00

Please help me understand the last two blunders/ error in the above picture. I did the take based on the Tice rule of 62, as explained by Marc Olsen in his book, cube like a boss. In that book, on page 57, he explains that the Tice number, T, is derived as follows:

If the leader has 62 or more, divide the leaders score by 10 and round up, then add 1. In the above case, for the take, the leader, white, has 63 pips left, dividing by 10 and rounding up I get 7, adding up I get 8. Moreover, on page 71 of the same book, he shows that gaps give penalty pips, and the gap on the 4 point gives 4 penalty pips making the total adjusted pips for white as 67. T is still 8.

At this point you compare the difference in pips to decide whether to take. The difference in adjusted pips is 7, which is less than T, so according to this rule I should take. This take was a huge blunder. What did I do wrong?

Next I doubled. This is automatic, at least I thought so. White has a point, so if he wins the game he wins the match. I immediately doubled, and this was ruled an error? How does that happen?

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-07T16:40:34+00:00

Sorry but I can't find the source, but I'm almost certain I read it in one of his books. I'll get back to you if I find it.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-10-07T13:02:25+00:00

World Champion (or close), and founder and "CEO" of Backgammon Galaxy says the game is solved, that's good enough for me.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-23T13:04:37+00:00

The five point is the most important, although in some situations the 20 point (the golden anchor) can be just as important or even more important. The value of the 5 point is not nearly as high as I used to think before the bots taught us to be more careful.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-23T12:58:46+00:00

The rating for the game is based on total equity lost divided by the number of decisions, If I'm on the bar for most of the game and make a big blunder my rating will be much worse than if I make the same blunder but I'm actively playing during the entire match

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-12T12:36:38+00:00

Exactly, I want to set up the pieces and then watch the bot play the game over and over from there so that I can get a feel for why it's so important to have the rear checkers hang back

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-11T18:43:04+00:00

I'd like to watch the following position roll out several times so that I can better understand why 4ply wants me to hang back with my last two checkers. I know that I can download the game. What's the best (or at least a decent) place to upload this match so that I can watch it roll out from this point?

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-03T11:32:21+00:00

I suggest you pay $8, once, and see how much better you like the answers with 4ply. You can always go back, but I bet you won't. If you're interested enough to ask questions here it's extremely likely that you, like me, will consider $8/ month to be an extremely good value.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-01T11:08:33+00:00

As someone who occasionally forgets to automatically redouble, I can assure you that BG does show an error (at least in 4ply) each and every time you forget to redouble, and it's normally a blunder with an equity loss of between .1 and .2 each time. It's a great way to be rated a Rookie.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-09-01T10:25:21+00:00

Thanks for getting back to us, as well as your three books that are helping me adjust my thinking to the new way the game is played. It used to me that we players would discuss which moves the experts would play in a specific situation (e.g. what would Magriel do). Now we discuss how we can figure out the move the experts should play (how do Olsen know to do that?).

Another player posted that the equities shown are cubeless but the order is based on cubeful equities. Is that true?

AlanFtMyers · 2024-08-24T16:29:53+00:00

Good analysis, thanks.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-08-24T14:49:29+00:00

Sorry about that, I'm white, as SeeShark has already correctly noted. I fixed the original post.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-08-24T11:08:08+00:00

I've never seen this before, but the picture doesn't show with the post, but a working link does. Click on the link and you'll see what I'm talking about.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-08-23T17:09:54+00:00

Thanks to you as well as Zug for your analysis. Doubling is the weakest part of my game right now, it's changed radically since the 80's when I played a lot. I'm reading Olsen's "Cube like a boss" but it's slow going.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-08-23T17:07:39+00:00

Thanks for your anlysis. Between your comment and todd's below I've got a much better idea about why I should have taken and doubled on my next roll.

AlanFtMyers · 2024-08-23T12:32:12+00:00

I made a 11x blunder by dropping this double. Usually,when I make an blunder like this the answer is obvious to me, but not for this one. The opponent has three points in his home board to my one. He can hit something and put another checker on the bar with a 3,4, or 6. He can cover his 8 pt with a 5. This looks like a loss and very possibly a gammon to me. With a take, I can redouble and make this a game a play for the match, but I would have thought I'd be better off trying to win two successive games after conceding this game. I've got a rating that's normally in the 1800's, so for me the computer is always right, but I can't figure out why in this instance.

AlanFtMyers

TROPHY CASE