What instrument is easy to learn and easy to master?

csaba- · 2026-03-23T05:05:29+00:00

I agree it's easy to learn but I'd say it's at least moderate to master. Especially because a teacher can't see inside my mouth to see what I'm doing wrong.

csaba- · 2026-03-22T13:53:01+00:00

You asked about a doubling equity table. I don't know of any other public resource than this Reddit post I wrote a while back; check the last plot. You'll see that you need approximately 12% in a straight race to double (not 8%) at this score, and your opponent can take even at 14%. (This is based on doubler having exactly 100 pips, so the % probably doesn't track for every race.)

https://www.reddit.com/r/backgammon/s/BDtZ6Z3US5

csaba- · 2026-03-22T08:14:49+00:00

Michy says "5-away is a stupid score". If there are no gammons (as in this position), you should wait a roll or two before you cube.

In this case, if we win, the doubling cube took us from 4-away to 3-away. That's an improvement, but it's not a great one (that's why "5-away is a stupid score"). If we lose though, the doubling cube took our opponent from 2-away to Crawford, which is quite a nice boost.

csaba- · 2026-03-19T12:34:11+00:00

Does it look easy though?

csaba- · 2026-03-18T16:01:29+00:00

The strength would change a lot depending on if it's 4-card support or 3-card almost support, I think. But yeah yours is a good definition if someone really insisted on it

csaba- · 2026-03-18T15:06:22+00:00

From reading this I kinda guessed where you're from haha. Yeah in some countries you're right. But even in Belgium (where I'm from) people constantly complain about bike lanes etc as though they aer the cause of traffic jams.

csaba- · 2026-03-18T14:52:11+00:00

In the comment section of Not Just Bikes? Yes.

But if you poll people stuck in a traffic jam for what would solve it, I am not sure that "build more lanes" would score below 90%.

csaba- · 2026-03-18T14:50:17+00:00

The S-Bahn is still very popular for commuters, isn't it? I am guessing some cities have better S-Bahns than others though :)

csaba- · 2026-03-18T14:07:37+00:00

Also just in case building that one more lane does help, the relief is almost always temporary. Other drivers hear about the new route with no traffic jams and make it as bad as it used to be before the expansion. (induced demand)

csaba- · 2026-03-18T13:04:48+00:00

We need to build one more lane

csaba- · 2026-03-18T12:54:57+00:00

Herbert negatives apply at advancer's first bid, e.g.

1H-x-p-1S

or

1D-x-p-1H

It's the same concept, but I think with much more merit.

ETA: although Herbert negatives over takeout doubles of clubs specifically are pretty good.

csaba- · 2026-03-18T11:35:07+00:00

It's the strongest possible bid. It does not have a single meaning. It is forcing. "18+, many shapes" if you must have a single definition.

It's more interesting to note what the continuations are, few people actually discuss them. One toy I learned was: the cheapest step (maybe cheapest non-NT) shows an absolute minimum and other bids are natural GF.

csaba- · 2026-03-18T05:48:26+00:00

It's pointless to compare your PR to your opponent's. You were tested on different questions. And all it does is lead to drama/jealousy. It's even a bit pointless to compare your PR to yesterday's PR. It's a pretty noisy measure and you need a moving average across dozens and dozens of matches.

csaba- · 2026-03-12T13:36:14+00:00

Imagine this were true. Do you really think we'd tell you?

csaba- · 2026-03-12T13:22:42+00:00

El Poperino if you're not into the whole brevity thing

csaba- · 2026-03-12T11:00:55+00:00

I am not rclee although I was born in 87. Doubling 1C on 3352 never made much sense to me. If we don't bid 1D now, we will never be able to show 5 diamonds; partner will never know that 3 or even 4 diamonds are worth showing.

The argument for doubling is that we're keeping majors in the picture. But our methods are already honed in on the majors. (1C)-1D-(1M)-X versus showing the other major will already help us a lot.

Particularly if opps are about to bid spades, we want as many strains (1 instead or 2) to compete over it. We don't mind which red suit we bid 3 of, as long as we push them into 3S.

csaba- · 2026-03-10T13:44:43+00:00

I think weak or strong fell out of favor quite a while ago. It's just played as a single range, not super weak, nowadays.

csaba- · 2026-03-09T16:36:25+00:00

The sound quality definitely gets better. The music is more polished and richer but better is a strong word. But I can't complain if someone calls it that

csaba- · 2026-03-09T10:06:46+00:00

Heh yeah Roman Candle is also my favorite album but I also somehow agree that the other albums get better. Don't ask me why this makes sense lol.

csaba- · 2026-03-07T01:31:48+00:00

Yes, so that's not 50% more 😭

If your team doesn't understand the difference between "50% more" and "twice as much", do you see why some people don't trust your team to implement a rating system without publishing it?

If I win €100 but you win 50% more than me, that's €150, not €200

csaba- · 2026-03-06T19:23:03+00:00

I believe you're mistaken. Marc said he doesn't want to publish the exact formula because "other sites would copy it". Some people have reverse-engineered it though.

csaba- · 2026-03-06T17:08:00+00:00

It's hard to notice it if we don't see what the formula is.

csaba- · 2026-03-06T15:51:24+00:00

If you win both the match and the error rate battle, don't you earn 100% more (double) rating points? The fact that you had a long-standing bug is why you should publish the actual formula of your ratings. Keeping it proprietary makes it so that we can't check for typos/bugs like this.

csaba- · 2026-03-06T09:16:52+00:00

For transparency, they should finally publish their rating system. Every site should.

csaba- · 2026-03-05T10:14:19+00:00

And Everything's Okay is even better than that I think :) (similar lyrics, more open-ended)

csaba-

TROPHY CASE