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  • Just because I got this position wrong doesn't mean it's difficult

    From [email protected]@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 24 06:48:07 2022
    Often, when I make postings claiming that it's difficult to get the action right,
    a large part of the reason is that it is ultra-marginal.
    Hey, I bet you can't tell the difference between a 0.9999999 take
    and a 1.000000001 pass. Well, no shit, Sherlock! Most people can't.

    So rest assured that the position below is not at all marginal.
    I was confident in my answer OTB, but still wrong.
    I'd love to know the correct way to approach such positions.

    XGID=----bCC-B---dE-----dbba-AA:0:0:-1:00:0:0:3:0:10
    X:eXtremeGammon O:Daniel

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game, Jacoby Beaver
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X O | | O O X |
    | X O | | O O X |
    | X | | O O |
    | X | | |
    | | | |
    | |BAR| |
    | O | O | |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X X |
    | O | | X X X X O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 139 O: 163 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Stick Rice@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Apr 25 14:00:13 2022
    On Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 9:48:08 AM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
    Often, when I make postings claiming that it's difficult to get the action right,
    a large part of the reason is that it is ultra-marginal.
    Hey, I bet you can't tell the difference between a 0.9999999 take
    and a 1.000000001 pass. Well, no shit, Sherlock! Most people can't.

    So rest assured that the position below is not at all marginal.
    I was confident in my answer OTB, but still wrong.
    I'd love to know the correct way to approach such positions.

    XGID=----bCC-B---dE-----dbba-AA:0:0:-1:00:0:0:3:0:10
    X:eXtremeGammon O:Daniel

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game, Jacoby Beaver +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X O | | O O X |
    | X O | | O O X |
    | X | | O O |
    | X | | |
    | | | |
    | |BAR| |
    | O | O | |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X X |
    | O | | X X X X O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 139 O: 163 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action

    Experience.

    Stick

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Timothy Chow@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Apr 26 10:17:17 2022
    On 4/24/2022 9:48 AM, [email protected] wrote:
    XGID=----bCC-B---dE-----dbba-AA:0:0:-1:00:0:0:3:0:10
    X:eXtremeGammon O:Daniel

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game, Jacoby Beaver
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X O | | O O X |
    | X O | | O O X |
    | X | | O O |
    | X | | |
    | | | |
    | |BAR| |
    | O | O | |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X X |
    | O | | X X X X O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 139 O: 163 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action

    I'd say this is a pass. X's 6-5-4 structure is very strong because
    it has both blitzing and priming potential. Other features of note
    are that X is 20+ pips up in the race and has a high anchor, making
    counterplay difficult.

    As compensation, O has made her 5pt (always a significant thing in
    a blitz) and her blot is on X's 1pt where it's not as easy to attack.
    Also X has only 9 checkers in the zone. But I don't think this is
    enough to counteract X's three very significant pluses mentioned above.

    ---
    Tim Chow

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)