playBunny: Thank you for yours and other's thoughts over the last few days to my questions and comments. I'll return a few more times as I see how they fit in with what I have observed from playing.

I do have an opponent that does have the games in private. Not saying nothing about, but it seems like a strange thing to do for any game, but especially for a game like Backgammon. I can see an argument for it in Dark Chess, Screen Chess, and Battleboats, but Backgammon? I asked him about it and all I got was a smile for a reply. I do not like playing private games. It makes it extremely difficult to share a great or unusual game with anyone else that might be interested. And now I have a reason to think about it that has implications about it. This particular player makes double offers in places none of my other opponents do, and he is the only person I have seen that is luckier than I am, well one other player is this lucky, but he knows the dice guy and pays him a lot.