so basically if the people in front of me average lower than the peopel in back of me when i finish high i will not gain as many points. if the opposite was the case id prolly gain many more points? So i guess its averaged in some way. Impossibel to really research since peopel are constantly running in ponds. Thanks for the explaination peeps.

10 person pond
name rtg
joe 1300
tom 1400
jim 1600
tim 2100
abe 2200
me 1700
jen 1440
mel 2300
peg 1900
pam 1600

How much will my rating move if i get 5th? the top name fell first the last name wins the pond in this scenario. Could anyone shine some light on this specific scenario?

well i am sure that this has been answered already many times over but ill ask it again. b/c i rarely come to the discussion boards. How are teh points for ponds dipursed for your placing in each pond. some ponds i get more for 1st others i get more for 2nd the points vary greatly from 10 pts to 300 pts.. what is the mathmatical formula that is used for ponds?

everything is fixed now there was no flag up there. it was weird... and there was no drop down selection either. i loogeed on and everything was changed coudnt even find message boards to post in the proper place.

all my bvoards are now in french and i cannot turn it off or turn it back to english. HELP!

perhaps you didnt read what i wrote. "i said that it would take way too much time. Days to study without sleep. or should i just keep repeating myself." That system is nto worth it here since it would be so time consuming. 1 pond would require days of study. it would take me days psosibly weeks just to study vikings and your ponds history. It would be much easier to jtu play it as is. And you cant count i have won 10 ponds. Its not the amount of ponds you win its teh % you win, anyone can just enter 1000s of ponds and if i win 3% of them, i got 30 wins.. big deal. AS for sabotage...yes i knew where they were goign to put all there pieces. I studied tons of games. As for this not being sabotage well its not any other game other than ponds so i guess that means we cant use chess or poker as examples. Not trying to be confrontational but trying to show you that with good study habits and note takeing you can enhance your game. My stats in the ponds mean very little to me. i focus 90% on espionage.

I didnt say "if you research 2 games only, it will not work because the game is always evolving and by the time you have the statistics...." this what i wrote " ....You must do this for every rd and must research every pond they (opponents) have EVER Been in. Not just study 2 ponds Study ALL ponds which alone would take you all day perhaps a week 24 hours a day straight at your computer. THIS is 100% guaranteed to work. Nonsense people say lol rookies!ive done it, trust me it works. i had a 96% win ration in sabotage aka espionage on iyt with that stragedy [until i became board]. I had every opponents piece setups written down. Of course there predictability sped thigns up a bit so it took only a few hours a day. Believe me study works in all games. "Knowledge is Power!" How do you think that phrase came to be. For fun?! NO! Regardless its not worth it unless you have no life. s for that % thign poeple werer tyring to do...umm math dont work like that... "So if 2 people apply the same tactic, you're saying that they won't win 180% of the ponds?" you dont just add the % together.

yes i agree about the 1st few rds. BUT if you can steal an early bonus with a 50 bid in rd 1 you will be up an almost insurmountable lead. Ive noticed in may ponds no one will bet over 100 in rd1 BUT in rd 2 at least 4 poeple will try a 400 bid to steal a bonus, this is where research comes in handy. now your set up for rd2 and know not to bet high in that rd. keep it low. The starting bids are always lower the more players in the pond. If the Pond has 60 people in it the opening bids will be in the low 20s or even in the high teens. whereas in a pond of 16 the opening bid will be in the 40s or 50s perhaps in the 30s. but ive been seen ejections in the high 20s in those ponds. So early rd research is vital if you plan on sticking around to rd 2. There is the unpredictability factor that can come into play, which is why you have to not always go by what "BOOK" tells you.

Here is step 1. in researching your opp in ponds. 1 see how many players are in the pond.
2 See who is in the pond.
3 Next check there opening bids. there will be a range between 20-40 depending upon the amount of players and who they are. you must take and average, and bet somewhere between, and not always go for best bid or trying to be in first.
4 Next go to the 2nd rd bids look at everyones average bid again. You must do this for everyrd and must research every pond they have EVER Been in.
5 repeat for every rd of the pond

Now tell me is it worth the research? NO! But it WILL work and i guarantee you will be a top 3 player. But again it will take way to much time. and instead of spending about 1 minute making your move itll now take 2-3 hours per move. not a great trade.

Ponds i can see are going to get much like espionage was. I had books and books of notes i used to make up on opp. strategies and tendencies i got so good at it i knew what there setups were before they moved a piece. Much is the smae with ponds its all about tendencies and memorizing them. Ponds can become a science if you let it and if you put in the time you could win 95 % everytime. but you will have to do so much research on your opp that you would only be able to play 1-2 ponds at a time. And that is without playing any other games! Not worth it considering only paid members can play the game. I got so many espionage(sabotage[it was actually on IYT the other version of the game i did that on]) wins via researching my opp it almost felt like cheating! It just made the game unfun. Eventually I stopped doing it after I found a glitch in the game and everyone stopped playing that version.

get a pond together of the top 20 players and have a 5 pond match. 1 pond at a time. not all 5 at the same time. This should be done by people who want "in" this experiment. we can watch 1st hand tendencies of our opp.

not 5-10 players... you have to play a series of 5-10 ponds. but it has to be the same people in each of the ponds. There can be no people in those ponds that do not enter all of them.

perhaps a league type format where the same people play in say 5-10 ponds. The same people MUST play in all of them. Whether its 20 people or 30. then you can see jsut about how good they are and what peoples tendencies are in a 5/10 pond format.

Again this comes down to guess,Grenv couldve bet 503 to assure himself of the win(in that situation only). which is what i wouldve bet (Unless i noticed very poor competition). I wouldve gone for 2nd and bet just over what 3rd had. That is a no brainer. BUT again this is all "IF" i think that a person will bet illogically. If i had followed arctics tendencies i might have picked up on it. He was doomed for 3rd but b/c Matar.. made the actual illogical bet with 383 this caused grenv to take the loss. this strategy actually paid off even though grenv played "book" he still lost. Im actually still trying to figure out the 383 bid. that makes less sense to me than the 1 bid. What if arctic had bet everything.

but most time he would've finished 3rd its called playing the odds. aka gambling! Grenv could've played a different bet as well to assure himself of the win but he was out thought! and that is why he lost. would've could've should've are no excuses. Was "1" an illogical bid? absolutely! but not Stupid!

no he would still get 3rd b/c other could still be more than 500. it comes down to an educated GUESS!

hmm well thats what you do in any game, finding weakness in an opponent is what ALL sports atheltes do! its a common practice. batters watch pitchers tendencies, to see if he is tipping pithces, in Soceer if a goalie tends to go to the right you can use that knowledge to your advantage in a shootout. In boxing you look at tendencies to find WEAKNESS in your opponent. "If you dont learn from your mistakes your doomed to repeat them." Most ponds are over when it gets down to 5 people left. now with this strategy there almost NEVER over even with 3 poeple left. unless the points are separated by a big gap.

i do this often i liek to change up the bids so that it keeps the leader on his toes and he cant get a BRAINLESS win! if there over 500 points and the bonus can make a difference i will sometimes bet 1 or even all my points. heres an example.
1. Vikings 513 (-512=1+500= 501)
2. Pedro 511 (-2=509)
3. Nothingness 500

Now vikings thinks he can just bet 512 and win for free, but not if i bet 1 and pedro bets 2. this makes the #1 over analyze this situation and could change his bets in future ponds. So Pedro is rewarded for watching my tendencies. i only do this every so many ponds, as to not be too predictable.

i tied for 1st with 2 others in a rain pond the other day and it still dont show me as winning a rain pond as of yet. How long does it take to show the victory?

you sign up for a pond and your memberships expires while you are in mid pond what happens?

I have an idea for fixing this flaw Perdo. I acll them % ponds.. here you must stay with the "Pack" and make reasonable bets if not you lose points at a higher rate (or your points deteriorate)here is an example:

player last bet
Pedro 12000 303
Czuch 11983 340
Thad 11976 400
Vikings 11950 276
Rabbitoid 11875 450
Faria 11609 365
Nothing.. 11674 402
BBWolf 11590 390
Foxy Lady 5009 5009
LindaW 4006 4999

now at this point in my make believe pond. The following round any person(s) who is not within 1000 pts (changing each rd depending upon the amount of participants remaining) of the pack loses 1000Pts each rd. OR have them eliminated immediately. this will keep it close. Now another example is that in the 1st rd, most people are generally betting 30-100pts they will all be fine BUT anyone betting over 700pts will be eliminated or likei said severly fined rd fine 4000pts rd2 fine 3000pts rd3 fine 2000pts etc....

I'M also noticing that he Rain ponds are very competetive. and much tougher to find a betting system( very unpredictable).

i think in special situations people can go in and makes moves for your ponds. the user agreement is intended to deter people from hacking your account without your permission. but if you allow a "friend access" then its going to be ok. otherwise message boards are pointless b/c technically they are helping you in your games as well. so if i wanted to i could call up garry kasparov and ask him what i should do for my next move. that is the same as someone having access to my account. Here in the Us it would probably be a violation of your civil rights to not allow another access. It would take a contract lawyer to figure out the complexities.

no i came here for an arguement! no you didnt yes you did... you didnt just say no it isnt. yes i did, no you didnt. i came here for an arguement no you didnt you came here for an arguement. ahh whatever. im still noticing foolish bids by the same old people in the rain ponds as well. i guess some people just dont understand, or have no concept of the ponds.

this is agreat learning tool. you must be bale to view games. It will also improve your game as well. In espionage though its nearly impossible to view games b/c of secrecy.but you can still track a dark pond if you are willing to put in the time and write down every move by every player.

if there are an odd amount of peopel in teh rain pond and no mroe than 2 exit each rd than draws are impossible.

are ties for a pond possible?

that is a good idea... we should set up some teams.

welll eventually i can see collaborating on ponds and having alliances to ensure winners and loseres. in that situation, if you be in the high 4880s and others bet 100 or 150 your finished. big leads are imposssible to protect if you team up.

id probably go with 5050 or 5300. id be more than 50% of my remaining pts.

im having some trouble with this scenario in ponds. here is a sample. 5 people remaining.
1. Vikings 6009
2. Pedro martinez 5990
3. Nothingness 5960
4. Thad 5800
5. Czuch Chuckers 5779

the last bet for each would be in the high 4000s. i would have no way to figure out what is the best bet for myself. in reality you should bet in the low 1000s but it never seems to happen like that while playing for real. I've been knocked out so much by undder bidding b/c others bid everything with 5 people left. instead of going for the win with a medium bid of say 4000. Do you go for the bonus? Does vikings go for the bonus by betting 5991? if that happend he is out if everyone bets only 4000. how do the elite here feel about this situation?

is there a way to find out how many ponds you have completed in so far? i have no clue how many more dark ponds i need to enter before i get a rating.

fencer said that ponds dont count against your games, but it says that i have 0 empty slots. im limited to i think 50 games but have only 12 startd, but im in over 50 ponds. My number should say 38 games able to be played but it says 0 empty slots remaining. WHY?

since we were recently talking about not being punished for bad bets. perhaps we should implore a punishment for excessive bonuses. some people jstu like getting bonuses. ive seen some get it 5 in a row. they lost of course but beat players who were legitimately trying to win the pond. So perhaps you can get a -1000pt loss for winning more than 3 in a single pond., it would make the end games more interesting. people would have to make there bets much more carefully and the guy cant jstu force the win with 5 people left liek many ponds are. b/c a guy might lose say 1000pts (or whatever number you decide) for getting another bonus.

i was thinking if a person who constantly bets high just to stay in the pond longer, could they feesably get a very high rating just b/c they stick around longer when in fact they should be punished for making unwinable bets. For example there are poeple who bet 1000+ on the first bet. This probably the dumbest bet poossible b/c even with bonus you will be losing by more than 500. They can do this for most of the tourney and be 2nd to last man standing every time but you will NEVER win! So im not really sure how ratings work in this situation.

you can fix it so that maxx dont win it.. if for example pedro can cause maxx to lose. by bidding low say 14 adn then vikings can only bet 15 adn lose only 15 points. thus maxx will beta normal amount and will now be behind with only 2 poeple left.

if i forget to do a move and i have to do the automatic move from the prior day, can i change that the following round or am i permanently locked into my number...kinda like a penalty.

i see that some people have bet everything in the 1st round does that mean if i bet only 1 point, i cannot be eliminated since they have to bet zero points the 2nd round. b/c zero is lower than 1 and they have to bet soemthing.