Hrqls: I'd have to see the board position to know what I'd have done in your game but generally I wouldn't offer a double if I thought the game were balanced. One of the considerations in offering a double is how you'd feel if it were taken. If you'd groan and say "Oh, no!" then it's not perhaps a good time to double.

But if your "hoping he would decline" is based on knowing his bravery and style, and has more expectation than vague hope, then that changes things; it can make it a canny move to double even when the percentages are less than optimal.

playBunny: *nod* i expected him to decline although i thought the game was quite balanced myself .. he was playing quite defensive leaving no single pieces when he didnt have to .. at one time piling a lot on 1 position .. so i doubled to scare him and hoped he would decline

i would have accepted though :)

alanback: the score in the match was 1-1 at that time, because he declined he arrived at 1-2 though in a crawford round (which is what i wanted to achieve with the double)

how do you get to the 30% .. i am often puzzled by the % used in cube considerations

how do you know a % chance of winning in a game while you are playing it ... there are a lot of moves to go ... is there a simple rule to follow to calculate your % ?

Hrqls: the simple answer of 30% would be something along the lines of
*Needing to win 2 in a row games outright = 25%
*Increase this a bit due to the chance of a gammon or backgammon in the first game therefore not necessitating the play in the 2nd game hence an approximate 5% increase

I have no program for backgammon to work this out but I think this is a good approximation using the rule of thumb

wayney: ah true .. i forgot about gammon and backgammon which are still counted in the crawford round :)

try and match wits on a 12 hour time limit if you are game !!!

I am not sure why you put me on your blocked user list?
I recently accepted 2 games in the waiting room of yours, one white and one black, but now you put me on your enemy list? The games aren't even finished although I am looking like I am in the stronger position.

I guess since a Backgammon game is a war, it's reasonable to have you on his enemies list.....:-)
So you will have to wait the war to over, for not being his enemy anymore.......

But a little more seriously what are the consequences of having you at his ememies list? If i remember correctly you can't send him a message but except this, is any other thing.........?

Chessmaster1000: I was trying to send a message relevant to the game. Seems out of the question now.
Very unusual steps on his part to put me on enemies list though

but what preliminaries have let one getting on two's enemy list. . I have faced so
many surprised on boards where you have to wait for a first vent to hide as well, but
since I'm a prophet I use block well even before the troublemaker starts it as forseen ... ~*~

i recently started playing backgammon other sites as well (as i dont want to start new games on here until i am back from my holiday, and i needed several games a day to keep me moving ;))

i dont know if this is the right board to ask a question about backgammon on another site .. and if i should ask it anyway .. but i will try it anyway :)

i am also playing at daily gammon now ... when i make a move in a game of me on there .. i often get the message 'What will you do if the game proceeds this way?' .. and it allows me to make the next move

does the site predict the most likely move of my opponent ? it isnt always a forced move ...
what i make my next move (in case that situation would occur) i sometimes get the 'What will you do if the game proceeds this way?' question again .. does this mean i made the best possible move (according to the site) ?

go to the help page at dailygammon and read about computer guessing... that is what the computer is doing ... if your opponent makes a different move other than what the computer guessed the the game is rolled back to that point ..

lovelysharon: ah thanks ... i have to admit i didnt investigate the site a lot yet .. i started quite some games on several sites and been kept quite busy by them ;)

thanks! i will have a look at it .. its a nice feature .. but confusing for newbies (like me ;))

hmm the computer guesses on dailygammon are nice ... but they might also give me extra work .. as i can move 4 (max) moves ahead ... but my opponent might chose move different in his first move .. i will then have made 4 moves for nothing .. and when i had planned something .. i will have to forget the plan .. which is sometimes difficult as it always seems to reside in the back of my head :)

hmm .. it seems to has its advantages as well as its disadvantages :) (in my opinion at least ;))

the computer is the answer !!!
errrm - what exactly was the question ?? ... ~*~

danoschek: "How can one save time playing Backgammon without having to play each individual move one-at-a-time, especially in cases where dice rolls have obvious outcomes, e.g. closing certain positions or not playing while bar cannot leave due to opponent's full home?"

Hrqls: Sign up for more games, and you'll start to forget your game plans. :)
One thing I wish there, is that when you double you can choose to play on if you think your opponent will accept, or start the next game if you think your opponent will drop the cube.
When it's obvious that your opponent will drop, unless he's a maniac, it's kind of annoying to keep moving. But that's just a little detail, the site is excellent.

frolind: sometimes it's due to judge "the maniacs" mildly.
perhaps someone is going for the record-amount of moves
for the day and just doesn't want to leave out a count ... ... ~*~

danoschek:

perhaps a spasm-outwitted pleurisy would perplexly defoliate the loud-warbling cruciforms ... ~*~

What's a blitz?

This is a devastating attack, often starting with a double against split backrunners, in which the table gets rapidly closed. In the worst case (for the victim) they get to make one move at the start of the game and then have to wait until their opponenent is bearing off before they get another go.
___________________

Pedro Martínez: *PLOP* ... although
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
I just don't have the time to return all love. ~*~

frolind: heh true .. just cutting back on games now because i will be on a holiday soon .. after that i will join more games once again :)

i like to try to remember my plans though ..

i agree with you about the cube decision .. its weird that the site always assumes your opponent will accept ... i would hate to move several extra moves for nothing :)

hmm i never tried it .. but can you stop moving future moves ? can you just stop moving ahead and play your other game ? i guess you can .. will have to try it :)

Hrqls: It seems odd at first, but you get used to it, and I appreciate the way it speeds up play.

Hrqls: You can stop moving, and go move in another game, but the game will still be on your top page waiting for you to finish the sequence.

*nod* at the moment i like it ... but thats just because i only have few games going on :)

its a good thing that i can stop the sequence though ... will have to remember that :)

who are you all on dailygammon ? invite me for a game please ;)

Here is a attempt to have a "live" backgammon tournament, for anyone online right now! It is an experimant , so I hope it all works out. 1 hour total time limit, and I hope to get it started soon!

http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=9764&tri=49587&trnst=0

Czuch Chuckers: that would be great but playing in your other tourney at the moment.

wayney: Time for an upgrade?

Czuch Chuckers: Nah, just not gonna play tourneys where people like Kata Liana intentionally hold up play.
I'll stick to my new lightning games.
care for a game Chuck?

Czuch Chuckers: But backgammon frequently lasts 30-40 moves or more. Is this some sort of "see who can stay awake the longest" competitions we used to do in college?

grenv: Have you ever played a game of backgammon live (I am sure you have) ust roll the dice take your move and your opponent does the same.... my game is set up so it has a 1 hour total game time per person... give it a go! we ned 3 more people!

Czuch Chuckers: My mistake... thought it was one hour per move.

I can't play now... maybe next time. Signing out.

grenv: Don't worry - I'll represent us

pgt: I dont think Chuck can play. Just one game with me currently and he is struggling with time severely
http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=914066

Czuch Chuckers: When are we starting? I have to go out in an hour, and we seem to be 5 minutes late!

the games have been set and just waiting to start... if it takes too long I will just delete it and try again tomorrow. Thanks for signing up though!

oo late, I dont have any control; to delet it anymore :(
this really sucks that the games are ready to go but it could be up to an hour before they start?

I think they will start at 6 cet/midnite ET

Czuch Chuckers: Well I'll go out and do my jobs now and hope I am back in time to play - this is probably the best solution.

yeah, this sucks, I will be timing out in all of them, I tried to do this for the past 3 hours now, and I am off to bed soon.... oh well there goes my rating :(

Czuch Chuckers: well I have the firewood in now, so we won't freeze tonight! I'm ready!

Im gonna be in bed.... my bkr was at its highest ever this morning, now I will have lost 40 points 8 at a time just today :(

looks like midnight is out!

The tournament will actually start about an hour after the deadline time is reached.

Since at the start time, the tournament is put into the "waiting" mode. Then 1 hour later, the tournament will be created.

Czuch Chuckers: Good tournament format - would be happy top do it again some time! Thanks to all the players.

Yeah, I liked it too...and I'm up to participate again if Chuck creates it soon...:)

Congrats Pedro

Yes, I like the idea, but webtv is too slow for 4 1 hour games at once, I could not keep up and I think Rod had the same problem, except for some reason the games did not time out when they hit 0 time left? How long does it really take to time out of a game with no time left? It took me 2 hours to finish all the games going as fast as could go with webtv :( Anyway, thanks for playing you guys and gals and I will try it again today, maybe a 2 hour total limit, cause its raining here and I have nothing else to do!

Czuch Chuckers: is it listed in the bugs? No point in having the option of such a time constraint if it doesn't work !!!