WatfordFC: ah ok ... then i dont know either .. good question :)

Vikings: lol .. neither do i .. even the 2 of us combined have zero brains ;)

Vikings: ah! thats true .. never thought about those tournaments which dont start :)

when does the player actually pay the brains ? when the tournament starts or when (s)he signs up ?

WatfordFC: when doesnt a game go ahead ? does a game ever stop without giving a winner & loser or as a draw ?

Pason69: i play both on here as well as on dailygammon as well .. the players there often annihilate me :)

the good thing of this site though is that there are a lot of different games to play .. this is an allround game site while other sites concentrate on mainly 1 game type

alanback: oops .. you are correct :)

alanback: if it were not for #6 then it would also be true for #1-#7 :)

working to get ruin the list though ;)

Marfitalu: true .. the whole game stands with analysis, both checker play as well as cube decisions depend on that

Pythagoras: hmm true ... but isnt a good doubling decision also based on knowing ones capability to finish the game, and to know the difference in skill in the game ?

grenv: good cube players double their effectiveness, where good checker play only gives one point

(all this combined with the actual value of the cube of course)

therefore i think good cube play is more important, as it the importance is double by the cube itself

luck can make up for bad checker play, its hard to make up bad cube decisions by luck i think

Andersp: *lol* true :)
it makes you click the link 'roll dice' because you can double as well (try it )

pgt: another reason is that on this site (different than on other sites) the new dice are rolled when the player views the game. So when you are on the bar and your opponent makes a move, the site doesnt know what you will roll in the future (as you are not viewing the game yet), yo might escape when you roll well, you might not when you are unlucky (or didnt bribe enough ;)).
Autopass cant be implemented for those case.

There are however situations that you will have to pass regardless your rolls (for example when you are on the bar, and the whole home is blocked), in those cases autopass might be partially implemented.

i asked fencer about that in a game we had and he said he would think about it and might implement the partial autopass ... he doesnt know when though

(at least its better than the 'no' we usually get about plain autopass ;))

like in ludo .. is this a new record ?

23 passes :)

grenv: well the other pieces on the bar dont have to come into the game first .. so capturing 1 piece does the same as in regular bg, close the 5 point is nice though because your opponent has to get those pieces into play (which i often forget to do myself :)) .. but 2 blocked points isnt enough to make him worry ... but its a start :)

grenv: i guess i am learning (although i was tempted to capture both as i know i am playing too defensive sometimes)

btw i failed to capture his piece on the 7th spot, but i captured 2 pieces in the next move, just hope he wont send me back :)

whats more important ? capture 2 pieces (and leaving a single on the 5 position) or secure the 5 position ?

example

i chose to secure the 5 position as you can see (and hope to capture the piece on 7 with my next move)

(i hope basplund doesnt mind me posting this here as i already made the move, if anyone thinks i should not post this yet i will remove it)

Czuch Chuckers: i was hunting him on another site, and he was ok

i thought was one of the 7 dwarves? small for sure, but not as small as a rabbit :)

grenv: where is that little rabbit when need him :)

grenv: i would love an analysis as well :)
i think you are right .. i tend to play too defensive lately .. trying to turn around again :)

6-6 i would play 13/7*/1* with 1 piece and 13/7 with 2 other piece (i think)

grenv: if my opponent went 24/18, 13/10 with his 6+3

and i would roll a 6+2 after that, i think i would go 1/9 or 1/7,1/3 (i think the second because i like to advance my last piece at least a little bit, i somehow like the 3 spot)

grenv: hehe thats exaqctly what has happened a few times the last weeks :)

if i would go 13/7* then i would go 13/11 as well ... if i were taking the risk then i would take it well and provide with enough options to secure the position

i still wont do it myself though .. i think the risk is too high .. although i might do it when i am in a weird mood (just as taking the 5 spot while leaving a single there :))

lately i see a lot of players hit my single piece on the 7th position (close to their home) leaving a single piece of their own there

they even do this at the start of the game

isnt this too dangerous ? as its quite easy to hit it back (7 with 2 dice, or a single die for a piece still in their home) and they will lose a lot more than i lost when i hit them back ?

or is their some secret reason for this ? :)

grenv: *nod* but when he was bearing off i had a little chance ... not big enough to worry about though

but i wonder if that chance is lower than the chance of me winning 2 more matches (as the first is the crawford game)

so far alan won 6 out of 6 games against me, so him winning at least 1 game in the next 2 is about ... hmm 100% *fear* ;)

Hrqls: hmm on the other hand .. if i had accepted i would have had the option to double back making this the final game in the match

argh! doubling questions at the end of the match are tougher than at the start :)

Hrqls: on the other hand though ... i still had a chance to hit alan back .. and by taking this 1 point we entered the crawford game in his advantage

so i think it was a nice thing to do double after all :)

BIG BAD WOLF: hehe *nod* somehow i forgot the fact that i still have to come off from the bar first ... i was thinking 'can he send me back to the bar' and 'do i think i can hit his single piece there' :)

now i realize he could easily close it down i am glad i didnt ponder too long and declined quickly :)

grenv: do you really think he could have gammoned me ? how far away does someone have to be to have a chance to be gammoned ?
i would have 5 pieces out, 4 which i could move in with 2 moves, 1 piece which could take longer. i suppose i would be out when there are 2 positions free, leaving my opponent with at least 8 pieces, which means about 5 rolls .. hmm .. calculating out loud now ... 5 rolls .. thats about what i would need to get my pieces in my home and 1 out :)

i think i could have been gammoned indeed with just a little luck for my opponent, but not as much as i thought it would take :)

alanback: :) i know ... but you know the dutch .. they are like that knight on the bridge in monty pythons :)

shoud i have taken the doubling offer in this position ?

BIG BAD WOLF: ah! yes of course :)

i started to play at work, i guess i clicked on 'roll dice', had to leave, and now i check back when the dice are already rolled :)

thanks!!!!

(just showing me being blonde ;))

i am not sure if i want to double, i am just missing the option

is there a reason why i am not allowed to offer a double in this position ?

pentejr: uhm ... ... hmm ... maybe because there is some tactic in it and you try to force your opponent into a position where you can finish him ? ;)

furbster, alanback, Eriisa: dead balls needs to be warmed up to bounce at least a little, but even when quite hot they will still bounce less than live balls (hmm this almost sounds like a post which could get me banned ;))

tips for squash :
- know your strength: either speed and putting pressure on your opponent, or steady play and let your opponent take bad risks
- when your game is a game of pressure/speed then hit the ball from the air before it bounces, this will increase the pressure and speed on your opponent
- sometimes play the ball where your opponent just was, its often far more tiring to turn back than to continue his run
- balls along the wall, straight to the back, are quite nasty
- when you are in front or just had a tough ball, dont hesitate to place the ball high in the back, this will gain you some time to get back to the center point (the T)
- sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) place a serve through the middle to confuse your opponent. this doesnt work with good players though, so test it once first :)
- i like to hit a cross boast, this confuses the opponent sometimes, but a ball along the wall is usually better, or a drop
- use the corners, never hit a ball through the middle :)
- never despair!!! and have fun :)

playBunny: when i play in a squash tournament (racketball/whatever its name is in english) we always play acording to the second link alan posted

alanback: congrats!!! be prepared to receive some invites/challenges .. everyone wants to beat the #1 ;)

you will have to wait until after my holliday though before i will send you any .. so be sure to stay there for at least 2 more weeks :)

congrats!

alanback: lol .. i will let my mother read that ;)

playBunny: will test out escaping and defensive moves, and pay attention to the results :)

i will have to make a mental list of which blots are important and which arent :)
i know the 5 and 4 point in my own home are very important, i like the 22 point in my opponents home, i like the barpoints close to my home.
but thats about it :)

i will also have to learn the differences between playing GG and GS as i only play it as defensive and offensive, but i play most often too offensive, so even in GS i might be offensive :)

playBunny: whats a prime game ?

a blot on 18 is bad, but what if my opponent rolls 6+1, he will make the 18 point no matter what, so missing those 7 steps and being send to the bar with his home open isnt that bad, but i will have a chance to grab the 18 point if he doesnt roll 6+1 (or 3+3) and i will roll a 6 (or 5+1, 4+2, 3+3)

i dont understand much about going for gammon or gammon save .. the only part i see (so far) is that with gammon save you have to escape with your backmen, and with gammon go you will have to block your home :)

playBunny: 'dodge' is the possibility to being trapped in your opponents home ?

what if you try to play for a gammon .. dont you like to hold your backmen back a bit and build in your home first ? would that increase the possibility of 24-18, 13-8 ?

i still try it once in a while though as i dont like standard openings all the time :)

everyone always plays 24-13 when they get 6+5 as opening roll, and all roll outs show that to be best as well

but what about 24-18, 13-8 ? that way you can develop your backmen a bit, make sure there wont be a block around 18, and you have a nice setup at 8 and 6 in case you roll a double or just to block your home

grenv,playBunny: ah! just what i thought, so far in 1 out of the 3 which i posted here i acted like the pros would have done :)

i wasnt sure about the power and chance of a backgame yet .. so thats why i wondered

i declined the offer to double in this game

any opinions about my drop?
(and any opinions on the offer of the double at that position?)

playBunny: lol! i never noticed that box :)
thanks :)

playBunny: lol ... remember what i said ?? i dont even know what i am about to say 10 seconds before it rolls out of my fingers ;)

how can i search through more than 10 posts ?

playBunny: hmm i had a nice game in which my opponent had a lot of pieces off already and me trapped .. but i still won the game .. i think i showed it on here .. but i dont remember with whom i played the game or when .. i will see if i can find it back :)

playBunny: lol! isnt there a difference in smell between male and female ? i should ask the mosquitoes, they always pick my gf first :)
(but she isnt blonde ... so maybe its not the sexe but the color ?)

i know .. i know ...

playBunny: *phew* so i can stop sweating now ;)

playBunny & grenv: thanks.
just tell me if i ask a question too soon and i will postpone it until the game has been finished :)

the best way to learn is from examples i think, thats why i keep asking about positions which came up in games i played :)

so its best for me to wait until a game has finished before i bring a position here to discuss ? even though i already made my move ?

i will wait a bit longer with my next questions then :)

playBunny: *nod* thats what i tell myself all the as well and why i bear off as many as i can ... the only really bad thing that can happen is for me to roll a double of an empty spot and therefore missing 2 bear offs while i maybe could have prevented that if i had not beared off as many as possible ... but i have no example of such a bad thing (yet :))

i began to wonder some time ago when i beared off as many as possible on a roll on dailygammon, and the site didnt continue with a predicted next move .. so i assumed what i did wasnt the best move (according to the sites engine)

is it always wise to bear off as many pieces as possible in the end game ?

for example in this game .. i roll double 2 and beared (bore?) off 3 pieces ... but this leaves me with 3 empty positions and a pile on 6 ... should i have beared off only 1 or 2 pieces and reduce the pile on 6 instead ?