• Early blitz cube

    From Timothy Chow@tchow12000@yahoo.com to rec.games.backgammon on Sun Dec 17 09:37:18 2023
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.backgammon

    XGID=aa--aBEAA---dC-A-c-e----B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:0:0:10

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O |
    | | | O |
    | | | O |
    | |BAR| |
    | | O | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X |
    | O X X | | X X O O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 157 O: 176 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action

    ---
    Tim Chow
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From peps...@gmail.com@pepstein5@gmail.com to rec.games.backgammon on Sun Dec 17 11:37:53 2023
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.backgammon

    On Sunday, December 17, 2023 at 2:37:22rC>PM UTC, Timothy Chow wrote:
    XGID=aa--aBEAA---dC-A-c-e----B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:0:0:10

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O |
    | | | O |
    | | | O |
    | |BAR| |
    | | O | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X |
    | O X X | | X X O O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 157 O: 176 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action
    A fairly confident D/T from me.
    Pointing on the four point checker, followed
    by an opponent's dance is a market loser.
    This isn't close to the Haganite 25% (even the dance
    component alone is only 25%) but I know from
    experience of watching XG that that is enough for a
    cube turn.
    With only a 2 point board, and with needing to escape
    2 rear checkers, I can't drop this.
    Clear double, clear take.
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Timothy Chow@tchow12000@yahoo.com to rec.games.backgammon on Thu Dec 21 09:38:38 2023
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.backgammon

    XGID=aa--aBEAA---dC-A-c-e----B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:0:0:10

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O |
    | | | O |
    | | | O |
    | |BAR| |
    | | O | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X |
    | O X X | | X X O O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 157 O: 176 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action

    X has 9 checkers in the zone with the 5pt made, and has a big lead
    in the pip count. It's true that X has only two home-board points
    made and O has good chances of anchoring, but I thought that the
    take/pass decision was borderline. But XG says it's a very clear
    take. It makes a significant difference how X's 9 checkers in the
    zone are distributed. In the variant below, X has priming potential
    as well as blitzing potential, and XG judges it to be much closer
    to a pass.

    Analyzed in Rollout
    No double
    Player Winning Chances: 65.54% (G:30.78% B:2.07%)
    Opponent Winning Chances: 34.46% (G:8.43% B:0.55%)
    Double/Take
    Player Winning Chances: 65.46% (G:31.22% B:2.22%)
    Opponent Winning Chances: 34.54% (G:8.52% B:0.59%)

    Cubeful Equities:
    No double: +0.748 (-0.079)
    Double/Take: +0.827
    Double/Pass: +1.000 (+0.173)

    Best Cube action: Double / Take

    Rollout:
    1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction.
    Dice Seed: 271828
    Moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller
    Confidence No Double: -# 0.014 (+0.734..+0.762)
    Confidence Double: -# 0.024 (+0.803..+0.851)

    eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.211.pre-release

    -------
    Variant
    -------

    XGID=aa--aBDAB---dC-A-c-e----B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:0:0:10

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O |
    | | | O |
    | | | O |
    | |BAR| |
    | | O | |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O X | | X X |
    | O X X | | X X O O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 159 O: 176 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action

    Analyzed in Rollout
    No double
    Player Winning Chances: 68.52% (G:29.44% B:2.08%)
    Opponent Winning Chances: 31.48% (G:7.13% B:0.37%)
    Double/Take
    Player Winning Chances: 68.24% (G:30.76% B:2.35%)
    Opponent Winning Chances: 31.76% (G:7.32% B:0.38%)

    Cubeful Equities:
    No double: +0.833 (-0.141)
    Double/Take: +0.974
    Double/Pass: +1.000 (+0.026)

    Best Cube action: Double / Take

    Rollout:
    1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction.
    Dice Seed: 271828
    Moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller
    Confidence No Double: -# 0.016 (+0.817..+0.849)
    Confidence Double: -# 0.024 (+0.950..+0.998)

    eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.211.pre-release

    ---
    Tim Chow
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From peps...@gmail.com@pepstein5@gmail.com to rec.games.backgammon on Thu Dec 21 09:41:23 2023
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.backgammon

    On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 2:38:43rC>PM UTC, Timothy Chow wrote:
    XGID=aa--aBEAA---dC-A-c-e----B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:0:0:10

    Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game
    +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
    | X X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O X |
    | X O | | O |
    | | | O |
    | | | O |
    | |BAR| |
    | | O | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X |
    | O | | X X |
    | O X X | | X X O O |
    +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
    Pip count X: 157 O: 176 X-O: 0-0
    Cube: 1
    X on roll, cube action
    X has 9 checkers in the zone with the 5pt made, and has a big lead
    in the pip count. It's true that X has only two home-board points
    made and O has good chances of anchoring, but I thought that the
    take/pass decision was borderline. But XG says it's a very clear
    take. It makes a significant difference how X's 9 checkers in the
    zone are distributed. In the variant below, X has priming potential
    as well as blitzing potential, and XG judges it to be much closer
    to a pass.

    Analyzed in Rollout
    No double
    Player Winning Chances: 65.54% (G:30.78% B:2.07%)
    Opponent Winning Chances: 34.46% (G:8.43% B:0.55%)
    Double/Take
    Player Winning Chances: 65.46% (G:31.22% B:2.22%)
    Opponent Winning Chances: 34.54% (G:8.52% B:0.59%)

    Cubeful Equities:
    No double: +0.748 (-0.079)
    Double/Take: +0.827
    Double/Pass: +1.000 (+0.173)

    Best Cube action: Double / Take

    Rollout:
    1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction.
    Dice Seed: 271828
    Moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller
    Confidence No Double: -# 0.014 (+0.734..+0.762)
    Confidence Double: -# 0.024 (+0.803..+0.851)

    eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.211.pre-release
    I think there's an ambiguity in the word "clear" here.
    What? You mean the English language contains ambiguities?
    How inconceivably shocking!
    If clear means that the equity loss from the wrong decision is large,
    then yes, we have clarity. However, if "clear" means "obvious to
    any serious player", then a large number of 0.83 takes are unclear.
    So you thought the decision was borderline. But did you see it as a borderline pass
    or a borderline take? And if the cube was offered to you, did you take it?
    Was it one of those where you didn't have much of a clue but guessed the take and guessed correctly?
    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Timothy Chow@tchow12000@yahoo.com to rec.games.backgammon on Fri Dec 22 10:04:50 2023
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.backgammon

    On 12/21/2023 12:41 PM, peps...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 2:38:43rC>PM UTC, Timothy Chow wrote:
    [...]
    But XG says it's a very clear take.
    [...]
    If clear means that the equity loss from the wrong decision is large,
    then yes, we have clarity. However, if "clear" means "obvious to
    any serious player", then a large number of 0.83 takes are unclear.

    What I said was that "XG says it's a very clear take." I try
    to avoid assertions that some play is "correct" or "clear"
    simpliciter; if you read my posts carefully, you'll see that
    I almost always use some locution such as, "the top play in
    the rollout" or "XG says that..."

    So you thought the decision was borderline. But did you see it as a borderline pass
    or a borderline take? And if the cube was offered to you, did you take it?

    I passed. X was leading 6-away/7-away which can sometimes tip
    gammonish cubes from D/T to D/P, but not here.

    ---
    Tim Chow
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2