Hustling for Casual Players

I'm perplexed at the low ratings this article has received. Usually, one person gives each of my columns a low rating, but here three people gave this column a low rating.

Upon review, this column still appears to be correct, new, and useful to a wide range of players. Although I didn't provide specific advice on how to play any position, such advice is not supposed to be the focus of my column according to guidelines given to me by GammonVillage. Many players have stated that the rake is unbeatable and that ratings and money play are incompatible. This column contradicts both of these ideas. In match play, the rake is often a small Elo point penalty. I gave a simple strategy for beating the rake, using the rating system, despite the fact that ratings are unreliable. I provided a new accounting system which ignores much of the luck in backgammon if you do not vary the stakes you play.

If you strongly dislike this month's column, please let me know why.

Douglas Zare

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you liked this article.

I'm curious about your job that requires everyone to learn backgammon. Can you tell us more about it?

Douglas Zare

Hi Douglas,

There is nothing wrong with this article. At the very least, that's a true statement from my perspective. Indeed, I believe it's probably one of the more practical articles you have written, assuming that making money at BG is important to you. Maybe that's the problem, all those interested in making money have gone to poker!

Just curious, how many people voted (in total) to give you a mean of 3.6? When using a scale of 1 to 5 it's hard to get outliers affecting the mean by a significant amount unless your sample size is particularly small.

Ian Dunstan.