Backgammon Tournament Quiz

by Phil Simborg
28 April 2009

Phil Simborg

All of the problems in this quiz are from matches that came up at the ABT event in Ohio this year.

There is a saying that "You teach best what you most need to learn." I gave a seminar in Cleveland called, "The Doubling Cube for Idiots." In preparation, I spent a lot of time organizing my thoughts and strategies around cube play. As a result I only made 3 cube errors the entire tournament and made it to the final 5 in the Championship Division. I guess teaching the game really is the best way to learn.

The answers are right below each problem, so don't peek! There are 5 problems, and I would consider you a pro if you get 4 correct.

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Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: Maurice

Date: 28 Apr 2009 04:21 EST

Hi Phil,

i like the bg quiz to learn about positions, cube and checker play. For beginners and intermediate players it might be helpfull to give some more explanations around the solutions. With the help of a computer program everybody is able to find a good solution but without a computer player have to learn several skills to decide what to do. For this reasion some explanations to the position and the correct answer would be great.

Thanks a lot,

Maurice

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: attachiant

Date: 28 Apr 2009 06:54 EST

I've got 4 out 5.

Am I a top player?

Clearly not!

What happens?

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: PhilSimborg Member has a photo available

Date: 28 Apr 2009 07:35 EST

Dear attachiant: One of the reasons I make up these quizzes is to find out who I should avoid playing for money. Thank you for adding your name to the list.

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: PhilSimborg Member has a photo available

Date: 28 Apr 2009 07:49 EST

Dear Maurice: Thank you for your suggestion. My Mother is the main reason I don't give too much explanation for each cube decision. She told me that the more I say the more people will see how stupid I am. As you know, volumes have been written on the use of the cube, match equity, doubling windows, market losers, price of gammons, and applying astrology to cube decisions.

Before making a cube decision in my chouette, most people also look at the sheet to see how they are doing, check their pocket to see how much cash they have, and look at the clock to see how much time is left before the game ends, and estimate their odds of getting paid if the cube gets too high. There are just so many factors to consider.

But your point is well-taken. Some cubes are drops because of the gammon potential and price of gammons at a given score, and others are drops simply because the take point is so high (at 2-away/4-away the take point is around 18 percent and at 2-away/2-away it's around 32 percent).

It is important to know WHY something is a drop or a take, a double or no double, but I personally believe that people do not learn much because you tell them why. I try to give my students the tools to figure out why and teach them to learn why on their own.

If you, or someone else doesn't understand the why to any of the above, my hope is that they will set it up on their board or computer program and play with it and study the numbers and figure it out. That's when they really learn something.

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: afeld

Date: 30 Apr 2009 09:22 EST

Dear Phil, you say:

"It is important to know WHY something is a drop or a take, a double or no double, but I personally believe that people do not learn much because you tell them why. I try to give my students the tools to figure out why and teach them to learn why on their own."

That is right and so we do with our own mistakes.

But when I read problems from others I like to hear also their thoughts :-)

Andreas

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: mattcg

Date: 01 May 2009 16:06 EST

Just for the record, #3 is a clear cube. Still an easy take.

Rollout details:

Centered 1-cube:
0.6162 0.1634 0.0147 - 0.3838 0.1716 0.0049 CL +0.3430 CF +0.7710
[0.0015 0.0020 0.0020 - 0.0015 0.0052 0.0010 CL 0.0047 CF 0.0095]

Player Blue owns 2-cube:
0.6247 0.1677 0.0216 - 0.3753 0.1963 0.0068 CL +0.8333 CF +0.8333
[0.0009 0.0012 0.0014 - 0.0009 0.0033 0.0007 CL 0.0056 CF 0.0056]

5232 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 819374784 and quasi-random dice Play: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class] keep the first 0 0-ply moves and up to 12 more moves within equity 0.2 Skip pruning for 1-ply moves. Cube: 2-ply cubeful prune [world class]

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: Maurice

Date: 07 May 2009 11:49 EST

Dear Phil,

thanks for your answer and i see your point (and your mothers point ;-) ). For me it is always helpful to get the ideas of the pros because my computer programs only give me bare numbers. To tell the truth i do not have the skills to evaluate all this statistics in a live match. But you are right, my teachers only showed me the way to solve a problem but they never helped me in an exam. ;-)

Have fun,

Maurice

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: attachiant

Date: 12 May 2009 06:08 EST

Dear Phil,

It'll be a pleasure to play with (and not again) you in some years, when I'll be a neraly almost good player and will have some money to lose.

But I agree with some people u could explain better yours answers it will help us a little. After that we could book you as a teacher no?

Anyway thanks for your quizzes!

Subject: Re: Backgammon Tournament Quiz

From: PhilSimborg Member has a photo available

Date: 12 May 2009 07:44 EST

Dear attachiant:

Yes, you can book me as a teacher now. I have students from all over the world and I use Webex so they can view my computer screen, and we talk over our computer using Skype, which is also a free software.

Even when I teach I try NOT to give a lot of explanation about why one play is better than another. I don't believe people learn well that way. What I do is teach them to recognize THAT a play is wrong and give them the tools and strategies to find out WHY using Snowie or GNU to dig the answer out for themselves. Yes, sometimes all the ideas and answers do not become clear, and then I usually keep asking them questions, or change the position slightly so that they begin to understand that it's all about the race, or it's all about timing, or it's all about making the prime, or all about not hitting when you have a weaker board, or all about the number of times you win gammons, or whatever the real reason is for that particular play.

If you tell someone that 6 x 19 is 114, they might remember it the next time they see 6 x 19. But if you show them how to figure out the answer, they are more likely to get it right 6 months later when they come across 6 x 19, and they will also know how to find the answer to 7 x 19.

If you look at one of the answers above and you don't understand why a play is right, yes, I can spoon-feed you with the answer, or you can dig into it and figure it out for yourself. I want you to dig, because that is really how you learn.

Phil

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