Players of all levels are invited to share their view on these interesting positions that we came across while honing our backgammon skills in match play.
Is the computer program always right? As we have seen in the past, even the best programs get certain scenarios wrong while world class human players have a better grasp of these situations through the experience of years of play.
The "Brain Busters" series offers three new backgammon positions in each article, problems that we believe to be challenging and worthy of thought and discussion - please post your opinion on how you would play these positions in the forum thread below.
We will do their rollouts with Snowie 4 Pro and publish the results along with a new set of positions about once a week. Enjoy!
Note: See the rollouts results of all previous Brain Busters articles at this
link.
Please give us your thoughts on these without the help of a bot.
Position 1:
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| Pip: 139 |
7 point match
Green-White:
Score 2-0 |
| Pip: 150 |
| |
Position 2:
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|
|
| Pip: 26 |
7 point match
Green-White:
Score 0-2 |
| Pip: 21 |
| |
Position 3:
|
 
|
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| Pip: 132 |
3 point match
Green-White:
Score 1-0 |
| Pip: 139 |
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WARNING! - ROLLOUTS
March 28, 2006: Here are the Snowie rollouts for the three positions above:
Position 1:
|
|
|
| Pip: 139 |
7 point match
Green-White:
Score 2-0 |
| Pip: 150 |
| |
| # |
Ply | Move | Equity |
| |
1 |
R |
13/7 13/10* |
-0.018 |
| | |
0.7% 18.2% 50.9% 49.1% 15.3% 0.7% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.047 ±0.043.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
144 games (equiv. 3817 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
random seed, with race database.
|
| |
2 |
R |
13/10* 8/2* |
-0.077 (-0.059) |
| | |
0.8% 22.7% 49.1% 50.9% 18.2% 1.6% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.019 ±0.039.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
144 games (equiv. 4715 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
random seed, with race database.
|
| |
3 |
R |
13/10*/4 |
-0.093 (-0.075) |
| | |
0.6% 17.4% 50.1% 49.9% 17.3% 1.0% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.000 ±0.039.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
144 games (equiv. 4633 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
random seed, with race database.
|
| |
4 |
R |
23/20 13/7 |
-0.268 (-0.250) |
| | |
0.6% 13.5% 45.1% 54.9% 16.6% 0.6% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: -0.128 ±0.036.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
144 games (equiv. 4770 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
random seed, with race database.
|
| |
5 |
3 |
23/14 |
-0.232 (-0.214) |
| | |
0.5% 11.9% 45.9% 54.1% 16.1% 0.7% |
| | |
Speed Parameter: Fast.
|
Position 2:
|
|
|
| Pip: 26 |
7 point match
Green-White:
Score 0-2 |
| Pip: 21 |
| |
| # |
Ply | Move | Equity |
| |
1 |
R |
5/3*/1 4/2(2) |
0.487 |
| | |
0.0% 0.0% 76.0% 24.0% 0.0% 0.0% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.519 ±0.002.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout, 2880 games,
played 3-ply (precise),
seed 777, with race database.
|
| |
2 |
R |
5/3* 2/off(3) |
0.404 (-0.084) |
| | |
0.0% 0.0% 72.2% 27.8% 0.0% 0.0% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.443 ±0.004.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
2880 games (equiv. 200174 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
seed 777, with race database.
|
| |
3 |
R |
5/3*/1 2/off(2) |
0.324 (-0.163) |
| | |
0.0% 0.0% 68.4% 31.6% 0.0% 0.0% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.368 ±0.004.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout, 2880 games,
played 3-ply (precise),
seed 777, with race database.
|
| |
4 |
R |
4/off(2) |
0.169 (-0.319) |
| | |
0.0% 0.0% 61.0% 39.0% 0.0% 0.0% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.221 ±0.003.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout, 2880 games,
played 3-ply (precise),
seed 777, with race database.
|
| |
5 |
R |
5/3* 4/2(2) 2/off |
0.163 (-0.324) |
| | |
0.0% 0.0% 60.8% 39.2% 0.0% 0.0% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: 0.215 ±0.004.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout, 2880 games,
played 3-ply (precise),
seed 777, with race database.
|
Position 3:
|
|
|
| Pip: 132 |
3 point match
Green-White:
Score 1-0 |
| Pip: 139 |
| |
| # |
Ply | Move | Equity |
| |
1 |
R |
13/5 |
-0.164 |
| | |
0.3% 9.5% 45.9% 54.1% 8.9% 0.1% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: -0.075 ±0.031.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
144 games (equiv. 6234 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
random seed, with race database.
|
| |
2 |
R |
21/13 |
-0.245 (-0.081) |
| | |
0.2% 9.7% 43.2% 56.8% 11.9% 0.2% |
| | |
95% confidence interval:
- money cubeless eq.: -0.158 ±0.030.
Rollout settings:
Full rollout,
144 games (equiv. 7847 games),
played 3-ply (precise),
random seed, with race database.
|
| |
3 |
3 |
13/7 5/3 |
-0.430 (-0.266) |
| | |
0.3% 8.4% 36.3% 63.7% 17.0% 0.6% |
| | |
Speed Parameter: Fast.
|
| |
4 |
3 |
13/11 8/2 |
-0.522 (-0.358) |
| | |
0.3% 8.3% 34.2% 65.8% 22.3% 0.9% |
| | |
Speed Parameter: Fast.
|
| |
5 |
3 |
8/2 5/3 |
-0.552 (-0.388) |
| | |
0.3% 8.3% 32.4% 67.6% 21.7% 0.8% |
| | |
Speed Parameter: Fast.
|
(19%)
