Backgammon Pip Counting

Pip Counting

Live play versus online

From:   Stanley E. Richards
Address:   srichards@ameritech.net
Date:   17 April 2006
Subject:   Re: What is Pip Counting Effect?
Forum:   GammOnLine

I have not yet played live backgammon. I am having a blast playing online for small sums. I depend heavily on the running pip counts. My error rating would be increased significantly if I had to count pips. Furthermore, I suspect that live tourney play is significantly slower due to the need to count pips. 1. Does counting pips increase live tourney players' error rates? 2. Are live tourneys significantly slower that online play? 3. If so, what are the causes of slower play? Stanley

Raccoon writes:

Why is live backgammon slower? You have to pick up, shake and roll uncocked dice, move all the pieces without a mouse, 'toggle autoroll,' 'toggle automove' and 'toggle greedy,' write down the score, and set up the next game, and you get to take breaks that you aren't allowed online. Pip counting should not significantly slow the game down. Pip counting is easy with a little practice. Fast pip counting is easy with a little more practice. I'm sure there are players who can count any position in 10 seconds. Some players even keep a running pipcount from start to finish. To count any position in 20 seconds is a realistic goal for any player. In some games no counting is needed. In the others, you only have to count pips once. If I were going to go out and play live tournaments I would certainly spend a few hours brushing up on the pipcounting skills that one lets slide playing online. I would do this whether or not the tournament used clocks because pipcounting should be precise and painless, not tentative and tiring. Mastering pipcounts is like mastering opening responses -- your play becomes faster, more assured, less anxious, more accurate.

Gregg Cattanach writes:

Paul Weaver has told me that he keeps a running pip count throughout his games, but I have no way to verify whether he really does or not. Certainly, knowing the pip count even very early in the game has value, (go for a priming or running game, etc.) However, for me this would use up too much mental horsepower and be a distraction. I'm a big pip counter, and probably average counting the pips once or twice per game, even to make checker play decisions, not just at cube turns. I use Jack Kissane's method: (Cluster Counting, http://www.bkgm.com/articles/McCool/cluster.html) and even though this is not the fastest method ever invented, I like the fact that I know both numbers, not just the differential. I also feel it is a method that is pretty easy to get the right numbers on the first try. If you play in person, it really is a sin not to be able to count the pips, or dislike the process so much that you don't do it when you really need to. For me I don't think pip counting has much to do with increasing my error rate, mostly because I'm willing to do it and have a pretty good idea when I should be doing it. I have a small sample of complete matches (19 matches) I've played over the board, and my error rate is pretty much on par with what I do on-line. I actually think I play somewhat better in person, as I basically am trying harder. I also have a tendency to sometimes take when I should pass on-line, 'just to see how it comes out'. I'm definitely more cautious in person. Gregg C.

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