Match Play

Forum Archive : Match Play

Crawford rule From:   Kit Woolsey Address:   kwoolsey@netcom.com Date:   19 March 1997 Subject:   Re: The CRAWFORD Rule, do we really need it? Forum:   rec.games.backgammon Google:   kwoolseyE7BC95.CHt@netcom.com When you are playing a match where the winner is the first player who reaches a fixed number of points, the question is what should be done about the doubling cube when one of the players has one point to go. If there were no restrictions on doubling, the player who is behind would obviously turn the cube at his first legal opportunity every game. This would greatly lessen the value of being one point from winning the match. On the other hand, if the cube were taken out of play, the player who is behind would have to win a bunch of undoubled games in order to recover. This would give being one point away from winning too much value. The Crawford rule is an intelligent compromise. It gives some value for getting to within one point of winning and still leaves the trailer a chance to recover without having to win too many games. At any rate, the Crawford rule is the accepted rule for match play. It has been used at every tournament I have ever played in, which goes back to the early 1970's. Since this is the case, it is clearly best to use the same rule for FIBS. Kit   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Match Play

1-away/1-away: advice from Bernhard Kaiser  (Darse Billings, July 1995) 

1-away/1-away: advice from Stick  (Stick+, Mar 2007) 

1-away/1-away: and similar scores  (Lou Poppler, Aug 1995) 

2-away/3-away: playing for gammon  (Tom Keith, Feb 1996) 

2-away/4-away: Neil's rule of 80  (Neil Kazaross, June 2004) 

2-away/4-away: cube strategy  (Tom Keith, Dec 1996) 

2-away/4-away: practical issues  (Mark Damish, Jan 1996) 

2-away/4-away: trailer's initial double  (Kit Woolsey, Jan 1996) 

3-away/4-away: opponent's recube  (William C. Bitting+, Feb 1997) 

3-away/4-away: tricky cube decision  (Kit Woolsey+, July 1994) 

3-away/4-away: what's the correct equity?  (Tom Keith, Sept 1997) 

4-away/4-away: take/drop point  (Gary Wong, Oct 1997) 

5-away/11-away: redouble to 8  (Gavin Anderson, Oct 1998) 

7-away/11-away: volatile recube decision  (Kit Woolsey, May 1997) 

Both too good and not good enough to double  (Paul Epstein+, Sept 2007) 

Comparing 2-away/3-away and 2-away/4-away  (Douglas Zare, Mar 2002) 

Crawford rule  (Chuck Bower, May 1998) 

Crawford rule  (Kit Woolsey, Mar 1997) 

Crawford rule--Why just one game?  (Walter Trice, Jan 2000) 

Crawford rule--history  (Michael Strato, Jan 2001) 

Delayed mandatory double  (Donald Kahn+, Dec 1997) 

Doubling when facing a gammon loss  (Kit Woolsey, Jan 1999) 

Doubling when opponent is 2-away  (David Montgomery, Dec 1997) 

Doubling when you're an underdog  (Stein Kulseth, Dec 1997) 

Free drop  (Ian Shaw, May 1999) 

Free drop  (Willis Elias+, Oct 1994) 

Gammonless takepoint formula  (Adam Stocks, June 2002) 

Going for gammon when opp has free drop  (Kit Woolsey, Jan 1998) 

Going for gammon when opp has free drop  (Kit Woolsey, Apr 1995) 

Holland rule  (Kit Woolsey, Dec 1994) 

Leading 2-away with good gammon chances  (Douglas Zare, Feb 2004) 

Matches to a set number of games  (Tom Keith+, Oct 1998) 

Playing when opponent has free drop  (Gilles Baudrillard+, Dec 1996) 

Post-crawford doubling  (Scott Steiner+, Feb 2004) 

Post-crawford doubling  (Maik Stiebler+, Dec 2002) 

Post-crawford doubling  (Gus+, Sept 2002) 

Post-crawford mistakes  (Rob Adams, Sept 2007) 

Post-crawford/2-away: too good to double  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, July 2004) 

Take points  (fiore+, Feb 2005) 

When to free drop  (Dan Pelton+, Oct 2006) 

When to free drop  (Tom Keith+, July 2005) 

When to free drop  (Gregg Cattanach, Dec 2004) 

When to free drop  (Kit Woolsey, Feb 1998) 

When to free drop  (Chuck Bower, Jan 1998) 

Which format most favors the favorite?  (Daniel Murphy+, Jan 2006) 

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