> After trying out most backgammon servers, I invariably noticed, like most
> others, that some servers have less random dice throws, or else have their
> systems hacked.
> Can anyone give me a list of the most reliable servers where I can work on
> increasing my rating safely?
I have only played on a few servers (Gamesgrid, Yahoo, MSN Zone) so I
can't comment about others.
However, I will say this. I have never, ever, nowhere, not even once,
seen a valid statistical analysis that showed the dice anywhere to be
non-random.
Let me give an example of what happens. A player rolls something
like:
66
11
44
21
55
33
And then says "I rolled 6 doubles in a row; the odds on that are 1 in
1.7 million.
And they forget 2 things:
1) They didn't really roll 6 in a row. It was 5 of 6, and the odds on
that are only about 1 in 45,000.
2) 1 in 45,000 will happen 1 time in - 45,000. If you play several
games a day, and play a few days a week, you will have this happen
eventually, and more than once. Even 1 in 1.7 million is once every
few months or years, depending on how much you play, not once in a
millenium.
I have done some fairly careful analysis of the dice on the MSN Zone.
I get a lot of letters from people claiming to have seen weird things.
But I have NEVER gotten one with an actual log of the game
accompanying it to prove that it really happened.
I once got a log from a tournament director asking if what happened in
the match was possible. The actual odds on the number of doubles in
that match was something like 1 in 80.
There are many reasons to choose a server - features, speed, cost,
quality of opposition, availability of tournaments and money play,
etc. Randomness of the dice is not one of them.
My personal recomendations are the MSN Zone for a social atmosphere
and frequent tournaments with a variety of formats, and Gamesgrid for
quality of play. However, Gamesgrid basically requires you to pay,
although the fee is modest ($80 a year I think, $60 if you register
with GammonVillage). I'm sure there are other sites with good
features, but surely none with the variety and frequency (50-100 a
day) of tournaments that the Zone has.
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