Forum Archive : Match Play at 2-away/2-away

Practical strategy From:   Albert Steg Address:   asteg@k12.ucs.umass.edu Date:   28 February 1995 Subject:   Re: 2-away, 2-away doubling strategy Forum:   rec.games.backgammon Google:   1995Feb28.215349.22272@k12.ucs.umass.edu Sometimes I think I understand and agree with this doubling strategy and at other times I am not so sure about it. Kit Woolsey's conclusion on page 11 of _How to Play Tournament BG_ is "If you are playing a perfect opponent, it is always correct to double at this match score if there is any way you can lose your market on the next exchange." It is the notion of a "perfect opponent" that gets me a little perplexed. In this context do I rightly take this expression to mean "a player who follows this policy"? If I were playing a BG program which had this policy built-in, I see that I should follow the Woolsey rule.... But I take it that if I am playing an opponent who has never considered this match score closely, and who therefore may double much more conservatively, OR a player who has (genuinely?) expressed his disagreement with the strategy, it doesn't seem to me that I am well-served by following Woolsey's rule by doubling in positions where my market-losing sequences are remote, especially if I am actually an underdog in the game. So does that make me an "imperfect" player, and so should my opponents take the Woolsey rule with a grain of salt when -2/-2 against me? --and are they then imperfect players, too? In practice, reading Woolsey's argument on this score has made me hyper-aware of the danger of losing my market at -2/-2, and so I do double with quite slender provocation at that score --but my trigger-finger is much itchier against a strong opponent who has considered this rule and is likely to follow its spirit than against a less experienced player who is morelikely to lose his own market over the next few rolls due to a lack of understanding of this match score situation. A general policy that occurs to me is that, if I am less likely to lose my market on the next parlay than my opponent is to lose _his_ market on his next turn, taking into consideration both the current position and my opponent's skills, then I should refrain from doubling. Is this sensible? Please make follow-up posting relevant to practical tournament play if possible. Albert Kit Woolsey  writes: Albert's explanation is a very accurate summary of what I do in practice. If I am playing against someone who I know understands the proper strategy at this match score I will double if any market loser is possible (which essentially means one of us will be doubling almost immediately). However if I am playing against an unknown opponent or an opponent whom I do not think understands the proper strategy, then I will often fail to make theoretically correct doubles with a tiny chance of losing my market, since I expect he will be more likely to make even larger errors. Of course when an opponent fails to double virtually instantly, this is a good indication that he does not understand the strategy fully. Kit   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Match Play at 2-away/2-away

Basic strategy  (Darse Billings, Feb 1995) 

Counterexample?  (Jim Williams+, Mar 1998) 

Do you need an advantage to cube?  (Keene Marin+, Feb 2006) 

Double immediately?  (Chuck Bower, Oct 1998) 

Ever too good to double?  (Kit Woolsey, July 1995) 

Minimum game winning chances to double  (Walter Trice, Mar 1999) 

Practical strategy  (Walter Trice, July 1995) 

Practical strategy  (Albert Steg+, Feb 1995) 

Proof for doubling immediately  (Robert Koca+, May 1994) 

Proof of doubling with market losers  (Walter Trice+, July 2001) 

Sample game  (Ron Karr, Dec 1996) 

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