Forum Archive : Play Sites

Yahoo Games--Ratings From:   Neil GoBlu Address:   neilgoblu@aol.com Date:   1 July 2000 Subject:   Newbie questions regarding ratings and where to play... Forum:   rec.games.backgammon Google:   20000701152932.04413.00000888@ng-ct1.aol.com I've been playing over the net for a few weeks now at Yahoo. I win about 75% of my games and my rating keeps going up. What is a good rating? does it matter that it is yahoo? Do Yahoo ratings compare to FIBS ratings? Should I be playing through FIBS, or is Yahoo "good enough"... thanks... Neil Douglas Zare  writes: I also play on FIBS (zare) and on Yahoo (zare_10027). Yahoo can be amusing. If you know what you are doing, you can win even more than the 75% you cite against those who are rated about 1600-1800 on yahoo while playing 3-point matches. There are some decent players, but you have to look for them. Note that the ladder system rewards those who play a lot much more than it rewards those who play well, since the penalty for losing is negligible until one is in the top 20, and the way to get games is to lose a lot. Unfortunately, Yahoo seems not to use the FIBS ratings formula that they claim to use. I have been told that the cutoff is 1800, and I treat all ratings over 1800 as suspect; it seems that one gets too many points for winning against weak opponents, and not enough for winning longer matches. However, below 1800 on Yahoo, I think a 400 or 500 point deduction will convert the rating to a plausible FIBS rating, e.g., 1800 on Yahoo corresponds to about 1400 on FIBS. Ratings differences between those over 1800 are more a product of playing a lot than skill differences. (On the other hand, I did have one excellent match against a player rated 900 on Yahoo, who later explained he was using his wife's account.) While there are those who have manipulated the ratings system on FIBS, the FIBS system is more consistent and it allows one to distinguish between intermediate, advanced, and expert players rather than just between those who are novices and those who are not. In both systems, what sets the level of 1500 is the average quality of newcomers (and their playing patterns), and the average new players on FIBS are much stronger than those on Yahoo. It is much easier to find strong opponents on FIBS than on Yahoo, and easier to watch games between players of high caliber. I strongly recommend trying FIBS or some of the other more serious servers if you want to improve your game. I also recommend playing Jellyfish or Snowie as well as reading at least Magriel's _Backgammon_, which most players on Yahoo have never encountered. Buhbuh Ray  writes: I found that when I started off as a newbie, Yahoo was sufficient for me. Playing in Cases ladder helped me develop my game when I started playing against some of the top players there (who as Douglas Zare says, are rather mediocore in most cases at a fibs or other server). However there are a few people that are very good players. I used it to learn my basics, work on my backgame, and practice against wacky dice. I haven't played there myself in a year or two because I wasn't very happy with the ladder competition. Yahoo is good for newbies, but If you want SERIOUS competition, take it to one of the other servers. Use yahoo as a training ground if you are a newbie, then step up to FIBS or Gamesgrid or Netgammon or Gamesite2000 when you feel confident. The top players on these servers are the masters of the game in real life. Most people know what they're doing there, whereas at yahoo you will encounter people who don't know what the doubling cube is used for. Hope my ramblings help. buhbuhray (on Gamesgrid)   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Play Sites

Arkadium  (Michael Volpatt, Oct 2003) 

BG Room  (Stanley E. Richards+, Oct 2007) 

Backgammon4Money--Announcement  (Will Edison, Dec 2001) 

Best value  (Kenny Lee Smith+, June 1998) 

Club Games  (Ashton Haze, Sept 2005) 

Club Games  (Tomawaky+, May 2005) 

Comparison of rakes  (Raccoon, Dec 2006) 

Comparison of rakes  (Raccoon, July 2006) 

Comparison of rakes  (Hank Youngerman+, Oct 2005) 

Comparison of rakes  (Daniel, Aug 2005) 

DailyGammon  (Dan Wittkopp+, July 2004) 

DailyGammon  (Scott Steiner+, Apr 2004) 

DailyGammon  (Phil Vanicek, May 2001) 

FIBS vs. GamesGrid  (Bob Stringer, May 2000) 

FIBS--Financial support  (Kit Woolsey, Aug 1997) 

FIBS--Original announcement  (Andreas Schneider, July 1992) 

FIBS--Top Tournament Performers  (Osman Guner, July 2003) 

FIBS--Your worst fears  (Richard Greenberg, Nov 1995) 

Fair Backgammon  (info, May 2006) 

Free online tournaments  (Ricardo Hui+, Mar 2009) 

Friendly play site  (Ian Dunstan+, Feb 2006) 

GameDesire  (Maciej Mróz, Sept 2004) 

GameSite2000--Announcment  (GameSite 2000, Jan 2000) 

Games4Dollars  (Info Team, Apr 2004) 

GamesGrid vs FIBS  (Jim Cochrane, Jan 1999) 

GamesGrid--Announcement  (CyberArts Inc., June 1996) 

GamesGrid--Comparison to FIBS  (Ken Arnold, May 1997) 

GamesGrid--Second version  (Ken Arnold, Sept 1996) 

GamesGrid--Update  (Ken Arnold, Mar 1998) 

Gammon Empire--Announcement  (Jerry, Nov 2004) 

Gammon11  (sirkaber, May 2006) 

HigherGames--Announcement  (Michael Gilbert, Dec 2003) 

ItsYourTurn--Announcement  (Tom Buhrman, Sept 1999) 

Ladbrokes.com  (mccm1976, May 2006) 

Link to review of play sites  (cindybel+, May 2006) 

MSN Gaming Zone--Overall experience  (Mark Ferrante+, Nov 1997) 

MSN Gaming Zone--Thoughts  (Gregg Cattanach, Dec 1998) 

MoneyGaming.com  (max+, July 2005) 

NOBS  (Lou Poppler+, Aug 1996) 

Overview  (chinaski+, June 2008) 

Overview  (Alan Webb, Jan 1999) 

PiranhaGammon  (Piranha, Dec 2007) 

Play site wish list  (Perry Gartner+, Dec 2012) 

Play65/GammonEmpire  (Butch Meese+, July 2005) 

Play65/GammonEmpire  (Daniel Murphy+, Dec 2004) 

Play65/GammonEmpire vs. TrueMoneyGames  (oneprime+, Feb 2005) 

Play65/GammonEmpire--Are they the same?  (Tony Yarwood+, Aug 2005) 

Play65/GammonEmpire--Review  (Tom Keith+, Sept 2005) 

Play65/GammonEmpire--Withdrawal symptoms  (David Warmind+, May 2007) 

Play65/GammonEmpire--Withdrawal symptoms  (Erik Sorensen+, Apr 2007) 

Playmaker World--Announcement  (Michael Crane, Nov 2001) 

Playsite--Announcement  (Seth Tapper, Mar 1997) 

Ratings comparison  (Daniel Murphy, Aug 1999) 

Richard's Play-by-E-mail Server  (Richard Rognlie, May 1997) 

TrueMoneygames--Announcement  (TrueMoneygames Info, Apr 2002) 

VOG  (Glenn+, Feb 2000) 

Where to play for money  (mginat+, May 2006) 

Where to play for money  (Victor Zanfer+, Apr 2005) 

Yahoo Games  (Steve Fiete+, Mar 1998) 

Yahoo Games--Ratings  (Neil GoBlu+, July 2000) 

melBG--Announcement  (David Kinston, Dec 2000) 

From GammOnLine         Long message         Recommended reading         Recent addition

 

Book Suggestions Books Cheating Chouettes Computer Dice Cube Handling Cube Handling in Races Equipment Etiquette Extreme Gammon Fun and frustration GNU Backgammon History Jellyfish Learning Luck versus Skill Magazines & E-zines Match Archives Match Equities Match Play Match Play at 2-away/2-away Miscellaneous Opening Rolls Pip Counting Play Sites Probability and Statistics Programming Propositions Puzzles Ratings Rollouts Rules Rulings Snowie Software Source Code Strategy--Backgames Strategy--Bearing Off Strategy--Checker play Terminology Theory Tournaments Uncategorized Variations