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BGonline.org Forums
All 33 replies to the opening move
Posted By: Taper_Mike In Response To: All 33 replies to the opening move (Stick)
Date: Monday, 5 September 2011, at 8:03 a.m.
Thanks, Stick, for your suggestions.
You may want to check out this post by Nack which also categorizes them.
This is a great post. Nack's subtle explanation of how E creeps up on C in 41$-33 is wonderful.
I personally think learning them all by reply is a bad way to go and why many people have problems, here especially.
I haven't committed to one way or other yet. I am giving both a try for now. I know Nack prefers to group them the way I've done in my table. But I have also seen the testimonials of those who credit you for the success they had when they finally switched to the other way.
For 33C you have 'opponent has four builders' which is true but it may be more important or more to the point that your opponent has 3 checkers aimed at the 4pt specifically. (at least when addressing the anchoring part of the roll).
Now this is very interesting.
One of the useful experiments I did was to check how 33 performs as an opening roll. It gave me the idea the when all other things are equal, attacking is the best play. Unless the opponent has done something to change things, my default play with 33 is to attack. Each of the categories in my chart, excepting "No reason not to," is supposed to remind me just what, in fact, has changed.
The same experiment showed that the second best play is B (both up and down). When an attack, for some reason, becomes ill-advised, my first fallback plan is B.
I ended up with the "opponent has four builders" distinction because I was trying to discriminate between rolls like 32D and 43D on the one hand, and 54D, on the other. Of course, 54D also places three checkers in range of the four point, but it does not simultaneously give four builders for the five point.
Another phrase I was tempted to use was "Opponent is about to make a point." This contrasts nicely with "Opponent makes a point." With 32D and 43D, as well as the slotting moves, I developed the notion of "stealing" the five point. My preoccupied opponent has a blot on his five point, or a couple of blots outside, and he will not be able to both hit me (on my eight point) and make a new point on his side of the board. The explanation is useful. Otherwise, when an opponent opens with a slot, my fallback play B should kick in, as it does when my opponent makes a point. Here is an explanation why I can go to plan C (cross) when he is about to make a point.
For 54D, the best I could do was "builder on the nine point." It is supposed to trigger a reminder of the power the 6-8-9 combination has for making new points. That offensive power should cause me to want to make the advanced anchor with 54D (and not with, say, 52D.) Where my clue fails, however, is in providing a suggestion that E (each) is better than B (both) and C (cross), and why. My default attack plan suggests that when all other things are equal, making the five point should be just as good or better than making the three point. So, what's not equal?
The only answer I have now is that the rollouts are unequal!
Mike
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