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BGonline.org Forums
Review of Stick's Group Lesson
Posted By: Jason Lee
Date: Wednesday, 26 October 2011, at 1:21 a.m.
I took part in Stick's Group Lesson on Sunday, and wanted to share some of my thoughts.
Stick charged $25 for participating in the lesson. Beforehand, he said it would go 1.5 to 2 hours, but it ended up going 2.5 hours. An archive of the lesson is available in compressed form for $20.
The lesson was done online, and one needed only a web browser and some speakers or headphones. Stick provided a link to a site, and after you log in, you can see Stick's computer desktop and hear him and all the other participants. I emphasize that at no time do you ever see Stick's ugly mug.
After everybody logged in, Stick muted everybody, and the only means of communication by the students was a text chat. Everybody could see everybody else's chat, so it was like a chat room. As Stick asked questions (verbally) and the students answered (by typing), we could also ask other questions, both to Stick and the other students. The muting was a good idea, as a conference call with many people can seriously amplify background noise issues. Towards the end of the lesson, Stick unmuted the students, and we finished up that way.
Stick had XG running, so that he could set up positions, ask questions, and then quickly get an XG evaluation to see equities, etc. Since you see Stick's desktop, you see everything he's doing on his computer, meaning you can see the positions he sets up on XG on his machine.
The theme of the lesson was cube decisions in races, almost exclusively in money games. The lesson broke down into four portions:
- Warm-ups on basic calculations
- N-roll vs. N-roll positions
- Keith Count
- Effective Pip Count
For each concept, Stick would talk for a while, giving the basic ideas, and then would put up a position and give the students a minute or so to figure out their answer. Then he'd give the solution, and answer any questions. Remember that Stick is talking, we're hearing his voice, and the students are typing their answers, viewable by everybody.
Along with showing the Keith Count, Stick talked for some time about when it should be used, and when the rules in the KC should be adjusted.
The EPC portion took the longest – EPC is harder to calculate, and requires several rules and a dusting of intuition. Stick spent a fair amount of time giving positions and asking us to estimate the wastage.
How much you'd get out of a lecture like this depends quite a bit on what you already know. I thought the EPC discussions were great, because I had a middling of an understanding about it, because I have found written material on it difficult to process and use. On the other hand, I knew a good bit of the material already, for example, I already know and regularly use the Keith Count in competitive play. There were some elements on the KC that were new to me.
I think that overall, the lesson was geared towards mid-intermediate to mid-advanced level players.
One feature of a good teacher or a good lesson is that the student can walk away from it having learned something specific, and more capable of adding to his repertoire. I think Stick covered some good basics, but there's more lurking under the surface. I finished up the lesson thinking that I've got to study some more about this topic, and I feel like I know how to proceed.
Schedules permitting, I would (and will) do this again. I expect the process and delivery to become more refined.
I definitely recommend these lessons. If you're not sure about them, I don't think $25 is too onerous to give one a whirl. If you play tournament backgammon or play chouettes for nickels or more, then you've lost far more than that in one go, easily. If you feel shy about a group lesson, there's no reason why you can't just be a passive observer, although digging in and answering the questions will teach you things more effectively. Nobody got called a donkey – the atmosphere was friendly, with the emphasis on correcting any mistakes that came up.
I think a lot of people participate in backgammon by playing, playing, playing, but they don't really get any better. There's a limit to how good you can get that way. Backgammon has a very poor feedback mechanism, because of all the luck that happens along the way. In order to improve, you have to study! If you have a hard time figuring out how to do this, a lesson will help!
JLee
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