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BGonline.org Forums
New Paper on Opening Replies
Posted By: phil simborg In Response To: New Paper on Opening Replies (Jeremy Bagai)
Date: Wednesday, 1 July 2015, at 2:58 p.m.
This is a tremendously valuable body of work and a real gift to the backgammon community. I will have to take a lot more time studying this to get the full benefit and to see how to use it with and for my students.
I found the history and evolution of the study of replies to be very interesting...it's great to see that people are appreciated and recognized for their previous efforts.
I also agree with your praise of Stick's GV article...I have used it as a template for teaching second roll moves since he first published it.
One thing you did not mention, which I am personally very proud of, is Opening Ceremony. Many players of all levels have and still get great benefit from this tool which was developed largely by Murat Akcan with help from me and Perry. It shows on a spread sheet all of the responses at 4 score-types, side by side, rolled out at least 5,000 times in xg. Just glancing at the spread sheet and seeing which moves change and how they change at DMP and GG etc. is enlightening. And of course, it shows all the plays for money and is quite accurate. (It also does 3rd roll moves but only for money, but some day we hope to expand this.) I believe Opening Ceremony is extremely valuable, groud breaking work, and worthy of mention. And I can assure you that the large number of sales and responses from very knowledgeable people support my views. (www.bgopeningceremony.com)
As an additional insight, and I do have a unique perspective as I am sure I have taught more beginners and intermediates than anyone in the game, I do want to add a caution.
Studies like yours, and Nack and Paul's book, are absolutely fantastic and necessary for Open players to hone their skills. But beginners and low intermediates are simply overwhelmed but this much detail and are turned off when looking at plays that differ by less than .02. A more general and less detailed approach, centering on big concepts is what is needed for that level of play. For them, Stick's rules with a few added rules for some often-missed plays, are best.
For that reason, I believe it is best for all books, articles, and papers like yours to state what level of player the body of work is best suited for. Or, if someone does present a lot of detailed information, break it down for levels of play.
Yes, of course, a beginner needs to know the responses to become a good player, but in a much more general and far less detailed manner. He simply does not have the patience and overall knowledge of the game to get into the kind of detail in your paper and others that go into such detail. Rather than help and inspire the student, it turns them off.
Again, I do not mean this as a criticism, but rather a recommendation. Don't push this work on beginners and low intermediates...but for Open players and high intermediates, this is a fantastic paper and I am sure I will be using it and studying it for years.
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