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Terminology

Posted By: Nack Ballard
Date: Saturday, 24 June 2017, at 8:25 p.m.

In Response To: Wisebeaver Paradox (Ray Kershaw)

Chuck Bower / UBK spotlights what is defective or imperfect about the term "cube provocation play" as some currently apply it.

Phil Simborg sheds light in more detail here (and perhaps elsewhere).

In summary, on the face of it, "cube provocation play" simply sounds like a play that provokes the cube (with a reasonable implication that another play does not or should not). This might be either

(a) an inferior play that provokes a human opponent into an early or improper double (when the best play would not). Or
(b) a best play that induces a (theoretically) correct double, when there is at least one other play against which it is not a correct double.

I only thought of "a" when I first saw "cube provocation play." One hopes that the opponent will think, for example, "I can't let him get away with that," or "This guy clearly doesn't understand how to play this position; I double!" Perhaps the reader can come up with related okay-I'll-cube-that-play thoughts or anecdotes.

As for "b," it seems a shame, or a missed opportunity, not to recognize such a needle-threading play/cube relationship as a paradox. We already recognize it as a paradox for straight race, why not for contact?

Perhaps we could refer to the "b" situation as a "Provocation Paradox" (or "Cube Provocation Paradox"), and the play that causes it (such as 65D when played here) a "Provocation Paradox play." This could either (whichever is decided on) distinguish it from, or make it a subset of, a "cube provocation play" that includes "a" (the practical type) above.

Then, a Wisecarver Paradox could be either (whichever is decided on) the same as a Provocation Paradox (in which case the latter term might transition to be optionally discarded later), or a straight-race subset of it. I'd still like to know what Tim Wisecarver himself meant to include/exclude.

Nack

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