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DQ 1: Magriel bold?

Posted By: ah_clem
Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2025, at 2:29 a.m.

In Response To: DQ 1: Magriel bold? (Sam Pottle)

Magriel's safe vs. bold criteria include whether you have an advanced anchor, not any anchor. They do not include the race!

There's barely a mention of the race in the entire book. None of the diagrams include the pipcount, and I don't recall reading much of anything related to the race or the pipcount. Even the short section on the cube fails to mention the pipcount. So, it's not surprising that the race is not part of the criteria. For whatever reason, Magriel didn't think the pipcount was worth discussing.

My take is that if you're behind in the race you need to do something to mix it up and when you're ahead the game play is to avoid hits and press the race advantage. Maybe "number of men back" is a reasonable proxy for the pipcount - it's certainly easier to calculate otb - but seems to me that the race lead or deficit should be part of the criteria.

So Blue has more men back, a weaker board, and no advanced anchor. This suggests leaning toward a safe play.

Um... more men back points toward bold, not safe.

But I agree with your overall take that even if you wanted to make a safe play, there really aren't any. Some really good discussion here.

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