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BGonline.org Forums
The interesting 41T 1st roll move
Posted By: Rich Munitz In Response To: The interesting 41T 1st roll move (David Rockwell)
Date: Monday, 19 October 2009, at 4:35 a.m.
I think part of the answer of the strength of slotting vs. T may lie elsewhere from what has been discussed so far.
With the opponent's 5th checker already removed from the midpoint and sitting on the 8 point, on their next roll they will not be correct to bring down two builders from the midpoint (thus stripping it); they will certainly want to split their back men. The priming risk (and number of outfield targets) created by facing at most one extra builder in the outfield reduces the benefits of the player's splitting. Meanwhile, knowing that the opponent is almost certainly splitting next turn makes now the best and likely only chance for the player to slot. So the answer may be to do it now, while you still can, and while there is less benefit to splitting.
One more factor that just occurred to me is that T type formations are good for attacking and less good for building (as MCG pointed out). However, by slotting, it creates the added benefit that if hit, the player gains the ability to attempt to make an advanced anchor with the hit checker - having both the advantages of a split with the safety of an anchor. We've seen previously that $ can actually reduce gammon risk partly for this reason. T should only make that effect even stronger.
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