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Practice minimizing wastage

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Monday, 28 January 2013, at 6:15 p.m.

In Response To: Practice minimizing wastage (Taper_Mike)

Yes. There is a more general fallacy that I think some people fall prey to, which runs roughly as follows: "I have to bear everything in first before I can bear anything off; therefore, my priority is to complete my bear-in as quickly as possible. Under that constraint, if I still have a choice, then I should aim for the most `efficient' home-board distribution." So often in a close race, I'll see people bearing in as if they were trying to save the gammon, creating a stack on the 6pt that is far too tall, and then later cursing their bad luck as they miss and/or are forced to dump checkers onto low points.

The goal isn't to complete the bear-in as quickly as possible; the goal is to complete the bear-off as quickly as possible (or more precisely, more quickly than your opponent), and that's the goal one has to keep in mind even when bearing in. Therefore, positions that minimize EPC under the artificial constraints that (1) the number of pips is fixed and (2) everything has to be in the home board can be misleading for practical play.

Messages In This Thread

• Practice minimizing wastage
  AP -- Sunday, 27 January 2013, at 9:34 p.m.
  • Practice minimizing wastage
    Stick -- Sunday, 27 January 2013, at 9:48 p.m.
  • Practice minimizing wastage
    AdamStocks -- Sunday, 27 January 2013, at 10:32 p.m.
    • Practice minimizing wastage
      Stick -- Sunday, 27 January 2013, at 10:53 p.m.
      • Practice minimizing wastage
        AdamStocks -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 1:35 a.m.
      • Practice minimizing wastage XG 3-Ply :-(
        Michael Depreli -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 1:33 p.m.
  • Practice minimizing wastage
    Timothy Chow -- Sunday, 27 January 2013, at 11:13 p.m.
    • Practice minimizing wastage
      AdamStocks -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 1:43 a.m.
    • Practice minimizing wastage
      AP -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 3:48 a.m.
      • Practice minimizing wastage
        Bob Koca -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 4:33 a.m.
        • Practice minimizing wastage
          AP -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 4:10 p.m.
          • Practice minimizing wastage
            Timothy Chow -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 6:00 p.m.
  • Practice minimizing wastage
    Taper_Mike -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 12:41 a.m.
    • Practice minimizing wastage
      AP -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 3:55 a.m.
      • Practice minimizing wastage
        Taper_Mike -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 7:43 a.m.
        • Practice minimizing wastage
          Timothy Chow -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 6:15 p.m.
  • Practice minimizing wastage
    Jason Lee -- Monday, 28 January 2013, at 4:16 p.m.