| |
BGonline.org Forums
Match play reading
Posted By: RobertFontaine In Response To: Match play reading (Alex Schofield)
Date: Wednesday, 9 September 2015, at 11:45 a.m.
this is just my opinion so take it as you will...
Kit Woolsey wrote a nice article on the 5 point match at all scores many moons ago on GammonU. There are some good articles on match play on GammonVillage by various authors.
Honestly most everything available is shit if you are looking become a tournament player.
The authors pick a series of positions for standard play and go through the standard basic plays with their chosen reference position. The best material I have seen has been stick/phil/mochy webcasts and seminars over the last couple of years. The downside with them is that without doing the requisite 20-100 hours of study and practice that would go with the 1 hour lecture you feel like you learned something but instead you just leave entertained. Actual work is required.
Trice's bootcamp is an excellent book but it is for novices. A modern magriel so to speak. Woolsey's introductory paper (booklet) on match play is a great introduction in a time when no one understood match play but today it is barely an introduction.
To understand cube play at an expert level in match play at today's current events there are bits and pieces of articles and lessons but it requires going through and studying each area of the game and learning to count shots, estimate jokers/antijokers and there impact, count the race (epc, keith count)_ with adjustments. Study the blitz, race, holding (high/low/mutual), backgame, ace point, action cubes et al. Acquire a set of useful reference positions you can rely on for each. Learn to adjust for gammons, Learn your MET of choice to 5 plus Neil's new numbers.
Cube play isn't a style it is the culmination of the knowledge acquired about the game...
Or you could just take a look at your cube errors in XG and modify your play accordingly... Cubing earlier tends to make XG happier because the bot dings you for micro-cube errors repeatedly if you skate the edge. In practice it tends to improve your win rate when you aren't playing at an expert level because you increase your opponent's opportunity to make blunders (and they do). If you are playing intermediates in match play simply playing more aggressively with the cube may improve your elo.
My cube play averages around 14 while my checker play is in the 6's in match play so you can take my comments in context. For my cube play to move from pathetic to reasoned I suspect I need to spend a solid 10 hours a week for around a year actually studying and practicing the basic techniques required to be proficient otb.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.