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BGonline.org Forums
Cancelgammon
Posted By: MK In Response To: Cancelgammon (Bob Koca)
Date: Saturday, 11 January 2025, at 5:25 a.m.
Koca said: Full rules are at https://nybackgammon.net/rules/
I find it interesting that this is implemented in tournaments after it has been talked about, among other such measures to reduce luck in gamblegammon, for ages in SCT and perhaps in this and other forums that I wasn't following before.
I'm a little puzzled though, since the cube was introduced to make backgammon more exciting for gamblers, why would they now want to revert it to a "lackluckster" ;) "skill" game by adding this one to a number of previously implemented similar measures?
I'll write more on the cube later but what really grabbed my attention among the full details was this:
"You may wait for your opponent to complete their play before using your cancel"
So!, luck doesn't yet happen based on the dice rolled but really happens later based on how the numbers are played!
This little detail is very important regarding how luck is or should be perceived, defined and calculated in gamblegammon.
It also vindicates my decades old arguments on the subject. I have always argued that "skill+luck=1" is a fallacy but ignoring that, I have been arguing also that at least the calculation of luck should be based of how much of the "rolled luck", as calculated by the "bot gods" of course, was actually used by the player.
The above rule acknowledges this argument of mine by advising to wait to see if the opponent will blunder and "waste" part of his luck.
I'll take that but what's more important is that I wasn't as concerned about the luck itself as not making the best move to take full use of the luck being considered an "error".
If the is such a thing called "strategy" in gamblegammon, then there must be equally good alternative plays than the inflexible, predetermined, predictable "bot play". Thus, what the bot considers "errors" can very well be intentionally made moves as part of "a strategy". In fact, it's accepted that "giants" (but not everyone else, including people like me), can make such what are called "PR sacrificing" moves.
Now, even if you don't agree that series of "PR sacrificing" moves can constitute a strategy, you at least should accept the need to take into account the actual portion of luck used up from the potential maximum luck from the dice roll, whether it was done by a "giant" or a beginner.
MK
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