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High stakes gammon

Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Thursday, 17 September 2009, at 1:52 p.m.

In Response To: High stakes gammon (Keene)

I have given the concept of "fear across the board" more thought, and I find the whole thing kind of silly. I believe the intent of the statement is to try to get people to think about who they think is more likely to beat them in a match. I have nothing that approximates the emotion of fear when I sit down against anyone in the world, but I do have something that better describes my thoughts when I sit down against a world class player: respect.

Any time I sit down against a Giant or someone I know to be a world class player, I know I am in for a major challenge and I know that I will have to play my best and get lucky to win. It absolutely doesn't matter to me if I am playing someone at the top of the Giants list or at the bottom...I know they are all capable of playing at an extremely low ER and they are all very tough, and I know that I have to get lucky to win.

How do Giants feel about playing other Giants? I doubt that a top player (say Stick or MCG or CoolRay) approaches the game any differently when they face someone who is usually ranked near the top of the Giant list (Nack?) vs. someone who is closer to the bottom but is also a known WC player. I doubt that they feel any "fear." I am sure they feel respect for their opponent and they are focussed on playing well, regardless of who it is, and I doubt that they change their game or plays because of which WC player is sitting across from them. In fact, they might as well be playing against the computer--I would bet their plays would be the same.

Now, they might (and should) change their plays when they are playing me. But we are talking about Giant voting here, and I suggest if we focus on who we respect most, who we think is most likely to win a match or tournament, we will be using a more accurate criteria.

And since we're on the subject, what odds would you give in a match between Sander and Nack? Falafel and Neil? Mochy and O'Hagan? If you gave me 51/49 odds and let me flip a coin, I'd do it with any of the top players. It's that close, IMHNWO.

Messages In This Thread

• High stakes gammon
  Christian Munk-Christensen -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 3:48 p.m.
  • High stakes gammon
    Stick -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 3:57 p.m.
    • High stakes gammon
      Christian Munk-Christensen -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 7:04 p.m.
      • High stakes gammon
        Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 7:09 p.m.
        • High stakes gammon
          Chuck Bower -- Thursday, 17 September 2009, at 2:36 a.m.
  • High stakes gammon
    Phil Simborg -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 4:46 p.m.
  • High stakes gammon
    Keene -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 5:06 p.m.
    • High stakes gammon
      Phil Simborg -- Thursday, 17 September 2009, at 1:52 p.m.
      • High stakes gammon
        Bob Koca -- Thursday, 17 September 2009, at 2:59 p.m.
        • High stakes gammon
          Phil Simborg -- Friday, 18 September 2009, at 12:26 p.m.
          • High stakes gammon
            Rich Munitz -- Friday, 18 September 2009, at 3:32 p.m.
          • High stakes gammon
            Bob Koca -- Friday, 18 September 2009, at 3:42 p.m.
          • High stakes gammon
            Stick -- Friday, 18 September 2009, at 5:30 p.m.
  • High stakes gammon
    Bill Riles -- Tuesday, 15 September 2009, at 6:07 p.m.
    • High stakes gammon
      TarHeelFan -- Wednesday, 16 September 2009, at 12:44 a.m.
      • High stakes gammon
        Chiva Tafazzoli -- Wednesday, 16 September 2009, at 1:14 a.m.
        • High stakes gammon
          Stick -- Wednesday, 16 September 2009, at 10:53 a.m.
      • High stakes gammon
        Bill Riles -- Wednesday, 16 September 2009, at 2:07 a.m.
        • High stakes gammon
          TarHeelFan -- Wednesday, 16 September 2009, at 9:48 p.m.
      • fear is a poor choice of words
        garyo -- Sunday, 20 September 2009, at 10:47 p.m.