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Two Temporal Apophthegms

Posted By: Matt Cohn-Geier
Date: Thursday, 17 December 2009, at 12:35 a.m.

In Response To: Two Temporal Apophthegms (Matt Ryder)

1. Consider the past, but only when the time is right!

2. Consider the future, but only when the time is right!

I agreed wholeheartedly.

I would add, to 1.:

No matter how well you play you will still make errors and rather large blunders. Identify them, understand them, change them, move on. If it helps you play better, that's fine, if it doesn't help you play better, put it out of your mind. As Rich mentions in some cases retrospection can be useful, but only when it helps you play better.

And, to 2.:

Considering how bad a bad beat sequence is before a game is over is generally a total waste of effort. Likewise,

You just danced on a two point board 5 rolls in a row?

The game in most cases is still not over. As I think Ray has mentioned, if you whine about this stuff (to which I'll add...either out loud or internally), you feel worse when you finally do hit some miracle shot and win in the eleventh hour.

Part of the reason for your equity in a game, a match, a position, a cube decision, whatever, is slime equity (sometimes a significant part). Don't waste your slime equity, either.

In most cases it's pointless to fret about what's going to happen with the dice. Sometimes people have wondered why I am not paying attention to a chouette I am involved in (often either a nonconsulting chouette or a trivial technical position). Well, if I can't do anything to affect the dice or the position on the board I don't really need to worry about it. I might watch to be social but I get an awful lot of backgammon in at chouettes.

Considering how often you are going to win a bearoff or whatever might eventually help your bearoff cube skills. I like to do some kind of variance-reduced prospection or retrospection. E.g. did opp win XXX game? Did opp get somewhat lucky, really lucky, somewhat unlucky, really unlucky? Ex.: if I took a cube and got really lucky and still lost then maybe it was a pass, if I took and got somewhat unlucky and still won then maybe it was a beaver. But this won't always work, just something to think about.

Anyway, my point here is that if something helps you play better in the future, that's great. Otherwise, put it out of your mind.

Messages In This Thread

• Two Temporal Apophthegms
  Matt Ryder -- Wednesday, 16 December 2009, at 9:10 p.m.
  • Two Temporal Apophthegms
    Rich Munitz -- Wednesday, 16 December 2009, at 9:40 p.m.
    • Two Temporal Apophthegms
      Matt Ryder -- Thursday, 17 December 2009, at 5:04 a.m.
  • Two Temporal Apophthegms
    Matt Cohn-Geier -- Thursday, 17 December 2009, at 12:35 a.m.
    • Two Temporal Apophthegms
      Matt Ryder -- Thursday, 17 December 2009, at 4:37 a.m.
      • Two Temporal Apophthegms
        Matt Cohn-Geier -- Thursday, 17 December 2009, at 5:17 a.m.