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BGonline.org Forums
useless problem?
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: useless problem? (Klaus Evers)
Date: Friday, 18 December 2009, at 10:03 p.m.
There are lots of reasons why positions with two very close plays are extremely valuable to study.
1. They make for excellent reference positions. If you study this position and the arguments for and against various plays, and the top two plays are tied, then you now know that if you encounter a position that is similar to this one but where one of the factors is tipped slightly in favor of Play A, then Play A is probably right. Learning one reference position is much more effective than learning a dozen related positions where one play is clearly best.
2. Some positions just can't be "solved" by making qualitative arguments; some calculation is needed. If you study only positions where one play is clearly best then you can become lazy about developing your calculating skills. A position where two plays are close forces you to try to calculate. What is important is that you learn how to do those calculations. It doesn't matter, from a learning perspective, whether the calculation gives you zero or -0.100 or +0.100, so long as it gives you good practice in doing the right kinds of calculations.
3. Equity difference is not the only feature of a position that is important. You should get in the habit of examining the winning chances and the gammon chances. It's true that bots currently seem to provide only cubeless figures, which are sometimes misleading, but often the cubeless figures are not too far off. Knowing the winning chances and the gammon chances allows you to adjust the answer to the problem if the match score is changed. Two plays might be very close at one score but one of them may be superior at another score. Again, going back to point 1, the position is probably most valuable as a reference at the score where all the factors balance each other out.
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