| |
BGonline.org Forums
Clock usage guidelines
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Clock usage guidelines (Marv Porten)
Date: Sunday, 7 February 2010, at 5:01 a.m.
Marv Porten wrote:
I apologize if you took it the wrong way.
Not at all.
There might be some situations, however, where Player D took 10 seconds to analyze a play, and then he finds out that two Backgammon Giants spent much more time on it; Player D might then realize that he is rushing his plays in situations where he should take more care.
Even in this case, it doesn't necessarily follow that Player D should have taken more time. The Giants might recognize that in this position an accurate pip count is important, and a careful match-equity calculation is in order. If Player D doesn't know his match equities and gammon prices, and doesn't know what to do with the pip count even if he obtains it, then Player D will not reap any benefit from spending more time.
My guess as to what might be troubling you is that you come here and you see someone throwing around match-equity calculations with the greatest of ease, or going through all 21 opponent rolls to see how they play out after each option, and you wonder, "Good grief, am I supposed to be doing that on every play? Surely not. But which plays should I think harder about?"
I would recommend that you regard the analyses here not primarily as things you should be replicating OTB, but as careful explanations of what is going on in certain specific positions. When you study them, don't worry about time constraints. Just ask yourself if you would have been able to see everything that the experts saw if you had plenty of time. Often there will be something in the position that you missed in your analysis not because you didn't spend enough time, but because you didn't even realize it was relevant. For example, many intermediates don't realize that if their own 5-point is already made, then it significantly improves their chances of surviving an opening blitz. They're not even looking at their own home board when deciding whether to take or drop. The problem here isn't lack of time but lack of understanding.
Focus on trying to understand positions. If you're like most people, most of your big errors are committed not because you failed to spend enough time analyzing the position, but because you didn't understand what the most important features of the position were. You're much better off asking what features are important than how much time should I spend. The question of which positions to think about longer will then answer itself. For example, if you realize that counting shots in Position A is important then you will stop and count shots, but if you realize that the exact number of shots in Position B is unimportant then you won't bother.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.