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Which doublets are hardest to play?

Posted By: Daniel Murphy
Date: Tuesday, 4 May 2010, at 8:36 p.m.

In Response To: Which doublets are hardest to play? (Timothy Chow)

Position #2 is clear (I hope!). 8/4*(2) 13/9(2) points, makes broken 5-prime, makes landing places for your backmost and other outer board checkers, puts opponent on the bar, and gives opponent nothing.

Oh, and look! Blue has the cube already! Not for long!

Position #1 either you give up the 13 point or you do not. If you do, I'd play 13/9(2) 13/5. I don't like 13/9(2) slotting 8/4 giving aces, or 13/9(3) 10/6 gaining 3 spares only for making the 4 point. None of the plays look great. Perhaps that is because priming is the wrong game plan. Those plays strand the back checkers. They give White total outfield control. Because Blue is 20 pips up in the race after the play, they rate to lose the priming timing war.

How about 8/4(2) 6/2(2) instead? Makes one great and one good point for a 4 point board. Wastes no pips making them. Keeps the midpoint outpost with its spare. Duplicates White's 5's to hit and 5's to make the 8 point.

Downside: Seems to give White 17/36 shots at two blots. But it doesn't. White has better ways to play 5-4 5-3 5-1 6-1 4-3 4-1 on his own side of the board. With White down 20 pips, you might think White's plan should be to to hit to gain pips, but it's not. White's game plan is to prime and squeeze Blue's acepoint anchor. If White chooses instead to hit, most of his number give Blue (aforearmed with his 4 point board, outboarding White's 2 point board) many ways to send White straight to the bar. So White should concentrate on his prime. Blue will need to cover a blot, and step up and out with the back checkers, hopefully hit something, and probably leave White more hittable blots. Dangerous, but more dangerous for White -- Blue's 4 point board should come in handy. And necessary: the alternative is to try to compete with White in the prime game. I think that's a loser.

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