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How to organize your study time

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 11:30 p.m.

In Response To: 31P-11 4-ply (Stick)

Stick wrote:

I think spending any amount of time on something you find interesting is a good way of learning the game.

I agree with this.

It isn't time spent studying the game, it's time your computer spends searching for an answer for you to add to your mental database.

That's true, but you could put your computer to work on other things that might improve your game more.

If your goal is to get better, then I think there is a balance to be struck between studying what you find interesting and studying what will improve your game the most. If you want to improve, then I think you should focus on your biggest weaknesses first. When I first started getting serious about using a bot to help me improve, I found that my biggest errors were "stupid" mistakes, like failing to notice that I could hit. It is easy to dismiss stupid mistakes as not worth spending time on, but I looked carefully at these stupid mistakes and found that there were certain patterns to them. For instance I would be more likely to miss a hit if it was a long distance away, or if I were coming in from the bar hoping to hit a blot with a 4 and failing to notice that my 3-2 roll would allow me to play bar/23 24/21*. Recognizing this, I made a conscious effort to look for such things, and now it is extremely unusual for me to overlook a possible hit. Anyway, my point is that the quickest way to improve is to focus on your biggest failings, whatever those failings may be and however distasteful it may be to confront those failings.

There is a danger that an intermediate or even an advanced player may get so fascinated with opening theory and the endless facts that one can accumulate with long rollouts that he or she will spend a disproportionate amount of time (human and computer) on it. If you're doing it because it's fun and you don't care about improving your overall game as efficiently as possible then that's fine. But for most players, there comes a point of diminishing returns when spending time on other things would be more effective.

Messages In This Thread

• 31P-11 4-ply
  David Rockwell -- Monday, 19 July 2010, at 11:01 p.m.
  • 31P-11 4-ply
    neilkaz -- Monday, 19 July 2010, at 11:14 p.m.
    • 31P-11 3-ply
      David Rockwell -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 12:09 a.m.
      • 31P-11, data
        Nack Ballard -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 1:00 a.m.
        • 31P-11, data
          Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 1:27 a.m.
          • 31P-11, data
            David Rockwell -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 1:54 a.m.
            • 31P-11, data
              Nack Ballard -- Wednesday, 21 July 2010, at 4:34 a.m.
        • 31P-11, data
          David Rockwell -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 1:57 a.m.
          • 31P-11, data
            Nack Ballard -- Wednesday, 21 July 2010, at 4:38 a.m.
  • 31P-11 4-ply
    Christian Munk-Christensen -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 11:33 a.m.
    • 31P-11 4-ply
      Leonardo Jerkovic -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 12:05 p.m.
    • 31P-11 4-ply
      Stick -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 12:19 p.m.
      • 31P-11 4-ply
        Christian Munk-Christensen -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 1:24 p.m.
        • 31P-11 4-ply
          Stick -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 1:48 p.m.
          • How to organize your study time
            Timothy Chow -- Tuesday, 20 July 2010, at 11:30 p.m.
            • How to organize your study time
              Christian Munk-Christensen -- Wednesday, 21 July 2010, at 6:16 a.m.
      • 31P-11 4-ply
        Nack Ballard -- Wednesday, 21 July 2010, at 4:46 a.m.
      • 31P-11 4-ply
        mtuhtan -- Wednesday, 21 July 2010, at 5:26 a.m.