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BGonline.org Forums
Clocks and Penalties and Pip Counting
Posted By: neilkaz In Response To: Clocks and Penalties (johnk)
Date: Saturday, 11 September 2010, at 4:04 p.m.
A few things to say here and noting that I honestly won't be playing too many ABT matches from 2011 onwards if I cannot insist upon using a clock and will give preference to attending events that are clock mandatory for Championship levels since when two slow players decide to not use a clock, they still can end up with a 3 hour 11 pt match that screws up the event with delays.
1) When the rules were discussed for digital clocks, I favored a two point penalty for overstepping the TC. ie if you run out of time, your opp gets 2 pts and both sides get some small ammount of time added. However those with more experience with Bronstein clocks convinced me of a few things.
a) The 2 pts is often match decisive anyhow.
b) It takes time to add time to the clock, and normally requires a staff member and will slow the completion of the match more and sometimes means that the reason for clocks (not holding up progression of the event) is meaningless.
c) Unlike with analog clocks, you can play a match with as little as 1 second reserve time. I saw someone play a game and 1/4 with only 1 second left and the usual 12 seconds delay and he didn't lose on time. However, this is extreme, and with less than 1 minute left and a couple games to play, I'd be concerned.
You say that you use lots of time counting pips. Here's a couple suggestions to count faster and more practically.
1) Learn to count pips quicker..ie practice.
2) Learn to cluster count.
3) Learn to count by difference between positions as sometimes you position is very similar to your opp's.
4) Break the board up into quadrants and compare. .. ie sometimes I see that I am 2 pips ahead in my homeboard vs opp's hb, and then a quick glance at the outfields shows that I am not ahead there...so I certainly am not cubing.
5) Count only the difference on the midpoints. .. ie if I have 3 on the mid and my opp has 4, that counts 13 for him.
6) It is rarely necessary to know the exact count. Lets say that my methods results in my count being 73 and I am 7 pips up and I didn't take into account the 3 duplicated checkers on each mid pt. I now add 39 to 73 and get 112 and certainly I am not cubing a normal race in a money play situation when my count is 112 and I am only up 7 pips. But 95% of the time I can just ignore the excess on the mid pt. For example, my method says my count is 78 and opp's count is 91 so I am up 13 pips and almost regardless of how many duplicated checkers are on the mids I just flip the cube and let him worry about it.
7) Often a nice time savings is to at least start to count your pips while your opp is considering his move or even while he's shaking his dice.
8) Count only when it is needed and if considering a run or stay decision with a big double, take a look at the position if you stay, since the only play to do so may be hideous and therefore your decision to run is obvious.
Practice pip counting while playing clocked matches with a friend and ..
1) You'll improve your pip counting speed under pressure.
2) You'll get more used to clocks.
3) You'll panic much less often at the prospect of clocked play.
.. neilkaz ..
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