BGonline.org Forums

Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 1:30 a.m.

In Response To: Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read (Stick)

I think you're missing Bob's point.

Suppose Joe Average has played 20 moves so far and has blundered away 0.200 in equity in the process. Now comes the race cube. Joe Average could drop and score a Snowie ER of 10. Or, Joe Average could take and play 20 more moves, blundering away an additional 0.040 equity in the process, plus say 0.040 for the incorrect take. Total equity loss is 0.280 averaged over 40 moves, for a Snowie ER of 7. Joe doesn't have to make up the lost equity of the incorrect take by playing the race out like a genius. All Joe needs is for the error rate of his racing play (including the equity loss of the incorrect take) to be lower than his usual error rate. You're a world-class player so this strategy won't help you much because your usual error rate is so low that it's hard for you to beat it even during a race, especially when the incorrect take is counting against you. But for anyone whose racing error rate is significantly lower than his or her normal error rate, the incorrect take ends up helping.

Also, as someone else pointed out, Bob isn't suggesting that Joe Average is deliberately doing this; rather, Joe Average's style results in his playing this way, and produces a lower ER than Jane Average who plays just like Joe except that Jane correctly drops those race cubes.

In my discussion I focused on Snowie ER. Possibly XG PR would change the equation. However, I'm sure one can construct more complicated scenarios that would work with XG PR. The point remains that any measure of this type is susceptible to inadvertently favoring certain kinds of playing styles.

Messages In This Thread

• Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
  phil simborg -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 11:38 a.m.
  • Great Interview
    Paul Weaver -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 12:44 p.m.
  • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
    Tom Keith -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 1:46 p.m.
  • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
    mtuhtan -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 3:28 p.m.
    • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
      Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 6:35 p.m.
      • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read/One Correction
        phil simborg -- Wednesday, 6 October 2010, at 3:42 a.m.
        • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read/One Correction
          Matt Cohn-Geier -- Wednesday, 6 October 2010, at 4:16 a.m.
          • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read/One Correction
            Leonardo Jerkovic -- Wednesday, 6 October 2010, at 4:42 a.m.
            • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read/One Correction
              Christian Plenz -- Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 3:13 a.m.
  • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
    Stick -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 5:05 p.m.
    • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
      Steve Mellen -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 5:37 p.m.
      • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
        Stick -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 5:45 p.m.
        • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
          Steve Mellen -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 5:57 p.m.
        • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
          Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 6:30 p.m.
          • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
            Stick -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 6:31 p.m.
            • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
              Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 1:30 a.m.
              • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                Daniel Murphy -- Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 1:46 a.m.
                • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                  Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 2:01 a.m.
                  • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                    Daniel Murphy -- Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 2:06 p.m.
                    • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                      phil simborg -- Friday, 8 October 2010, at 2:09 a.m.
                      • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                        Daniel Murphy -- Friday, 8 October 2010, at 2:56 a.m.
                      • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                        Henrik Bukkjaer -- Friday, 8 October 2010, at 7:05 a.m.
                      • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                        Bob Koca -- Friday, 8 October 2010, at 5:11 p.m.
                        • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
                          Henrik Bukkjaer -- Friday, 8 October 2010, at 8:26 p.m.
      • Favorite quote, and a question/topic for further discussion
        Chuck Bower -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 5:50 p.m.
    • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
      Bob Koca -- Tuesday, 5 October 2010, at 7:01 p.m.
    • Bob Koca Interview--A Must Read
      Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 7 October 2010, at 1:55 a.m.