Forum: Books and Publications
10-02-2005, 04:54 PM
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Replies: 27
Views: 203
Re: Backgammon Resources
Considering how buggy and unreliable GNU has always been, I stick to my opinion -- Snowie is a vastly superior product, although you do have to pay for it.
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Forum: Books and Publications
09-30-2005, 09:54 PM
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Replies: 27
Views: 203
Re: Backgammon Resources
Keeping in mind that I'm fond of my own books, here's my list:
Beginner:
Backgammon for Winners (Robertie) - written to be a simple, easy introduction.
Backgammon for Serious Players (ditto) -...
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Forum: Books and Publications
09-30-2005, 09:49 AM
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Replies: 27
Views: 203
Re: Backgammon Resources
In my view Snowie is a fabulous product, one of the truly great achievements in gaming programming. If you're serious about getting better quickly, you should read the literature and practice several...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
08-27-2005, 09:24 AM
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Replies: 3
Views: 93
Re: BG Equity Question
Black wins 32 points in 19 out of every 36 games, and loses 32 points in the other 17 games. So his net is 2*32 = 64 points in 36 games, or about 1.8 points per game. So if the players wanted to...
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Forum: Books and Publications
08-20-2005, 03:40 PM
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Replies: 5
Views: 105
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Forum: Books and Publications
08-20-2005, 09:58 AM
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Replies: 15
Views: 610
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Forum: Books and Publications
08-19-2005, 03:56 PM
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Replies: 15
Views: 610
Re: Your next steps
A better source is the book "Classic Backgammon Revisited" by Jeremy Bagai. (Available from the Gammon Press.) Jeremy analyzed four classic books, Magriel's Backgammon, Advanced BG 1 and 2, Dwek's...
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Forum: Books and Publications
08-16-2005, 07:34 AM
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Replies: 15
Views: 610
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
07-09-2005, 08:32 PM
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Replies: 18
Views: 124
Re: Backgammon and luck
It's an excellent rule if you're the better player. It lets you increase the stakes without being obvious about it. It also adds excitement and keeps the weaker players happy, which is one of the...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
07-09-2005, 06:19 PM
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Replies: 18
Views: 124
Re: Backgammon and luck
There's much less variance in backgammon than in a poker session of the same length. Skill manifests itself very quickly. When beginners play each other, the game seems high variance because the...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
07-02-2005, 09:12 AM
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Replies: 4
Views: 82
Re: Beginer at backgammon
Sounds like you're on the right track. The error rates you're talking about (-8 to -12) would put you about in the middle of the intermediate division at a real world tournament. If you've been...
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Forum: Books and Publications
06-29-2005, 09:30 AM
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Replies: 29
Views: 183
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
06-27-2005, 05:30 PM
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Replies: 5
Views: 86
Re: Backgammon w rating
The best site for your purposes is GamesGrid, and I would recommend paying the few dollars a month it costs to play there. The ratings are accurate and many good players play there under their own...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
06-20-2005, 10:15 PM
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Replies: 27
Views: 176
Re: Question about Games Grid
I'm pretty sure GamesGrid is a subscription service, and the rate is $80 a year or so. They may have deals for newcomers, but you should check on the site. Be warned that if you want to play for any...
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Forum: Probability
06-18-2005, 09:48 AM
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Replies: 3
Views: 102
Re: Harrington p.135
Those are the probabilities of winning if the opponent has that particular hand. They're given at the top of page 132.
If you know the probability of having a hand, and the probability of winning...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
06-11-2005, 08:18 AM
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Replies: 27
Views: 176
Re: Question for Robertie...
Good question. In retrospect I probably should have included something like that in "Backgammon for Winners". The publisher (Cardoza) had requested a short beginner's book with a minimum of math, so...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
06-07-2005, 10:02 AM
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Replies: 27
Views: 176
Re: Question for Robertie...
The answer has changed a bit over the last 20 years as players have become more adept at identifying good doubles and correct takes in the very early stages of the game. I would say between two...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
05-27-2005, 05:55 PM
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Replies: 27
Views: 176
Re: backgammon: lack of fishes?
For beginner books, my favorites are the two I wrote: "Backgammon for Winners" and "Backgammon for Serious Players". They're widely available. After that, you should read Magriel's "Backgammon". Then...
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Forum: Books and Publications
05-27-2005, 05:48 PM
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Replies: 30
Views: 211
Re: I want to learn backgammon
That was me at Borgata. Danny and I were working on Volume 2 during the tournament.
We sell the paperback copy of Magriel's book for $45 plus shipping (new), but you can find used copies of the...
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Forum: Books and Publications
05-27-2005, 09:27 AM
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Replies: 30
Views: 211
Re: I want to learn backgammon
Yes, you can have time scrambles in backgammon, and they're even more exciting than in chess!
The typical time limit in a major tournament that uses clocks is 5 minutes/point of match length for...
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
05-27-2005, 09:12 AM
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Replies: 27
Views: 176
Re: backgammon: lack of fishes?
OK, here's the idea. If you're serious about playing online backgammon for money, you buy a program called Snowie and install it on your desktop. Now you get on one of the sites and play a session...
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Forum: Books and Publications
05-26-2005, 06:27 PM
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Replies: 30
Views: 211
Re: I want to learn backgammon
In the final rounds of major tournaments, matches are to 21 to 25 points. That's enough to give top players a big edge against the occasional intermediate who might get that far. If two top players...
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Forum: Books and Publications
05-26-2005, 09:21 AM
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Replies: 30
Views: 211
Re: I want to learn backgammon
There aren't really more sharks than fishes. It just seems that way. Keep in mind that the top players in backgammon are playing close to perfect BG (measured against the bots) and you have to play...
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Forum: Books and Publications
05-25-2005, 09:17 AM
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Replies: 30
Views: 211
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Forum: Other Gambling Games
05-21-2005, 09:19 AM
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Replies: 8
Views: 102
Re: Backgammon online
Best sites for online money backgammon: GamesGrid (#1 by far), followed by TrueMoneyGames (run by the Snowie developers), GammonEmpire, and WSEX (run by some English bookmakers). If you play for more...
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