Gus Hanse/Backgammon

[TheShootah]

I actually just played a near perfect game vs. GNU that I need to show someone. Hehehe, apparently I am an overall World Class Player (lucky mofo actually).

GNU - Tony

0 41: 24/23 13/9 22: 24/16*
1 53: Bar/20 23/20 53: 24/16
2 52: 13/8 6/4 12: 13/10
3 31: 8/5 6/5 55: 16/11(2) 6/1*(2)
4 16: 24: 8/4 6/4
5 62: Bar/23 13/11 15: 11/10 11/6
6 61: 8/7 8/2 25: 13/6
7 15: 8/2 36: 13/4
8 44: 13/9(2) 7/3(2) 15: 13/12 13/8
9 46: 9/5 9/3 64: 8/2* 6/2
10 35: Bar/20 4/1 32: 12/10 6/3
11 22: 20/14 3/1 Doubles to 2
12 Take 62: 8/6 8/2
13 66: 20/2 14/8 63: 10/4 6/3
14 15: 8/3 2/1 64: 10/6 10/4
15 41: 20/16 5/4 53: 6/1 3/off
16 65: 16/5 22: 4/off 2/off(2)
17 16: 6/off 1/off 41: 4/off 1/off
18 22: 4/off 2/off(2) 24: 4/off 2/off
19 56: 6/off 5/off 66: 6/off(2) 4/off(2)
20 32: 6/1 64: 3/off 1/off
21 Resigns

EDIT: Despite my nicely typed game, it formats it like this! [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[Robertie]

It's actually not unusual for anyone to score "world class" in an individual game. I like to practice with Snowie in 20-game sessions, when the results will start to average out pretty well. Average out 20 of those sessions and you will have a pretty good idea where you stand.

In individual games, you can easily vary between world class and beginner with frightening regularity. It just depends on the difficulty of the positions being served up by the dice. If you spend most of the game dancing on the bar, you'll score world class by default, since you can't make any errors!

Thanks for the nice compliments, BTW.

[TheShootah]

Haha, I know this all too well. Despite the perfect game every 3 or 4 times, GNU will kick the crap outta me pretty badly the others. I should definitely start to play alot of games and average them out. As far as the compliments go, you deserve them! Oh, I just finished Backgammon for serious players and was wondering what the next book I should get is. I have read Backgammon for Winners also. I should probably go over those games again though.

[Robertie]

Once you've read those two books, there are a bunch of others that are helpful. Here are a few:

Magriel's "Backgammon" -- good overview of strategy and tactics. A little too advanced to be someone's first book, but you won't have any trouble with it now. Ignore the "Action Play" chapter, which we now know is mostly the wrong idea.

"501 Essential BG Problems" -- I wrote this a few years ago as a companion to the beginner books. Will give you a feel for different position types and what's going on.

Woolsey's "How to Play Tournament BG" -- good intro to tournament strategy.

Woolsey's "Greiner v Marmorstein" -- good annotated match book, a companion to the previous recommendation.

There are others, but that will keep you busy for a few days.

[TheShootah]

Ah yes. I wanted to get Magriels book next, but I have to find 45$! I can scrounge up somehow. Thanks alot for your help, not everyday you can talk to the former world champion of anything and ask for tips! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Do you play on FIBS?

[Robertie]

When I play BG on line (not often, these days -- mostly poker) I play on GamesGrid. Far and away the best BG site.

[TheShootah]

Have you given up backgammon for poker like Hansen did?

[Robertie]

Not entirely. I still play 2-3 tournaments a year, and the Gammon Press takes a fair amount of time. My lesson business is probably half and half between poker and BG. But I'm unlikely to write any more BG books until Danny and I decide we've finished our series on poker. Almost all my online play is poker now.

[TheShootah]

I bet you prolly make a decent buck off private lessons. I had a chess teacher for a while who was pretty popular around Cleveland running tournies, and he didn't need another job because he was so good a teacher. You wrote chess books too right? You seem to be an all around gamer. It looks like I might be you in 20-30 years(I have no idea how old you are) if I keep going with things...

[Komodo]

Hi Robertie
First i would like to say that I have several of your books (501, advanced BG and harrington on holdem) and Im very happy about every one of them.
Im just curious. How was the work split between you and Harrington in HOH?
Regards
Matthias