Backgammon w rating

[kiddo]

I play poker for a living. But lately I tried some Backgammon, just for fun. But I cant play any skillgame without trying to do my best, so of course I bought 3 books by Robertie.

I played backgammon before, but never seriously.

I tried to play at Gamesgrid, but problem is that I get no rating, and the others got no rating. Most players are really bad and totally uniteresting to play against.

If I want to play backgammon online and get a rating but dont want to play moneygame (or only for cents, if that is what it takes). Where should I go? Is Gamesgrid best place (I dont mind paying a few $/month as long as I get a rating and there are players with ratings that are interested to play for fun, not real money.

When I play Gnubackgammon, can I get this program to rate me somehow? Are u rating in misstakes then? Or points (which is the same?)?

[Komodo]

Check out www.fibs.com and download javafibs to start playing there. This is by far the best backgammon site on the net, and its free.
You get an accurate rating there pretty quick.

Yes gnu-bg can rate you. Play a game and go to the analyses menu. Its shown under match-statistics. Ratings start at 2050 (which is perfect play) and gnu withdraws a few points for every error you make.

[kiddo]

Ok, thank you, I didnt get JAVA working (something wrong when I downloaded latest JAVA), but another interface called 3dFIBS works alright at FIBS (but it looks like I cant see a list of the dicerools when I play, maybe I havent unerstood how to do it...).

Can u estimate how high rating u would need to play for money online (because this would force me to think more)?

Is the rating I get from Gnu totally differnt from the one at FIBS?

[Komodo]

Java must be correctly installed of course. That is probably why it didnt work.

"Can u estimate how high rating u would need to play for money online (because this would force me to think more)?"

Picking the rigth opponents is obviously an important skill.
Moneysites isnt rated or is grossly manipulated so its difficult to answer this question properly. Although there are a few beginners and intermediates on these sites, I think you need about fibs 1900 to be a consistent winner there (winner including the rake).

Gnus rating is roughly the same as fibs rating. Gnu also plays on fibs on its strongest settings as parlorbot and mgnu_wclass and is a popular sparring partner to many players. It is usually rated 1950-2100 there

[Robertie]

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 names or aliases that are easily recognizable.

The ratings on GamesGrid are equivalent to the ratings that Snowie would give you. I don't know about Gnu but I imagine the ratings are similar. Most top players maintain ratings in the 1900s. Ratings higher than that are either a statistical fluke based on a recent winning streak, or the result of combining Nackgammon play with regular play. (Nackgammon is a variation of BG in which the skill differential manifests itself faster, so if you are good and play a lot of Nackgammon relative to regular BG, you can inflate your rating somewhat.)

Until you are truly a 1900+ player, don't try to play for high stakes ($20+ per point). There are plenty of sharks laying in wait and you'll get slaughtered.

[mattw]

gammonempire.com is a good site too. can play for free or real money and both give you a rating.

i have watched some games at gamesgrid; man those guys are fast. i couldnt keep up with the action. i think gammonepire is alitlle softer regarding competion.