|
|
|
|
#1
05-13-2005, 12:19 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Why????
Why are good backgammon players good at poker as well?
I don't understand where the math is in backgammon? Isn't it just rolling the dice and moving your pieces? Like I know Dan Harrington, among others, used to be professional backgammon player, but then why does that impact his poker skills? 
|
|
#2
05-13-2005, 01:01 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Why????
There's a lot of luck involved in backgammon, but not nearly as much as it would appear. I have to believe there is an "optimum" strategy to the game, and a powerful computer could be almost unbeatable in the long run.
Any game where there are a number of different decisions you can make on every "turn" has a strategy. Using your argument...chess is just sliding pieces all over the board until someone wins.
|
|
#3
05-13-2005, 01:04 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Why????
[ QUOTE ]
Using your argument...chess is just sliding pieces all over the board until someone wins. [/ QUOTE ] not really. u have many many options in chess while in backgammon ur options are restricted by the roll of the dice.
|
|
#4
05-13-2005, 01:16 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Why????
The number of possible moves in backgammon on an individual roll can be much higher than the number of possible moves in chess on a particular board. Obviously the reverse is also true. The average isn't *that* far off.
|
|
#6
05-13-2005, 01:52 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Why????
What kind of answer are you looking for? His backgammon skills don't directly affect his poker skills at all. They're both games of strategy, that involve multiple levels of thinking. He excels in that genre. Is there some underlying question that I'm missing? There's more to backgammon than rolling two dice and moving pieces wherever you please.
|
|
#7
05-13-2005, 09:26 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Why????
[ QUOTE ]
whatever i just want someone to answer my question [/ QUOTE ] I don't see how the conection between the 2 games insn't obvious to you. Both games involve incredible amounts of luck over the short term (rolling dice vs dealing cards) but in both cases skill ins out in the long run. Serious backgammon is all about proper use of the doubling cube which is someone analogous to betting in poker. Both games can be analyzed mathematically and appear very simple on the surface. It should be no surprise at all that there is a significane cross-over of players from one to the other.
|
|
#8
05-13-2005, 01:58 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Why????
[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand where the math is in backgammon? [/ QUOTE ] I assume by "math" you mean skill. The skill in backgammon is in placing your pieces so that less of your opponents rolls do good for him and more of your future rolls do good for you. Sometimes, such moves are obvious. Very often they are not. The best players know how to do it with most of their moves. Every time you don't play the best move, you are giving your opponent some chunk of the equity (portions of a point). Backgammon, like poker, is a game of mixed skill and chance. In fact, the relative balance of skill and chance are very similar in these two games when comparing similar length events timewise. This may have something to do with why good BG players have what it takes to be good at poker and vice versa. They have the mental toughness to handle the swings but also the knowledge that if they keep playing nearly optimally that they are going to be long term winners. As a side note, there are games that are way more skill than chance, for instance, Go or Chess. There are also games that are way more chance than skill.
|
 |
|
|
Hybrid Mode
