Beginer at backgammon

[Shymon]

hi yet another beginer backgammon post (yes i can see you all rolling your eyes). anyways i just wanted to make sure i am on a decent road to getting better with what i am doing right now, and if any of you have advice let me know.

i play on gammonempire for play money and recently very low stakes ($3 7 point matches usually). basicly aginst GNU and when i reveiw my matches on it i play at about -12 (snowie error rate) on a bad day and -8 or -7 on a good one. Is this basicly terrible? (GNU grades HARD by the way). i only ask beacuse i can crush almost any game at the play money level as the players (even the higher rated ones) seem to have error rates at about 15-17 range (they are picticularly bad with the cube in general). and so far the 1500 player range in low stakes doesn't seem much better (i haven't seen anyone with a -10 or below in the limited matches i have played). Does anyone know aproximately what error rates people will have at the higher rankings on gammon empire or does it vary alot? and lastly am i just fooling myself into thinking i am not bad at BG (at least, call it 1600-1700 equivelent in say chess ratings)?

also, with any thoughts on proper BG bankroll management? about how many points should a player who is typically better then his foes (assume good game selection for the sake of arguement) have on hand?

oh and ps. Robertie i owe you a beer if i ever see you for writing 501 bg probs (with the money won from bg no less).

[mattw]

I can't answer any of your questions as I am a newbie too. However, I find it slightly amusing that you call yourself a newbie yet have a 1600-1700 rating. My rating is too low to publish and I am embarrased by it.

[Robertie]

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 playing about a year, that's a good result.

The best way to make progress from this point on is to make sure you print out your errors when you play a match, and keep files of them arranged by position type. After you accumulate a bunch of positions of a certain type, review them and see if there are common ideas that are causing you to make the errors you make. As you compare your errors to the plays that Snowie/Jellyfish/Gnu think are correct, you should start to see what good moves look like, and what blunders look like. Then just keep at it. Improvement in backgammon is slow but steady if you're willing to keep working.

There are a few players on GammonEmpire who can post error rates in the -2 to -4 range. (Solidly world class.) Mostly they're playing for $20 to $100 per point.

[pzhon]

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However, I find it slightly amusing that you call yourself a newbie yet have a 1600-1700 rating.

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I believe GammonEmpire keeps separate ratings for real games/matches and play money games. Having a rating of 1700 means you are slightly better than the average new player in that population.

[NutzyClutz]

Over the board live play may greatly help you.
Below has list of backgammon clubs, as well as internet resources.

Chicago Point