Five Positions, Answers.

I hope you read the last post, if you didn't go there now! Where have you been? For the rest of us here are the answers to the quiz. Every position has the same answer. These are all No Double and of course Take. In real play, by strong players they were all doubled and passed, which shows the size of reward a dangerous looking cube can reap. Well done Timothy, the only reader who felt confident enough to have a go at these, shame on the rest of you.
Position One.




Score, 0-0 to 5. Blue on roll. Cube action?
Not a bad double this one, Blue wins about 69% here but doesn't have many market losers and actually gives up 0.063ppg by cubing.  However he netted a massive 0.349 blunder when White passed!

Position Two



 Blue leads 3-0 to 9. White is on the bar. Cube action.
This one has very similar equity to Position One.  Blue is about a 76% favourite to win this and can normally recube and expect a take. At this score though, White's potential to ship a very nasty 8 cube means that Blue should wait and that he gives up 0.085 by doubling. White's pass is a huge 0.315 blunder. Blue should wait a turn and double if White dances, usually losing his market by a bit.

Position Three.

Black leads 2-0 to 7. Cube action?
A double here is only a minute mistake, as with about 74% wins, Black is very close to being in the window. White's huge race lead, the absence of builders in Black's prime and the value of owning the cube when you trail in the match all add up to a very easy take and White's pass cost her 0.228. 

Position Four



Score 2-2 to 9. Black has two men on the bar. Cube action?
Black here is a Giant 32 player and couldn't resist doubling here even though he had two men on the bar.  That's a blunder but White folded this highly unusual position, costing himself 0.545.

Position Five




Black leads 2-1 to 7. Cube action?
And finally, Black (me!) should wait here and the cube is a very small mistake, only about 0.024. Followers of this blog know that almost good enough is good enough for me and it reaped a fine harvest when White limply folded, a 0.465 blunder.

Passes of this magnitude do happen, even up to championship level, particularly with some gammon threat and particularly when they are recubes, so be brave. Most of us don't like to pump the cube up against weaker opposition, but as they must by definition be even more prone to this sort of bad drop, perhaps we should be just as aggressive with them too.

The Fibsleague play-offs are posted, and BushSucks (Germany) takes on paulc (USA), while Backwoods is paired with runnerup (Germany). These 11 pointers should be good value, so look out for them on Fibs.

David Escoffery's Spring Open rolls on and dlevy (USA) is the first into the money round of 8. David is an expert on the great games writer Edmund Hoyle and you can enjoy his highly specialised blog here.

Tomorrow I want to say some things about splitting the back checkers, how, when and why! Enough for a whole book there, so I'll only be looking at some general points, but if it's an area that worries you, take a look.
Until then, enjoy the game!