Hi,

2 weeks ago i posed a question, but till now no one had an answer for me (more than a 100 views , thanks for that).

I would like to know, is the question clear, and if not, please tell me, then i can try to rephrase it:

can anyone explain to me why Lamford (in Improving your Backgammon) gives a 4 point penalty for a 4 point gap, and only a 3 point penalty for a 5 point gap?

greetings

I would think the answer lies in the simple fact that if you have a gap on your 4 pt you must clear both the 5 and 6 point before 4's will bear off while with a gap on the 5 you only have to clear the 6 point before all your numbers will bear off.

With a gap on the five point, and checkers on the six, there will be wastage anytime you roll a five. A man will move down from the six point to the one point, and be borne off later with a number that averages between 3 and 4.

With a gap on the four point, and checkers on both the five and six, there will be even more wastage. Anytime you roll a four, it will be used to play down to the two or one point from either the five or six, and later, as above, those checkers will be borne off with a number that averages between 3 and 4. Hence the need to give more weight to a gap on the four point than a gap on the five. This presumes, of course, that there will more checkers on the five and six points combined in this second example than there were on the six point alone in the first example.

Incidentally, Tom Keith has a great discussion of the Lamford pip count formula, along with his own and others, on his web site Backgammon Galore! He doesn't think it's the best.

One good what to explore this is to set gnubg to show the effective pip count as pip count + wastage and look at various positions. You can begin to develop a sense of how to estimate wastage for actual play by doing this. http://www.bkgm.com/articles/EffectivePipCount/ has a discussion of effective pip count and wastage.

Thanks for the answers and the good advices,

greeting k.