Quote:
Originally Posted by vernal
I just discovered backgammon again, and I feel so stupid for not realizing earlier that it has some serious strategy. I hadn't played since I was a kid, but still.
Anyway, I downloaded GnuBG and I'm trying it with the tutor mode. Although I frequently want to chuck my computer into a wall because everything I do is wrong, I've bought and read Magriel and I hope to soon get fewer warnings of how horrible I am. I have two questions (well, I have lots but will restrain myself to two for now):
1. I started by playing 7-game matches, but when I decided to try the money game option instead it keeps flagging moves that the match tutor says to do. Should I be learning money games, and then figure out how to switch strategies when in matches, or vice versa?
2. Does anyone have any recommended settings for GnuBG? I've been keeping the game and tutor at Grandmaster, figuring I may as well learn from the best, but the delays from the tutor bug me and when I switched the tutor to "Supremo" I've found it often gives me a hint that the analysis I run then flags as incorrect. It's making it confusing for me to learn from it.
Thanks for any help you can provide!
You should definitely start off playing money games when you're learning backgammon. Money games are the foundation of backgammon, just as cash game play illustrates the fundamentals of poker. Match play adds another level of complexity, because checker and cube play can vary dramatically with the match score.
Feel free to post puzzling positions on this forum. We can sometimes explain things more clearly than GNU or XG.