Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 349
I play with this guy who is a very aggro doubler and taker, especially while steaming. His checker play is pretty solid, prob about as good as mine if not better, but he constantly makes himself an underdog against me by either granting me cube ownership in unwarranted spots, or by taking way too deep .
another friend I play with said I should be beavering his early cubes. But I think this might be a mistake. If I start beavering his cubes and then crushing him for a bunch of points, it will make him feel like he's getting owned too much and will make him tighten up his cube action. But its his loose cube action that makes me a favorite against him.
from the perspective of morale, if I beaver I'm essentially saying to him, "you're aweful, I'm gonna crush u." where as if I just pause for a bit and take, i'm really saying "seems a little loose on your part, but it's an easy take". It keeps the atmosphere funner and it keeps him coming back to play.
I guess what i'm saying is that if I keep him thinking that his cube action is loose but not terrible, i make more money over long run since it doesn't make him rethink his cube strategy.
this seems paradoxical but I think it's right. Maybe beavers work better vs tough players since those are the ones you really want to put on tilt. of course i'm still a noob to the game that's why i'm asking about this.