I have just finished Nick Blasier's new book, which provides an amazing overview of cube handling in the 4 point match. Specifically, he goes into a lot of detail about how the cube behaves at 2 away/3 away, 2 away/4 away, 3 away/4 away.

While longer matches are also covered, I still feel quite unsure about how to treat the cube at such scores. Specifically, how good are the following heuristics?

1. Treat 2 away/5+ away scores (e.g. 2 away/7 away) like 2 away/3 away
2. Treat 3 away/5+ away (e.g. 3 away/7 away) scores like 3 away/4 away

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

That would be pretty bad. For example, take point when you are 2-away and opponent is 3-away is 26%. When opponent is 5-away, take point is 17%. So you do have to have at least a feel for the details at various scores.

You also have to watch with being too good at 2-away vs 5+-away. Often your doubling window as the leader in such scores is fairly high, high enough so that it is difficult to find positions where your win chances are high enough to double but your gammon chances are low enough to turn the cube.

If you think about it this makes sense. Your opponent has an immediate recube to 4 any time it is a double/take. You therefore are risking much more than you are gaining by doubling, hence a high doubling point. At the same time, winning gammon is worth exactly the same as a single win after a double - doubling kills your gammons as well as allowing your opponent to potentially make a 4 point gain. These factors still apply at 2-away 3-away but to a lesser degree. Your match winning chances at 2-away vs many-away are already very high. You gain little by doubling. You have much more to gain at 2-away 3-away, but you also should realize that you are playing the current game for the match if you double.

Leading at 2-away, your opponent has a theoretically corrrect double at any point where he has a 50% chance to win the current game. It is often a moot point at these scores since your opponent is quite likely to turn the cube for you. If that doesn’t happen it is often best to just hold off until he has a pass rather than trying to get a double/take for the reasons described above.