I notice that many top players can very quickly look at how all 21 rolls play in a certain position and almost immediately see that (for example) they have 7 numbers that leave a shot.
I'm practicing doing this more quickly so I can rely on it more over the board. I'll keep up this practice, but I suspect the mental model I'm using to work through the rolls is limiting me so I'm interested in hearing what goes through top players' minds as they evaluate how their next rolls play.
Here is a specific example position. How many of Black's numbers leave a blot somewhere? The answer isn't too hard to figure out, I'm really interested to hear your thought process.
Here are some examples of factors to consider:
(1) Do you always work through the rolls in the same order? If so, do you start at the top (66 or 65), bottom (11 or 12), or does it depend on the position? Do you consider doubles first, last, or in order with the non-doubles?
(I think always going in the same order is helpful to avoid missing numbers, but this can be awkward if the main number of interest is low: for example, if most of my blotting numbers involve a 2, I have to count 65 64 63 *62* 61 54 53 *52* 51... and the mental overhead of the gaps between blotting numbers slows me down).
(2) Do you visualize the rolls in your head at all? Maybe on a 6x6 matrix? A diagonal half of a 6x6 matrix (to account for the two ways to roll non-doubles)? Something else?
Thanks, I'm interested to hear any comments you might have.