Wiiso 02-What is the priority
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 10
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 202
Not to let the white checker escape?
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,974
I had to put this in XG to get this answer. And even then, I don't know enough to explain why the right play is the right play. So I'll leave this for someone better to try to tackle.
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 202
I would try to contain the white checker even at the expense of extra gammons. Leaving our blot on 5pt seems the best for this plan. 15/10 gives white 53 to hit which is duplicated with hitting on our 5pt. 13/11 gives white just 2 extra shots, but gives us a lot of covers and builders.
5/3 seems like a safer but much less effective way to contain the white checker.
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 1,954
You already have an ace-point game, so that's your fallback position. But you have another winning idea, which is to trap White's checker behind a prime. To do that, you're going to have to take some risks to make the 5-point and 7-point. Playing 15/10 13/11 gives you plenty of numbers next turn to make the points.
Playing 13/8 5/3 is much safer, (notice that 5-1 doesn't hit and 3-1 only hits if White exposes a 2nd checker), but it removes a checker from the 5-point and makes the long-term goal harder to achieve.
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 10
When I had this position OTB I did not like 15/10 13/11. It is strong when missed but the pay off when hit seemed too high because I thought that with this many blots if the first was hit I would loose a lot more gammons.
strangely that is not the case. It looses only 3% more gs than 13/8 5/3 the second play and is on par gammon wise with the main other plays.
I suppose that once hit most of my losses are gammons anyway. 1 or 2 more blots does not change that significantly.
