Refusiing an early cube in post-Crawford match play
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 5,446
Is it ever correct to refuse a cube after the 1st roll of a game when you are 1 point away from winning the match and your opponent more than 5 away?
I have seen people do this for years and usually it was in cases when a weaker player was leading in a match and didn't like their opening roll, but was shocked when GNU just did this in a match i was playing.
Score was GNU leading 6-1 in a match to 7. I won the opening roll 6-4 and played 8-2,6-2. GNU rolled 2-1 and played 13-11, 6-5. I cubed and GNU dropped.
Is my advantage in this game so great that dropping is correct? I could understand if the score was 2 away-1 away and this would be the deciding game of the match, but at 1 away-6 away I don't think that dropping after just 1 roll can be correct.
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 465
the exact score matters a lot in this situation. if you are an odd number from winning the match, a take is usually correct. if you are an even number from winning, dropping is correct.
this is because after this game you will double every game anyway. so if gnu drops at a 6-1 score, it is 6-2 and you need to win 3 games in a row to win the match. if gnu takes and loses, it is 6-3 and you only need two more games to win the match. thats why gnu should drop whenever it has less than 50% to win this game.
if the score was 6-0 before the game, gnu should take this double. if it drops, it is 6-1 and you need to win 3 more games in a row. if gnu takes and loses, the score is 6-2 and again, you need to win 3 games in a row. so even if you are a huge favorite after the first roll, gnui should take, because it really doesnt matter if you scrore 1 or 2 points in this game.
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 1,954
At 6-1 to 7, GNU has what is called a 'free drop'.
Right now you need to win three games to win the match. (The first win takes you to 6-3, the second win to 6-5, and the third win to 6-7 and victory.)
But if you double and GNU drops, the score becomes 6-2 and you still need three games to win. (The first win now gets you to 6-4, the second to 6-6, and the third to 6-7.)
So GNU can drop and essentially leave you in the same position as before. He'll do this if you have any advantage when you double. Here you do, since you won the first roll and made a point. Good play.
