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The Scalamandre

Posted By: Nack Ballard
Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2014, at 4:28 a.m.

In Response To: The Scalamandre (phil simborg)

In the 1970s, Joe Dwek was largely responsible for popularizing opening 52$, and his friend Gino Scalamandre (among others) followed Joe's lead.

The Table of Opening Moves on page 185 of Backgammon for Profit (written by Joe Dwek) recommends one move for each opening roll. For 52, the recommendation is $ (Slot, 13/8 6/4).

Kit Woolsey told me that he was once convinced that opening 52$ was clearly best and wrote an article to that effect. In 1995, Kit updated his impression after doing opening rollouts on Expert BG, TD-Gammon, and Jellyfish.

For a talented player pitted against most players of the 70s, opening moves such as 52$ (and sometimes even double-slotters) worked great, especially in a closed money game environment, because clueless players would copy the stronger players' moves, leading to more complexity without even the need to gambit theoretical equity over a series of games.

Nack

Messages In This Thread

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  Taper_Mike -- Sunday, 18 May 2014, at 12:27 a.m.
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    svilo -- Sunday, 18 May 2014, at 2:27 a.m.
    • The “Koca” – A view from sideways
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  • The “Koca” – A view from below
    Stick -- Sunday, 18 May 2014, at 2:41 a.m.
    • The “Koca” – A view from below
      Christian Munk-Christensen -- Sunday, 18 May 2014, at 4:24 p.m.
  • The Scalamandre
    phil simborg -- Sunday, 18 May 2014, at 11:58 p.m.
    • The Scalamandre
      Jake Jacobs -- Tuesday, 20 May 2014, at 3:29 a.m.
    • The Scalamandre
      Nack Ballard -- Tuesday, 20 May 2014, at 4:28 a.m.
  • The “Koca” – A view from below
    Coolrey -- Monday, 19 May 2014, at 5:35 p.m.
  • The “Koca” – A view from below
    bill -- Tuesday, 20 May 2014, at 3:29 p.m.