| 147 165 |                         | White money game Blue |
Problem #1 Play Votes Score13/11, 13/8 4 10024/22, 13/8 3 9013/11, 10/5 2 8024/22, 6/1* 1 6013/6 0 4013/8, 10/8 0 40 13/11, 6/1* 0 40
Steve Clark: 13/11, 10/5.
I am not much of a believer in duplication but it does have its place.Actually, I believe that this is one of those places. In general it is notgood to slot the 5 point. Slotting tends to be a small mistake. When theopponent has a blot on the 16 point, however, slotting becomes a much moreattractive proposition. The reason is that our opponent will have veryattractive 4's to play on his side of the board, either by making the 16point or using that blot as a builder to make his own 5 point. If we doslot, the other play must be 13-11. If we are going to risk slotting, weneed to be able to make the point when White misses.
George Klitsas: 13/11, 13/8.
Hitting on the guff is out of the question - the position is only slightly worse for Blue and not at all desperate. For the same reason, slotting with 13/11 10/5 is also weak, because with other plays (like bringing two down) the point can be made naturally. One can safely discard the stacking play 13/8 10/8 as well, since Blue will have difficulty making new points after that play. The only serious candidates are the "action" play 24/22 13/8 and the building play 13/8 13/11 (which is obviously much better than the conservative 13/6). The "action" play works a little better when White rolls 31, 42, 11, 63, 64, 54, 61 ( I say "a little better" because in the case of a 31, for example, White can still make the five point, leaving a six to Blue to hit him, but if Blue does not roll that six or a two to anchor, White is poised to attack). Other rolls play much better for White after the split (24/22). Not to mention the crushing 55 and 33, 53 and 32 play better in that case. White welcomes the split, becausehe desperately wants to use the pile of checkers on his eight and six points. The not obvious reason that makes 24/22 13/8 definitely inferior compared to bringing two down, is the fair amount of cases, when Blue anchors on White's three point (if he does not anchor on his first opportunity, he's in danger of being blitzed). When he anchors, he often suffers a slow death (I estimate this happens about 20-25% of all games) giving White optimal doubles based on race and/or priming equity. Blue is behind in the race which is good if the game becomes eventually a priming game. Blue has already made a second inner point and should build on his assets. It's often amazing how quickly (even in two turns) Blue can make a five prime after the best play of 13/8 13/11.
Rob Maier: 24/22, 13/8.
Bring down a spare for the eight point, and split to put pressure on White to clean up his blot. Hitting on the ace point as some appeal, but not enough for me.
Snowie: 13/11, 13/8.
It is generally not a good idea to split the back checker when youropponent has reinforced his eight point. It is too easy for him to attack.Here, the emphasis is on containing White's back checker. The best way todo this is to spread out the builders. 13/11, 13/8 does the job perfectly.
Marty Storer: 13/11, 10/5.
Blue can't consider splitting into the teeth of White's builders.They're all bunched up, aiming at the inner board, and would loveto unheap onto the heads of hapless Blue blots. The only choicesare 13/8 13/11 and 10/5 13/11. I prefer 10/5 13/11 because ofthe very useful 4-duplication and the fact that White has onlyone back checker. If White hits, he has to eschew a good pointon his side except with 22, 44 and 46, all of which are good anywayafter 13/8 13/11. If White hits, he doesn't threaten to anchor,as he would if he had two checkers back. And because White's loneback checker may easily become an attacking target, Blue gains bydeveloping his board as quickly as he can. Quick board developmentalso facilitates both priming and aggressive mobilization of theback men. Though 13/8 13/11 looks powerful, it makes Blue only aslight favorite to make his 5 or 7 point next roll, that is if Whitedoesn't hit with 6 numbers. In many other situations, Blue mightmake a play like 13/8 13/11, reducing White's hitting numbers inreturn for a good chance to make a blocking point naturally. Here,the slot gives an inordinately valuable duplication of 4's as wellas accelerated priming and tactical benefit, so it looks clearlyright.
Bob Stringer: 13/11, 13/8.
13/8, 10/8 is too ugly to be any good. 13/11, 6/1 strips the 6 pointand dumps a man on the ace point without gaining much of anything inreturn. 22/22, 6/1* has the same downside, but with a potential gain,because it sets up a direct shot -- so, it's not *too* bad, althoughI'd like to do better. 13/6 is too blah when I'm behind in the race.So with that I'm torn among the last three choices. Since I'm behindin the race, I don't mind taking a bit of a risk, especially since Ihave the better board, and so slotting the 5 point looks pretty good.Next choice would be 13/11, 13/8, since White has a lot of ammo todump on my back men if I split them.
Casper van der Tak: 13/11, 13/8.
Blue's advantage is a better board, and better prime-building potential. Also, Blue is behind in the race. Therefore, Blue's game plan should be oriented towards priming. With 13/8 13/11, Blue works in the strongest possible fashion towards improving his prime. If Blue would have an additional spare on the 6-point, plays involving 6/1* would have more merit than they do now.
Kit Woolsey: 24/22, 13/8.
This play does two good things. It brings a checker off the heavy midpointto where it is a valuable builder on the currently stripped eight point, andit puts pressure on the blot on White's nine point so White can't playcompletely freely. Other possibilities either aren't as comfortable orconcentrate on only one thing.
Chris Yep: 24/22, 13/8.
Hitting loose seems wrong for several reasons: (1) Blue doesn't have much ammunition in range, (2) Blue doesn't have a direct cover for the ace point blot that it leaves, and (3) it uses up Blue's last spare from the 6 point. Instead with 5 checkers on the midpoint and a stripped 8 point it feels natural to bring the 5 down from the midpoint. With the 2 I like splitting in the back to put pressure on White's 9 point blot.
Summary: A close vote, but the panel leaned toward building ratherthan splitting. I guess this makes sense, with White's stacks of checkerslooking for something to land on.