Forum Archive : Luck versus Skill

Strange result From:   az-willie Address:   sclaus@npole.com Date:   26 March 2003 Subject:   Backgammon is a strange game .. Forum:   rec.games.backgammon Google:   S1kga.33281$jN6.8094@news2.central.cox.net I just played gnubg a game and it analyzed it and declared me to be awful in almost every category. It said gnubg was supernatural etc. in almost all categories But I won the game big time. Funny I thought. Douglas Zare  writes: The reason you won is that ... you deserve to win! Not 100% of the time, and it sounds like maybe not even 30% of the time, but you deserve to win some of the time. For knowing to hit when you get a good shot, you deserve to win a few percent of the time. For knowing to make inner board points, you deserve to win a few percent of the time. If you know when to play safely versus boldly, you will deserve to win a few percent more. As you get better, you will not only deserve to win more, and you will win more, and perhaps only a few humans and programs will still deserve to win more than 50% of the time against you. Douglas Zare   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Luck versus Skill

Are good players just luckier?  (Douglas Zare, Sept 2000) 

Are luck and skill related?  (Eskimo+, Feb 2003) 

Does backgammon need less luck?  (Raccoon, Jan 2008) 

How much of backgammon is luck?  (Wai Mun Yoon, Jan 1998) 

How much skill versus luck?  (Alexandre Sierra, Nov 2000) 

How much skill versus luck?  (JP White+, Aug 2000) 

How often to win with perfect play?  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, Nov 2000) 

Is backgammon gambling?  (Luc Palmans+, Oct 2010) 

Is backgammon gambling?  (Kevin D. McLeaster, Sept 1997) 

Is there really luck in backgammon?  (benf+, Jan 2012) 

Recognizing luck  (Walter Trice, Dec 2004) 

Strange result  (az-willie+, Mar 2003) 

The Bower Luck-O-Meter  (Gary Wong, Aug 1998) 

Why are stronger players luckier?  (Bob Sweeney+, Oct 2002) 

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