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Robertie: Advanced Backgammon--JF rollouts

From:   Alexander Nitschke
Address:   nits1431@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de
Date:   19 February 1997
Subject:   Re: opening toughie
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   330A45EE.2409@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de

Brian Sheppard wrote:
> JF misevaluates Problem 127 ("Kauder's Paradox"). In this position
> JF thinks White is a big underdog, and actually considers Black to have
> over 50% chance of winning a gammon! This is quite wrong. Actually White
> is a clear favorite. If you take JF's side in that proposition, you will
> lose about 1.33 points per game, since JF drops a double it should beaver.

Ok, this is a position which JellyFish simply doesn't understand.
JellyFish's by far biggest weakness is the misunderstanding of the value
of outfield primes and the lack of a technique to build such a prime and
roll it home.

But as far as I can assess the problems there was no other position with
a large error from the Level6 rollouts (and I think I'm not too bad for
this job).

You're right with these 1.33 points per game, but I'm sure there is no
other case with an error greater than 0.2 points per game even in the
backgame section.

> You might think that a position like Kauder's Paradox is too extreme to
> be relevant to practical play. Actually, that is not true. JF will
> happily hit all 15 of your men any time it has the chance. If you happen
> to get a backgame against JF, you can make hara-kiri plays until all your
> men are hit, then build an outer-table prime after hitting JF. Your money
> game equity is reasonable only because JF incorrectly beavers your double
> after you complete the prime.
>
> On the other side of the ledger, I have found a position
> where Robertie seems to be going badly wrong (I recall
> that number 80 is such a position).

Problem 80 probably is wrong by Robertie (0.096 difference in the
rollout).

I can tell you some problems where Robertie is really badly wrong:

Problem  48 (which is a clear take and not a pass)
Problem  52 (22/18 is clear best, not even mentioned by Robertie)
Problem  63 (another clear take)
Problem  84 (equity difference 0.55! according to Level6 rollout and I
             believe this is not way wrong)
Problem  99 (clear pass, not a take)
Problem 149, 177a (both no double, Robertie would double)
Problem 199b (no double, Robertie would pass!)
Problem 252 (clear take, not a pass)
Problem 332 (no double, Robertie would double)

These errors have all equity losses of at least 0.2 (except Problem 52
with 0.17). There are 16 more problems with errors greater than 0.1 and
a total of 99 problems (out of 451) with an error greater than 0.01
(according to Level6 rollouts). I know that in some cases the rollouts
could be wrong and Robertie could be right, or the error of Robertie is
less severe than indicated, but there are many problems with wrong
solutions.

> My conclusion is that you place way too much faith in JF.

I sound like a worshipper of JellyFish Level6 rollouts :-)
But I can assure you that this is not the case. I know of some
weaknesses which can lead to wrong rollout results. Containing a hit
checker in extreme cases is a weakness of JellyFish which leads to wrong
rollout results in some backgames and some endgames.

Best greetings
Alexander (acey_deucey in FIBS)
 
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Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube  (Peter Bell, Aug 1998) 
Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube  (Jacques Torrione, Feb 1998) 
Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube  (Robert Scibelli, Dec 1997) 
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