FIBS Board backgammon forum

The question here is simply where to play the 6 .. there are only 4 possibilities, yet one is clearly considered better by GNUbg in a 4 ply rollout .. this is a move i seem to almost always tend to get marked up by GNUbg in similar situations .. when i made the play, bar/24 10/4, it was again and again to my surprise marked in red as very doubtful

my thinking is always the same, yet i continue to make the same mistake .. by making the safe play of 10/4, i am adding an advanced builder in my home court .. my reasoning, which GNUbg considers faulty, is that to make the bar/18 move leaves the blot at 18 vulnerable to 3 direct hits and a likely hit and cover .. it is those 3 direct hits that i shy away from .. GNUbg in this situation clearly shows that the best move is bar/18 .. while i know that removing the builder on 10, i am reducing my chances of making the very valuable 5-point, i still tend to almost always burn my builder rather than run with the bar/18 .. maybe next time i see this situation, i will recall this little problem


    1. Cubeful 4-ply    bar/18                       Eq.:  +0.045
       0.562 0.192 0.011 - 0.438 0.136 0.006
        4-ply cubeful prune

    2. Cubeful 4-ply    bar/24 13/7                  Eq.:  -0.079 ( -0.124)
       0.522 0.187 0.009 - 0.478 0.144 0.007
        4-ply cubeful prune

    3. Cubeful 4-ply    bar/24 10/4                  Eq.:  -0.088 ( -0.133)
       0.520 0.178 0.009 - 0.480 0.139 0.005
        4-ply cubeful prune

    4. Cubeful 4-ply    bar/24 8/2                   Eq.:  -0.197 ( -0.242)
       0.490 0.175 0.009 - 0.510 0.171 0.010
        4-ply cubeful prune