{"id":58391,"date":"2018-06-18T09:50:08","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T16:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=58391"},"modified":"2018-06-18T09:50:08","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T16:50:08","slug":"lessons-backgammon-part-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/lessons-backgammon-part-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Backgammon, Part 2 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s Note) We’ve just discovered that, due to a technical glitch, last-week’s Bob Dancer blog wasn’t posted. We’re putting it up now and will resume the usual schedule this week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week, I began a two-part article where I described important gambling lessons that I learned years ago while playing backgammon and that are still applicable today playing video poker. I suspect those same lessons would be applicable at most gambling games, as well as with other endeavors.<\/p>\n

Continuing those lessons I learned at the Cavendish West:<\/p>\n

6. Many players played too fast.
\nIn backgammon, many rolls have one obvious play. Many other rolls offer several \u201creasonable\u201d plays, each with pluses and minuses. It takes time to correctly evaluate which one is better. Often, you have a choice between two or more ways to play an ace (one). They might be equally safe on this particular play, but they differ in their effectiveness on the next roll or two.<\/p>\n

You frequently must make a \u201cpay me now or pay me later\u201d kind of decision about when to take a chance. Sometimes you have to decide whether it is better to make a play that helps your offense or another one that helps your defense.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, of course, players just plain don\u2019t understand why one play is superior to another. But often they can figure it out if they spend some time. But spending a lot of time studying moves is hard work, and even harder if you\u2019re tired.<\/p>\n

A lot of players, including myself, played faster than was appropriate and paid the consequences.<\/p>\n

7. Mind-altering substances didn\u2019t help play. Whether we\u2019re talking about legal or illegal substances, when you played someone a lot you could tell the difference in their moves when they were high compared to when they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

8. People could and did go broke.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not some theoretical possibility that is pretty rare. If you don\u2019t have a safety net (i.e. parents who will bail you out, a couple of million dollars in the bank, someone who is willing and able to support your gambling losses, etc.), you need to take bankroll considerations into account. Bankroll calculations are easier to make in video poker because the value of a game and the value of slot club are more easily figured out than they are in backgammon.<\/p>\n

9. It was easy to forget when gambling that we were dealing with real money. In backgammon, we would deal with \u201cpoints,\u201d where each point was worth $1, $5, $20, etc. Psychologically being down 60 points wasn\u2019t that much better than being down 90. You tried very hard to \u201cget even,\u201d even though how much you started with that day was a pretty meaningless number.<\/p>\n

10. Losing streaks brought out the worst of people\u2019s personality. If someone had any tendency to lie, cheat, steal, or a number of other negative habits, you\u2019d likely see them do it more when they were losing. They might have been 100% trustworthy during normal times, but put them on a losing streak and they were different people.<\/p>\n

11. People were crazy (and still are)!<\/p>\n

In backgammon, the game is played against live opponents, many of whom have strong personalities that may or may not mesh with mine. I have my own personality quirks that don\u2019t appeal to everybody.<\/p>\n

Consequently, I concluded that to be a contented player, I needed a gambling game with less human interaction than backgammon. For that reason, I shunned live poker. I would NOT enjoy being across the table from a Mike Matusow or a Phil Hellmuth. It\u2019s possible I could develop the technical skills to compete with them. (Possible — not certain. They both are VERY good.) But I don\u2019t have the temperament to deal with yelling and screaming they bring to the table.<\/p>\n

Compared to backgammon, the human interaction in video poker, although sometimes important, is minor.<\/p>\n

This is one observation that fits into the \u201cyour mileage may vary\u201d category. Other players do just fine in poker and backgammon and can deal with the personalities involved. This is not my strength, and a key part of success is figuring out what your strengths are and going with them.<\/p>\n

12. Finally, a good memory and keeping records was very important. You needed to know whether a particular player was better or worse than you. If you had good records of his or her results when you played together, you had a pretty strong indicator.<\/p>\n

There are players whose leaks are exploitable. Some passed doubles more than they should, so you doubled them early compared to the theoretically optimal point. Others took doubles much later than was advised. Against those players, it was never a good idea to double early.<\/p>\n

Over time you played a lot of different players and you needed to have notes about all of them. A good memory is good — but written notes last longer and are better.<\/p>\n

Keeping records for tax purposes is done in video poker but is largely not done in backgammon. There are no official records or W-2Gs in backgammon — save for the occasional tournament — and the majority of successful players \u201cforget\u201d to declare any gambling income.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s Note) We’ve just discovered that, due to a technical glitch, last-week’s Bob Dancer blog wasn’t posted. We’re putting it up now and will resume the usual schedule this week. Last week, I began a two-part article where I described important gambling lessons that I learned years ago while playing backgammon and that are still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[428,196],"yoast_head":"\nLessons from Backgammon, Part 2 of 2 - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/lessons-backgammon-part-2-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lessons from Backgammon, Part 2 of 2 - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Editor’s Note) We’ve just discovered that, due to a technical glitch, last-week’s Bob Dancer blog wasn’t posted. 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