Game #6
Open Division Final
San Mateo, California
16 February 1997
11 Point MatchRawlin Pullen (Black) vs. Jon Vietor (White)
Score: 9 - 5Analysis by Blake Sorem
I played backgammon long ago with both finalists. Rawlin Pullen used to play in San Francisco at Day's in the late 70s and early 80s. This was when backgammon was at its peak. There were four weekly tournaments in the Bay Area -- one of the two at Day's often drew 100 people in four divisions. I remember seeing Rawlin do well in one of the World Amateur tournaments they used to hold in Las Vegas, drawing 700-1000 entrants.
I know Jon Vietor from my San Diego days, when the club included Jon, Frank Frigo, Neil Kazaross, Mike Fujita, and others. Jon moved to San Francisco about a year ago and finally made it to his first tournament. He is moving back to San Diego, but promises to make more tournaments.
It is important to go into a game with a strategy as the match gets later. Trailing 5-9, Jon needs to be a bit more aggressive in going for gammons. And, if a gammon does appear on the horizon, he needs to be more aggressive with the cube. Rawlin, on the other hand, should play a bit more conservatively with his lead. If he starts a blitz or gammonish type game, it is generally correct at 2 away versus large-away to play for the gammon rather than cubing.
![[START]](Images/b_start.gif)
The game was recorded on tape and transcribed by Richard McIntosh.
Rollouts were made by Richard McIntosh, using JellyFish Analyzer 2.02. Rollout results show equities for the player on move. Candidate plays were better than or within 0.100 equity of the actual plays, evaluated at level 7.
Parameter values for rollouts on moves were:
- level 5
- 7776 games (36x216)
- horizon 7
- seed 216
Standard deviations of equity estimates were between 0.003 and 0.008.
Parameter values for rollouts on cube decisions were:
- level 5
- 23328 games (36x648)
- full game
- seed 216
- settlement limit 0.550
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