Did You Know I Played the Sax?

 

I did. Not only that, I was taught by Apollo himself. Mr. Apollo, that is, who taught music and band during my fifth through eight grade years. But we aren’t here to talk about that. This report is on my trip to Los Angeles for the recent L.A. Open.

 

You may have heard that L.A. is a dangerous place. I don’t know about that, but it is true that tournament organizer Candace Mayeron put us in Jeopardy!

No, I didn’t compete! Those are all backgammon players, except the guy in the blue suit, who photobombed us. We had VIP seats for the taping of two future shows, to air October 10 and 11.

 

I had a very easy time the next day, in the Bob Glass Masters Jackpot. I played Dorn Bishop in the first round.

Dorn

The match was over one, two, three! He doubled me, I redoubled him (a bit too early), and then he redoubled me:

It’s an easy take, but I got gammoned. My Masters event lasted less than thirty minutes. What could be easier than that?

 

The Open was less easy. I won the qualifying round in the afternoon, which meant a long break until after dinner. In the evening, I won my first round, then lost the next. That put me in the Fighter’s bracket, where I won a round, and lost a round.

Having won matches in both the Main and the Fighters meant I was only six rounds from winning the Consolation, once I landed there. Why I was practically in the finals! Since 2022 I have played in three L.A. Open events (held in June) including this one, and two California State Championships (held in December), and had cashed in three, one in the Doubles with Carol Joy Cole, once in the Fighters, and once in the Consolation. Why not add a second Consolation prize?

 

Four wins later I was in the money, and would show off my Sax playing skills by playing Steve Sax in the Consolation Semifinals, the match to be streamed.

Steve Sax

Kent Goulding has been lecturing recently on the topic of Hidden Blunders. Those are the ones which seem like no brainers, but prove to be massive errors. Like this one.

There is one right play here; the rest are whoppers. Doing commentary, Alex Eshaghian mentioned the dictum, which I believe he attributed to Roberto Litzenberger, that one should never put three (or more) men on the 24pt. The alternative was “the Magriel,” playing bar/22, 24/23, which considering all my builders I would call “the Charge of the Light Brigade,” as into the Valley of Death would ride all of Steve’s back checkers. Steve opted to play bar/24, 13/10, which is what I’d probably have done, and which Alex seemed to favor as the lesser evil. It was a .100 blunder, slightly better than the Magriel. The best play is bar/22, and then slotting with 6/5! Sometimes duplication is overrated, and sometimes it is a great play.

 

No matter what he played, he was getting doubled. After Steve’s play it is .975, still a take, and he correctly took.

 

I made my five and bar with my next two rolls, but then thanks to 42 followed by 33, Steve matched my four-prime. I made a small error with my next roll, a 31. I played 13/9, thinking that it gave me an extra builder for my 3pt over 13/10, 6/5, and let me make a broken five-prime with 4s. XG prefers 13/10, 6/5 by .026. Steve responded with 22! From a borderline take to a borderline favorite in three rolls, without ever hitting.

Time for hidden blunder number two. The second-best play is only .50 worse than the best play, while the third-best play is a .202 double whopper! Guess which play I made? Guess which play is best.

I chose to run. There is some duplication, in that 4s hit in two places, but unless he can make his 3pt, we know where he will hit. Meanwhile, I give him 2s, and his “bad” rolls, 6s and 5s, aren’t so bad. He can hit with 65, his two biggest doubles are great rolls, and his other rolls with 6s and 5s aren’t really bad. Perhaps if I thought longer, I would have played 13/7, 13/11, which leaves fifteen numbers and cedes outfield control, but turns out to be much better than my choice. The right play, according to XG, is 7/5, 7/1. Even having seen it I would have trouble making that play. All it does is avoid immediate trouble, while weakening my position.

 

I was rewarded for my play, getting the sort of sequence I hoped for. Steve rolled 53, bringing around his outside spare, and hitting loose. I responded with 63, hitting back and jumping out. Unfortunately, Steve rolled an immediate two, and a roll or two later I faced this position.

After entering I played 14/10, but the correct play is to hit loose on my deuce. Not hitting is a .117 blunder. I am not sure if that was a “hidden” blunder, but I didn’t think it worth a lot of consideration, though I saw the play. Nor did the commentators mention it as an option.

 

I was again rewarded after a fashion, since Steve rolled 42, and could only hit me once, not twice. I fanned, and he next rolled 62, popping out to hit me on my 10pt. I entered both men with 31.

What say you, sports fans? It is 0 – 0 to 7; would you take this redouble? It is scary, but this is actually just barely a redouble by a whisker, due to the score. I can always redouble to kill gammons. Passing would be a huge blunder.

The commentators (Alex had been joined by David Wells) like 11/5, while I liked 7/1. Neither of us liked making my deuce, but it is the right play. Only by about .02 over the other two, but best is best. I was once again rewarded for the wrong play, when he rolled 51. I next rolled 21, a great shot, but after 24/23 I played 13/9, which gives him 63 and 62, but seems better than stacking builders with 6/4. XG says ‘stack,” by .022. He fanned again, and I rolled 64, playing 23/17, 9.5. Stack this, XG!

Steve came out with the 5, but then played 4/3, a .052 error. He was punished when I rolled 42, hitting, and covering. He fanned, and … I rolled 44. Slump! 

He picked up a second checker, after my board had crashed some more. I anchored on his ace.

There are worse rolls that 65, especially when he was forced to close me out.

When we reached this position I was resigned to trailing 0-4 to 7. The he rolled 66. But I could still save the gammon most of the time, especially if I entered quickly.

I entered bar/21, then played 13/8. XG says I should have played bar/16, but my play was only a .01 error. Then he rolled 66 again. I needed at least 18 pips over the next three rolls to save the gammon. And I got 21 pips! Unfortunately, they came 11, 41, 63, and with no men on my 3pt, 63 failed to save the gammon.

Oh, well, I never was good at playing the sax.