Posts:
46
Registered:
Feb 1, 2002
From:
Little Elm
Age:
32 Home page
Re: Pente Strategy Guides
Posted:
Nov 21, 2002, 4:59 AM
You're going to have to fork over about $25 for a used book on Amazon. Tom BRaunlich wrote a pretty good strat book in 1984. No one has written one since then.
Re: Pente Strategy Guides
Posted:
Nov 21, 2002, 6:16 AM
Look on ebay or on half.com. I got one very cheap, around 6 or 7 dollars. But, the books are outdated and not really all that useful... There is little that you will learn from those books that you wouldn't pick up by playing a few dopzen games against the top level players, or by reviewing their games in the DSG database.
If I do not accept a game invite right away, it means I will once I have fewer games in progress.
Posts:
72
Registered:
Dec 16, 2001
From:
pensacola
Age:
40 Home page
Re: Pente Strategy Guides
Posted:
Dec 11, 2002, 6:33 AM
I think properly using the database and playing live games where your opponent is good and willing to discuss the game while you are playing and analyzing it afterward are good ways to improve your game. Simple ideas like pushing home a winning initiative (understand that in Pente, unlike chess, one side always has the winning initiative, even from the very start), sound opening moves, attacking keystone pairs, using the pair as an offensive weapon, and the hammer theory become clear when you review the database. I recommend looking at the top six or so players using PBM games only since they typically are played with fewer errors. A good exercise is to look at the games they lost as the first player and figure out where they went wrong. That can be very instructive. Scott
Re: Pente Strategy Guides
Posted:
Dec 11, 2002, 4:21 PM
Scott makes a good point about one side always having the winning iniative. Especially when playing a turn based game, I try not to move until I ahve found a winning line, because if I don't have a winning line, then it is a losing line. There is no middle ground. Most of the games I lose at IYT that I later realize I should have won happen because I make a move that "looks good" without actualy having a specific winning line in mind.
I am not saure how helpful the strategy books would be right now, Like Scott said, study the database. Unfortunately, the IYT games, whch used to all be put in the DB, are not htese days due to a change in the way that IYT runs the site... But IYT is still a good place to review games, it just takes a little patience. Reviewing games in the database that were played at DSG can be helpful, but one must keep in mind that any move made in a realk time game is jsut that-- and it might actually be a good move, but rather, just a move that theo ther player could not figure out in the time span of a real time game.
--Dmitri
If I do not accept a game invite right away, it means I will once I have fewer games in progress.
