For those of you who are not familiar with Snowie, it is a computer
program that you can use to play against or analyze games that were saved
in either Snowie or Jellyfish format. There is even
a program to convert the saved Zone matches into a JellyFish format
so you can analyze your Zone games through Snowie.
There are some people who feel that Snowie's results are almost god-like,
mathematically perfect. There is one person in particular who uses it
as the be-all judge of a player's skill. He is most famous for saying
things such as the following :
"Snowie proves that I have no peer in the backgammon area.
The only ones that come close are x and y"...
"Yes I lost that match,but it was due to luck. Snowie shows conclusively
that I was the better player.."
"Only long matches of 11 or more points reduce the luck factor enough
that the better play will consistently win."
I might also note that the two players x & y, mentioned above, do
not show a skill level on the Zone consistent with that statement.
It should also be noted that the above named player when participating
in the long matches of 11 pts or more, only won 2 out of the last 9 Gammonzone
Medallion tournaments, and 1 out of the last 6 Second Chance tournaments.
So, what? Well, either Snowie's really is omniscient and the player is
dead wrong on his playing prowness, or Snowie, like any other computer
program is flawed. My bets are on the latter, because I know the player
is an excellent player.
The problem with Snowie is that it judges how well a player plays based
on a built-in set of rules and guidelines. These rules and guidelines
are based on an predetermined, arbitrary set of standards that can be
misrepresentative of a good player's skill.
In my humble opinion, there are two sets of guidelines - theory and real-world.
Snowie represents the theory and is a great tool - but it doesn't replace
actual play.
Think of it this way. You and your friend bet money on two different horses
in a single race. The race is over and your horse won. Your friend says
- it doesn't matter!! his horse was the best horse - the background stats
prove it.
