Test Your Thai - Answers

1. No redouble – 3 points; Take – 7 points. Black wins the game over 22% from here, whereas passing affords only 15% match equity.

2. Redouble – 5 points; Take – 5 points. Despite the duplication of sixes, this is a powerful double.

3. Double – 6 points; Take – 4 points. White cracks unless he rolls a 5 or 6, and also cracks with 52, 64, and 55 (that last isn’t so horrible). Even if White runs out with one man, Black has excellent chances at a counterprime. Still, a six-prime is a six-prime; White must double.

4. Redouble – 3 points; Take – 7 points. Black can win going forwards, or from the holding game when White enters immediately. The combined chances are sufficient to eke out a take.

5. Double – 9 points; Take – 1 point. Black is barely a favorite to win the game, but many of those wins are gammons. It is a solid score double.

6. No redouble – 4 points; Take – 6 points. It’s easier for a rich camel ... How did that go? Anyway, it is almost impossible to nail the redouble/take at this score, and Black hasn’t managed it here. White wins a bountiful 9.5%.

7. Double – 3 points; Take – 7 points. Out of every ten games Black will lose about four gammons, but will also win nearly four games. The take is easier than it looks.

8. 11/9(2), 10/8(2) – 10 points. Some players might get clever (the Fifth Amendment protects me from naming names) and clear the ten-point with 10/6(2). Getting home safely is only part of the game plan; White will be running, and having builders trained on him is important.

9. 6/5(2), 3/2*, 2/1 – 10 points. Yes, it’s disgusting, but hitting and lifting is best.

10. Double – 1 point; Take – 9 points. When this position came up I was able to state with utmost confidence that it was a take. It is interesting how much the bots have changed our thinking. The reason I knew the answer here is that in 1996 I played this position as a prop: