Poker Video: Misc/Other by DeucesCracked Executive Producers (Micro/Small Stakes)

This is great. Go is one of my favorite games, I never thought I'd see DC publish Go strategy vids. Awesome! Keep it coming!

Go FTW!

Guys, I'm ecstatic to have my video published on DC. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions. I did feel I was rambling a bit at certain points, so please let me know what was unclear and I'll try to explain it better ITT. Also, I am not a native speaker ldo, so if I mispronounce any words please let me know (you don't have to bother with the phonemic symbols - once I know I say it wrong I can look it up). Obviously, you can point any other mistakes too, thanks in advance.

thanks for the video I now have a new game to get into. Looks fun

Very interesting!
What software are you using? Is it free or do you recommend any free ware for beginners to fool around with?

Thanks for the great Go video! I look forward to learning more strategies and tactics for this game. Do you play any of: chess, backgammon, rummy, bridge, and mahjong? Good luck, Yojimgari

this is awesome! If you're planning on doing more GO videos, I'd love to participate. I'm a decent player but def. not a 1dan email me @ syous@deucescracked.com if you need an opponent for videos or if you just want to play

Thanks for the awesome responses!

lirarmange: this software is called CGoban. You can download it on gokgs.com, this is also the Go server where I play and teach online. This is probably the best Western Go server.

Yomjigari: glad that you liked the video. I hope that there'll be a continuation; this seems quite likely, since the response so far was so positive. I am all right at chess (1900 ELO when I last played competitively, but I've beaten quite a few 2000+ ELO players since then). I'm familiar with bridge and backgammon, but can't play at all (i.e., barely familiar with the very beginnings of strategy). I don't know the rules of either rummy or mahjong. Is rummy gin rummy or a separate game? I think I played gin rummy like 20 years ago or so, can't remember anything obviously.

Syous: it's cool to have fellow Go players here on DC. I'll be in touch. I think I wanted to review a beginner game first, but perhaps we can do both in one video.

Awesome stuff. Please make more

Huge stuff...I was actually one of the strongest askers for the video...Thanks...

Actually do you know (i guess you know it so this is why i'm asking it to you...)how it is possible to know what is your level of playing?...Do you have to do some kind of exams?...Play someone specifically?...Thanks

Great vid!

I think it's great that you focus on the strategi which gives a general idea of what the game is all about.

Looking forward to your next vids.

Everyone, thanks for the awesome response! There are definitely more Go videos coming.

Durzo: there are different ways to estimate one's strength. You can have a rating online or offline or you can play someone stronger than you to estimate your strength. It's not always possible in just one game, but I'll gladly play two or three with you as long as you don't mind my using them for one of the videos. (Will PM you with contact details.)

Syous, I haven't forgotten about you, but as I've said, I'd rather start with a beginning player. We'll play soonish, I hope.

Time Link to 00:35:00

Love the video so far, but... maybe I just fell asleep and missed it, but have you gone over unconditional life by this point? Seems like it would be a good idea since you're talking about eye-space. Also, I'm not sure I would have the faintest idea how to spell 'Ko' and 'Atari' if I was a total beginner.

Thanks, hope there's more to come!

Fancy Pants, thanks for catching this. I'll make sure I'll explain eye-space and two eyes at the very beginning of the next video. If you have any other ideas what you think is needed, please let me know here or in a PM.

Time Link to 00:47:43

Finishing up the vid... here's where you explain two-eyes/unconditional life, if anyone wants to skip ahead.

Come to think of it, I don't think the order of presentation is necessarily a problem. The pace seems about perfect, and I definitely think it was a great decision to start right away with the broad overview and an actual 19x19 game.

I've played go on and off for something like 8 years. I loved the game from the start and even spent significant time studying strategy, practicing life and death problems from goproblems.com, etc... yet I am still embarrassingly bad, particularly on a 19x19 board. I think if this video had been my introduction to the game I would be at least an order of magnitude stronger, so 5 stars!

As for suggestions for the series, this might be pie in the sky, but I think it would be sweet if you did some vids with one of the DC coaches, say DJ Sensei. Assuming he doesn't already play, he'd probably catch on more quickly than just about anyone...

Fancy Pants, thanks a lot for your words. I think I'll add a bit on eye-space in the next video, this time from a more practical standpoint. Hit me up on Skype (nrfanshawe) if you'd like a game.

There's a good chance we'll make a video like you mention with DeathDonkey.

Great vid. I've had a Go board in my game room for years. It looked like a cool game to learn, but I can never get anyone to play it. Whenever I pull it out and try to explain the game, people's eyes roll into the back of their heads. But I watched the vid and pulled out the game board again. Maybe I can get someone to play over the holidays!

Also, I found this pretty helpful for complete beginners like me. I've been working through the problems after watching your vid:

http://playgo.to/interactive/

I'll definitely be looking into the software you recommended as well! Looking forward to more vids.

Gogogo!!! (someone had to do it )

CDA: Thanks. I've actually used this interactive course myself. Then it used to be down for quite a long while. Good that it's back up.

Also, I downloaded this little app. The computer seems bad, but so am I. So I think if you're just starting to learn, it couldn't hurt to figure out how to beat the computer for several games!

http://www.smart-games.com/igowin.html

Cool links guys - and thanks for the video, Fanshawe! I had just been reading a book on GO from Tuttle publishing (they do alot of martial arts books also, so I believe it goes into the history/culture of the game a bit too).

Maybe you could explain a bit how the game is scored, too? The one thing that I found made it a bit hard to follow for someone who has never played, was that you were obviously sometimes thinking many moves ahead when playing. Not that you should change this, or anything, lol, just that I'm glad there will be more videos to follow, to give us newbies a chance to catch on!

Thanks very much!

When I was trawling for go related information a few years ago, the best online resources I found were Sensei's Library and goproblems.com.

AFAIK, GNU Go is still the best free computer opponent, and one of the strongest overall. BTW, the strongest go AIs can be easily beaten by anyone with a few months of study.

Okay, I'll try to explain scoring better if that was unclear from the first video. Like I said, it might be a little bit problematic for beginners, not because the rules are complex, but because it's not always obvious what is territory and what isn't.

I've already played a game with a relatively inexperienced DCer, so there's a chance it'll be a bit easier to understand.

I've never played go (and i dont know if im going to ever play), but it seems a very interesting and extremely complicated game to play very well. Anyways great video and i love to see things like this in deucescracked.

what rank are you on kgs? i used top lay a decent amount and was single digit kyu

I'm a shodan. You should be able to see the rank in the video, but now I've got rid of that question mark by playing a few more games.

Just want to say hi. Not everyday russian author post video on DC. Not on poker strategy but nevertheless.

I just realized that there's a local Go club 10 min from my house. After watching this video I simply need to learn this game, so monday next week will be my first step into the world of Go.

As a funny note I met and talked to Masaki Takemiya about Backgammon and Go on a trip to Japan in 2004. I had no idea he was the top of the pop.

Oh wow, you've met Takemiya. You really have to learn the game!

yo fanshawe,
used to play a lot and my grade was 4 dan bout two years ago, if u wanna play a game sometime, let me know, fatpandamofo at windowslive.com

wow, 4d is pretty strong!

I'll shoot you a PM.

Hello, there.
My father has found his passion for "Go" back again. Could any of you friendly guys out there help me how i can help my father get good games?
I would really appriciate any kind of help

Well, it depends on whether he wants to play live or online. Online, the best place is imo KGS (www.gokgs.com). Live, that depends on where you live, but there are Go clubs in many big cities in the US and in Europe.