About RedTop

When I first started to play backgammon on the Zone, I had no idea that it would turn out the way it did. This website, in fact, started as just a collection of a few backgammon tips I was going to Email to some people I was playing on Case's ladder. I decided to put it on a very simple web page - and it just grew from there.

I had no idea that I would become the top-rated player on the Zone, that the Zone would be overrun with cheats, or that a lot of the other interesting things that have happened, would happen.

I like backgammon. It's a fascinating, maddening game, that always has something interesting to analyze for a statistics junkie like me. To me, this web page is mostly a chance to consolidate a lot of useful information into one place. If you have something that expands on what I've said - or that even contradicts it (with facts to back up your position), let me know. I'm happy to put the truth here, whatever it may be.

There's a lot of information, and misinformation, that gets circulated. I get enough questions about myself that I thought I'd try to put the facts together in one place.

How good are you at backgammon? How long have you been playing?

I consider myself somewhere between a very talented amateur and a reasonable tournament-caliber player. I am not an expert. I don't play much in tournaments, mostly because I don't really enjoy gambling that much. A little money to make a game interesting is fine, but I don't like paying $100 or $200 entry fees just to play for a day, even though a lot of the entry fees go to a prize fund. Years ago when I played in several leagues on The Sierra Network, I was in a group of 3 or 4 players, all of whom were sort of tied for being the second-best player there (Kent Goulding was clearly the best). My rating on GamesGrid is usually in the 1900-1950 range.

I've been playing for about 25 years, but only semi-seriously since about 1993. I had known Kent Goulding for years, but only as a bridge player; I didn't even know he played backgammon. KG made me aware of some high-level books and magazines and other material, so I started to read and study it and improve my game a little.

Why do you play on the Zone?

I came onto the Zone because I realized that I was good enough, relative to most of the players here, to teach backgammon. I didn't necessarily expect to get to be the #1-ranked player here. My other main hobby is playing bridge, where I'm about as good as I am at backgammon. But I don't teach bridge - I mostly bash my head against the wall at all the national championships. (My best finish ever in a bridge national championship is 11th in the open division and I did win the national amateur championship once.)

How can I get to play you?

That's probably the most frequently asked question.

Under the right circumstances, I will play just about anyone. But that doesn't mean I will play everyone just when they feel like playing.

I spend a lot of time on backgammon, but I do a lot of different things with it:

I give lessons. I give free group lessons every Thursday at 8:45 PM Eastern in on GamesGrid.  
I maintain this web page, and I also write for an online backgammon magazine published by Kit Woolsey.  
Sometimes I just pop into a room under an assumed name and give private lessons to people who are interested and want to improve their game. Don't ask me what name I use, or when I do it, or how you can sign up, because (a) I won't tell you; (b) I do it on the spur of the moment; and (c) you can't.  
I host in the GammonZone tournament room, under the name Flopsy_GZ_Host.  
And yes, I play some rated matches, but it's rare.  The rating system on the Zone is badly infested with bugs and cheats, so the ratings don't mean much about a player's skill.  

So if you want to play me, what's the best way? Well, you can enter a tournament that I play in and hope to draw me. I sometimes play in the mornings, around 7:15AM (Eastern) under the name RedTeamLeader. I run occasional special events like Challenge The Champs. Yes, you can ask me for a game, but a lot depends on my mood. Before you criticize me, ask yourself how far below your own rating you would play someone. If you're an 1800-rated player and think it's unfair that you're not in the range I've been playing lately, ask yourself how eager you would be to play someone rated 1400.

I will, however, play anyone in a charity challenge match. Just click on the link, then contact me to set it up.

I will also play a 7-pt (non-rated) match with anyone who subscribes to Kit's magazine. Just tell Kit to mail me your username (not password).

Two very good ways to be sure you will not get a game with me are to brag that you're better than me, or to be a cheater. Don't even think about cheating to get your rating up to play me (or any other players). You'll get caught. It's not worth it.

How did you get to be #1? How do you stay there?

I got to be #1 by playing more good backgammon than anyone else, and I stay there the same way.

Remember that the rating system is just that - a rating system. Ratings are not designed to increase without bound. Over time, every player should find their "level" and stay there. If, for the sake of argument, I am able to win 70% of my matches against players with a certain mix of ratings, and no one else can win more than 69%, I'll stay #1.

I don't believe it's right for someone to get a high rating, then stop playing just to sit there, and I haven't done that. And I don't expect to be #1 forever. Ratbrain could catch me if he wanted to. A few others almost have caught me, and eventually someone will. If some true expert came over to the Zone, I know they'd be #1 eventually. But right now, for a variety of reasons, top experts don't play here, and I doubt they ever will. I do expect to stay at or near the top as long as I play here, but I won't always be #1.

What's all this stuff about cheating?

There are a lot of players on the Zone who cheat in backgammon. No, they don't have a secret program that manipulates the dice. They have someone who forfeits matches to them or else plays like an idiot, either a friend or they create a second account using a second computer. It took a long time for the Zone to deal with it, but they've reset the ratings of most of the cheats to 1500. The Zone has finally started to take prompt, effective action against the cheats, so I'm hoping the problem will pretty much go away. There will still be people who do it occasionally, but once people realize the Zone won't tolerate it, they'll stop trying.

How do we know you don't cheat?

Well, the best way to know is to look at the records of the GammonZone tournaments. I've played in a lot of those and have the best record in them, by a wide margin. Interestingly, the second-best record is held by ratbrain (aka The_Lieutenant), who as I'm writing this has the second-best rating in the rated rooms. I've also played literally dozens of the top 100-rated players. I enjoy the competition here. That's why I play, not for some phony thrill of boosting my rating.

What exactly is your role in dealing with cheating?

I have no official position with the Zone in regard to cheating. I have the same rights and responsibilities as anyone – to report facts to the Zone and to provide evidence. And also, to be sanctioned if I provide false information or make ungrounded accusations.

I do have a friend who maintains a database. He downloads the ratings about every ten minutes and sometimes that gives us access to information other players might not collect. However, I have a standing offer to send that data to anyone who asks. Remember, the zone has its own database of matches and ratings. Any player can call attention to another player with a suspicious record, but only the Zone can take action to reset a rating. Remember too that anyone who has been reset unfairly can appeal that.

How come I never see you play in rated rooms?

Well, there are a few reasons.

Have you ever heard the phrase "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it?" Well, I say that "Everyone talks about the problem with server boots, but no one does anything about it." I do. When I play a rated match, I play in a non-rated room. We then post the result in a rated room.
I'm online in the rated rooms a lot when I can't play, like during the workday.
I play for about a half-hour every morning under the name RedTeamLeader. RTL's record isn't quite as good as RedTop's right now - mostly because I'm not all that awake when I've just rolled out of bed.
I play a lot in tournaments. I probably average two hours a day of play in tournaments, more on weekends. There aren't too many players who try to play actively both in the rated rooms and in the tournaments. I also give lessons and maintain this website. All in all, I put an awful lot of time into backgammon on the Zone.

What's funny is that a lot of the people who complain that I don't play enough have much less experience than I do. I've been playing consistently in the ratings room since the ratings rooms opened last summer. Just because someone else chooses to come and play 50 or 100 matches in a week doesn't mean that I have to. And buried in the 490 or so matches that I've played are a lot of long matches against other top-rated players.

Just in case anyone cares - here is a day-by-day record of my rating and won-loss results. It's a few months old. This shows my record as of the first file download each day. There are some days missing because my download program has been down sometimes for days at a time - mostly because I'm away on a trip and something fails, or because there were some times when I just couldn't connect to the Zone properly.

What's this about "posting" matches?

Unfortunately, there are some defects in the rated rooms. If one player or the other is booted from the game, you can't resume - the match is lost. Also, the player who is booted is charged with an "incomplete" match, which can lead to unfair rating point penalties.

In order to avoid these problems, I play most of my rated matches in non-rated rooms. When the match is over, we go to a rated room and the loser forfeits a match of the same length to the winner. The only problem at all with this procedure is that it depends on both players being honorable about it. In all the times I've done this, I've only once had a player refuse to post a match they lost to me.

I'm sure that eventually, one of the cheaters on the Zone will create a new name, come online, and claim that he beat me and that I refused to forfeit to him. I want to be extremely clear about something. If you play me and you have the tiniest suspicion that I might not report, take a screen capture of the game. To do that, just open a graphics program like Wordpad or Paint. Go to the game window and press Alt/PrntScrn. Now go to the graphics program and press Cntl/V. A picture of the game will appear, and you can save it as a file. This is the only real way to prove that someone has played someone else. So take a screen capture that shows us playing, and shows a plausible position from which you might have won.

I'm not going to do that, because I trust people. But I know that some cheat is going to claim that I "welched" and it will be his word against mine - except that there won't be a shred of proof. So I'm posting this here to put everyone on notice as to how you can get that kind of proof.

Back to top