To tell you the truth; after watching many noobs play at the 2k tables and being one myself; I've found that the mistake that most noobs make is entering the 2k game thinking of it as a 0-100 game. In 0-100, alliances are rare and you generally try to spread out in all directions seeing as you are essentially fighting with everyone.

However in 2k games all players are looking for silent truces in the beginning. The noob looking to spread out; will attack multiple players (kinda like hitler's error in ww2; fighting two fronts) each of these players will respond by saying "well i guess that isn't a silent truce possibility".

The end result, from the noobs perspective, is that he gets killed by everyone from all sides.

The solution is to think of 2k games differently. 2k games are more like a bunch of 1v1 battles taking place from all sides. You want to avoid taking on two people; and you want to find another player that you can fight "back to back" with.

Picture Braveheart the movie and everyone is in a crazy melee; you want to find a fellow axe wielder to fight along side with and watch each others back. Mean while you need to be able to tell the difference at someone swinging at you and someone currently fighting with someone else. If someone attacks you; but they are really swinging at someone else; often it might make sense to mentally forgive them and allow them to attack the other person while you deal with another threat.

These nuances of the game are always going to be present; and you cannot protect noobs from feeling like they got cheated.

This is very similar to the issues with gambling in the old west. Many fights would start because of accusations of cheating. But really some poker players are just that good; and when you can't understand how they always beat you. And the method that they beat you with is hidden from your view. It will always lead to accusations of cheating.

Ok... I think actually using the term 'pga' is actually a little misleading. When I hear about someone being 'pga', I think of two (or possibly more) people going into the game with the intent of working together in an immediate truce. And, while that does rarely happen at the big tables (generally come the end of the month when some are trying to push their friend into a top medal)... it is more rare and fairly obvious.

But, I think there are more 'favors' done there because the regulars play so much together, where the only reason you attack one direction instead of the other is to give kind of an 'old school player' courtesy to one player over a newer player.

Part is certainly a level of respect for them (and possibly a fear of retribution in later games)... but I think a lot of it is that you just have more invested in people that you know and have played with for years. And... it can also go exactly opposite that and some players have just always hated each other.

OH... and I would add to that that sometimes it makes more sense to attack someone that you know is good for that very reason. Keep the good player from gaining an advantage because you know he will capitalize on it... whereas you might assume someone new to the 2k's is more likely to make bad decisions down the line and be easier to beat. That is likely how it should work most often, but it doesn't always seem that way.

If you truce with the dummy, your truce will fail.

I rather play 500s cause they are more exciting. More fighting, less stalling.

deadcode wrote a good summation of 2k play here. kudos.

+1 dc, very good post.

If you add the fact that you know that the player, that your followup-poster called an "old-school-plaer", is more likely to notice which way you are moving (or not moving) than the new kid, then you know why 2k seems to be such a sworn in team.

Getting used to 2k is hard, because if you enter with 2.001 points and get the expected 7th you are almost back to 100 tables instantly...

deadcode's summation of upper tables is pretty spot on, but not really the issue.

The issue is about a culture that has developed where 4 or 5 or 6 or even 7 players at the table are all trying to ensure everyone is happy with the results and everyone gets points or some other absolute moronic "fairness" plea. People lose at kdice and you all should accept that sometimes you get 7th or 6th instead of counting on friends to run you up to 4th every game.

dottir wrote
at 5:50 PM, Tuesday August 30, 2011 CDT
"blah blah blah I am a cheater and so are all of the other 2k regulars. Prove it or stfu"

Ya, we know. Thats why nobody plays and just watches you cheat instead.