Throws, yomi, and 50/50's

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damn-I-Suck

[12] Conqueror
There are 2 general themes you here a lot about when it comes to throws:

1) It's a 50/50 mix-up

2) You should randomly use A or B throws, as well as randomly break with A or B

The first one assumes that the throw has already landed, and the opponent is in that small window of time where they must decide A or B to break it. This doesn't even factor in stuff like, "what if I whiff from backstep?" "what if they either duck or use a TC'ing move?"


It also doesn't factor in anticipation or prediction, or "yomi". It's assuming that it's a direct coin toss, when the only factor that matters is luck, rather than your opponent's conscious choices. The reason a coin toss is a true 50/50 and throws aren't, is because in a coin toss you're anticipating the actions of lifeless objects, versus a human being in throws.

In other words, skill is involved. A person with more skill would be able to "outwit" the opponent and "out-guess" them. Some prefer to call this mind games. If one person is able to predict their opponent's actions even slightly more consistent than the other player, then it's no longer a 50/50.

And yes, I've played players who just aren't very good at making "calculated guesses".

It's sort of akin to this movie scene from Princess Bride:


Which leads me to my next point. Whatever decision the Sicilian ended up making, it was never motivated by "randomness", but rather carefully calculated decisions (or so he thought anyway).

You think about stuff like: Is my opponent the type of person to constantly switch back and forth, or will they stick to A 2 or 3 times in a row? Not only that, it get's much more complicated when they start basing their decisions on past throw exchanges. A person will adapt to what the opponent was doing previously in the match or set. And then this compounds exponentially into "I've figured out that my opponent doesn't like to break A very often". (yes, there are players with a heavy bias towards one, don't ask me why).

If the decision was random, then why not just have the computer automatically select one or the other? At some point, you have to consciously decide whether you're going to press A or B (whether on the defense or offense), and these decisions are largely adaptive to something prior.

Thoughts?
 
I want this thread closed, simply because Idle is here trying to be an ass.

I'm not going down that road anymore.
 
I want this thread closed, simply because Idle is here trying to be an ass.

I'm not going down that road anymore.

Look if you want to choose to be insulted that I congratulated you on figuring out the essential building blocks of what high level play is all about because you are petulant and insecure about your own progress, be my guest. Throwing a tantrum won't change that.
 
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