Is it okay that I don't always watch JY's explanation videos for LG

_--Aujlaw--_

When I do a game in a PT or a drill, I do it timed first, then again during BR, and if after BR I still am not at a -0, I take a few hours or a day and repeat the entire game untimed. If I can figure it out on my own (using my own inferences and my own gameboards), then I'll just go foolproof the game using my own strategies, rather than watching JY's explanation video. Am I wrong to be doing that? I'm wondering if this is preventing me from getting to a -0 as quickly. I have improved on my own though (averaging at about a -6), but I was just wondering if I'd be improving more and faster if I were to just always follow every single step that JY takes in his explanation videos?

Matt Sorr

I don't know that that what you're doing is "wrong," per se, but I'd argue it's generally not the best procedure (emphasis on "generally," as there are exceptions).

I'll try to address what you said in the order you wrote it. First, if you're missing any LG questions in BR, that's a big sign you should watch JY's explanation vid. Unless the game you're struggling with is a level 5 miscellaneous game that you're genuinely struggling to grasp, you shouldn't be missing anything in BR. LG answers, unlike the answers from RC and LR, are provable with no debate. There are no definitions or assumptions to argue with; one answer is absolutely correct and four are absolutely wrong. So during BR, especially if you truly set your board up well and made the major inferences, you should never miss a question.

If, alternatively, you miss no questions in BR, you've dealt with that game type before, you've made major inferences that made the questions easier, and you split your board correctly (if it was a game that was apt for splitting), I don't think there's much harm in skipping JY's video. I don't think it ever hurts to watch the explanation, but if you're doing something like a single layer sequencing game with rules you've dealt with tons of times, I think skipping is fine.

The reason I advocate for watching the explanation 9 times out of 10 is because, particularly on more difficult games, even if you went -0 on the game, you may have missed some valuable inferences, opportunities to split your board, better ways to represent a rule, etc. For example, there have been times when I've gone -0 on a game and completed it right around or below the target time, but after watching the explanation video, I realized there was still an inference I missed that could be useful to see in the future or I didn't split my board even though it probably would've helped me go even faster. Then, when redoing the game, I complete it way under the target time rather than right at it.

Keep in mind that when I say "watch the explanation" for a game you went -0 on, I don't literally mean sit through a 20+ minute explanation, on 1x speed, as if you bombed the game. I mean maybe skip to the part where JY represented a rule you found odd, just to see if you like his representation better, and skip to one of the frames right before he goes into the questions to see if you missed any inferences or didn't draw your board in an optimal way. Doing this only takes, on average, about a minute or two. While there are certainly instances where I find that I didn't miss anything (or even instances where, I'd argue, I set the board up better than JY... those this is exceedingly rare), the instances where I do find something I missed make up for the time spent many times over.

I hope this helps some!

JDream2025

If I get all correct, I just watch to see the set up or maybe I missed an important inference but I don’t watch the whole thing. I like to see how others approach the set up, you can learn a lot from it.