Subject: Never won winnables!
Date: Fri Apr 1 12:26:58 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:Hey, free, CONGRATULATIONS on a nice win!!!
Date: Fri Apr 1 12:48:39 2016
User: dcn21
Message:No, I'm not really good at math, my parents did teach me how to play bridge when I was 8, though, if that means anything. I did take electrical engineering at Mcgill (here in Montreal) but I didn't finish. In my case its just a lot of practice, never using a deck of cards and playing every hand until I win it, which has taken up to 100 tries (usually a lot less). I think addiction has something to do with it also. I have fallen asleep more than once in front of the computer after playing 14 hours or more in a row. I don't do this anymore, fortunately but I still play for 6 or 7 hours in a row quite often. I already mentioned this in another thread but I play particularly difficult hands until I win them twice simply to try and understand how and why it can be won. I really believe this has improved my game considerably. I'm not as good as Arheus though, he/she has better scores than I in the difficult winnables and does it an average time of less than half of mine. Also, I read that Arheus has won over 1000 tournaments, I've won 2 minor ones, I believe. I don't play tournaments because to my mind you can't be a great streaker and a great tournament player because tournaments get you used to playing fast and that works against you when you're streaking, particularly in the harder variants. Some players can do both, of course, because your game overall improves but imagine what Arheus could do if he/she slowed down while streaking. I used to play a lot of chess including tournaments. Chess teaches you to be patient and really think about what you're doing. There's a saying in chess "sit on your hands!" which means when you're about to make a move, don't. The temptation to make a particular move is very strong sometimes but usually you have to wait and study the position some more if you want a good result. This applies often to freecell, though not as strongly. I gave up chess because I hate losing.
Date: Fri Apr 1 13:34:08 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:I hate to post this here...but hate to start a new thread for one question. Is anyone else having a problem with not being able to use your keyboard on a home pc to respond to the db? I am doing this on my cell now. My keyboard works on all other programs. Just started doing this today. Thanks...and sorry for the disruption.
Date: Fri Apr 1 16:53:48 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:Ok, thanks for all of the million replies. Over 3 hrs later and it's ok. Maybe an April Fool's on me by the net.
Date: Sat Apr 2 12:37:30 2016
User: ix
Message:thank you so much for personal info dcn, i really appreciate it. i find it endlessly fascinating how some players can beat a game relatively quickly when it took others days or even weeks. i do believe intelligence enters into it, but i think there is also a savant factor. i know i'm intelligent but i don't think i'm wired to "see" the game the way you (and so many others here) are. frankly i'm jealous, but if we were all the same that wouldn't be any fun either. kudos to you and thanks again for helping get a personal feel of who you are. a huge part of the appeal of this place is getting to know some of you. i like it when people will actually pipe up.
Date: Sat Apr 2 12:38:21 2016
User: ix
Message:for "the" personal info, i obviously type first think later.
Date: Sat Apr 2 13:02:31 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:ix, I agree with you about "a huge part of the appeal of this place is getting to know some of you". It gives me an insight into who I am up against...comparatively. And it's interesting to know where players live.
It would be fun to have an entire thread for player bios...short at least; age, location, occupation/education and how they got here.
Date: Sat Apr 2 17:06:45 2016
User: dcn21
Message:It used to take me days to win tough hands also, nowadays it just seems easier, I attribute that to a huge amount of practice with the harder variants.
Date: Sat Apr 2 17:06:45 2016
User: dcn21
Message:It used to take me days to win tough hands also, nowadays it just seems easier, I attribute that to a huge amount of practice with the harder variants.
Date: Wed Apr 6 21:50:06 2016
User: dcn21
Message:Thank you for the compliments, ix, by the way. Our mouse was defective, that's why my posts repeated, we got a new one so it shouldn't be a problem anymore.
Date: Sat Apr 9 01:41:37 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:Not a lot of plays, but another one knocked out
4x10 14400-5
now 1/5 in 3:43
Date: Sat Apr 9 01:51:38 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:another fun one, felt even tougher.
4x10 6206-5
now 1/3 in 6:01
Date: Sat Apr 9 19:47:37 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:Not sure how tough ths one wll be but stll unwon ended my 13 game streak.
9x2: 31849-6
Now 0/6
Date: Sat Apr 9 23:40:04 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:not a never won anymore but thought this would be a streak killer...but pulled it out
6x5 3042-6
now 1/24
Date: Sat Apr 9 23:45:42 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:1st try but never won
6x5 8169-6
Date: Sun Apr 10 02:22:24 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:here's a good one:
6x5 21937-5
now 0/64
Date: Sun Apr 10 02:33:40 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:ahh here's another one.
6x5 12364-5
now 0/27
can't seem to get a streak going!!
Date: Sun Apr 10 04:37:40 2016
User: Tasmanianmom
Message:Playing and losing; then replaying helps me learn all the minor tricks in the plays. Playing chess
does make one think before moving. ....NO TIMER!
Competition is built into one's personality from childhood. first with siblings as well as with parents. It gets subliminally overwhelming when "Mom" or 'Dad' insists that younger interloper sweet child should be allowed to win. "Grrrrr!",..... stuff hangs over your psyche for a looong time.
"mr.bob", a natural math genius had a younger maverick cousin brought into his family as a youngster and Bob really gritted his teeth , 'was a" good role model" but became so competitive it drove many a friend 'nuts ' playing any games especially poker with him.....Bob ( He would chastise me , cause we don't brag on our own."was one of the top tax attorneys with Jones Day. Those folks all were all Phi Beta Kappas. He quit playing poker with the guys because Blood pressures would often be seething over as not...HUmph!!!....
Bob was a natural card counter. he worked with a Russian mathematician on the "Eudemonic, Pi". These guys had systems to beat games in Las Vegas. They were excused from Las Vegas, if you catch my drift. ..Nothing illegal just sneaky... so to speak. ..Time: many years ago.,,...
We used to play open dictionary Scrabble, and at 2 am I headed to bed, ahead by a couple of points saying," I'd love to sleep with a looser tonight".
When Bob came across freecell.net, he fell in love with 10x1! No winnable in those days... if he found an unwinnable one, he smiled,.... some one had put one over on him. Bob never played a tournament. He hated to lose. He knew it. He always laughed at me because I am a lousy loser and a gloating , laughing winner. Sometime ,he slept wit a winner, sometimes a loser. I miss
'mr.bob'
Date: Sun Apr 10 11:39:12 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:Who doesn't love hearing stories about "mr.bob". Freecell icon.
Btw, Jeanne, you really should write a book about him.
Date: Sun Apr 10 12:08:22 2016
User: ix
Message:it is always a joy and a special thing whenever you post whatever it is that you post, j. you and malr (among others, enumeration too difficult) are among the "not every day" and special treasures of this place. bang on.
Date: Sun Apr 10 15:22:54 2016
User: Tasmanianmom
Message:Thanks ix and hotnurse.
the calendar is coming around to the day when I met mr. bob, so my memory brings back back to life warm memories. ....On a Friday evening mr.bob walked into our life, four teenagers decorating my staircase in various poses , one reading upside down, red hair too long, foot stuck on sister's leg. ... This new man entered ,a bald headed, combover, with a bunch of cellophane wrapped flowers in hand, grinned approving, at the kids and me. My younger sister, bringing news of her new gentleman friend, sat on our couch checked mr.bob out. "Not your mom's type....Not to worry!" ... Five days later we were engaged! Bob said it was the fact, that I not only showed him my etchings, but the 350 pound etching press that I had engineered. ...I had been widowed, and he was looking for someone that would go the whole distance. I also told him that everyone in the family had the same middle name:'prenup'. He laughed and said that was part of his business
So much for 'goggly eyes', after he moved in, during bed time, we would hear each and everyone of the children SLAM their bedroom door. Every night: BANG, BANG, BANG.
OK! Time for a conference, said mr.bob. Tonight after homework and chores we were to all sit around the dining room table and have a talk. Why the bedroom doors?
Hemming and hawing the kids all said mr.bob was too nice.
What do you mean? ... "Well we watch the news, and, and a family was slaughtered by their dad. ... the papers all quoted the neighbors: "He was such a nice man."
So mr.bob told our middle daughter ,"No more lipstick notes written on the bathroom mirror, about putting the seat down. Wars have been fought and lost this issue. Enough!"
Our son was to wash his hair, and at least have it cut or put back so his eyes could be seen. The oldest daughter was not to be late for supper. And the youngest was not to be "Goodie Two shoes'
It's annoying and you will grow up to be a family serial killer ! ....Cause you are too nice!
Date: Sun Apr 10 17:20:34 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:Like I said, Jeanne. You really need to write a book.
Date: Sun Apr 10 18:01:15 2016
User: ix
Message:jeanne, are you familiar with "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White? your writing so reminds me of White's, its easily found in pdf with a google search.
Date: Sun Apr 10 19:54:56 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:ix...check your fb pm.
Date: Mon Apr 11 13:05:34 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:so to summarize my posts above, here are the 4 remaining unwon games in this thread:
31849 9x2-6 (0/15)
8169 6x5-6 (0/1)
21937 6x5-5 (0/85)
12364 6x5-5 (0/35)
Date: Mon Apr 11 13:08:48 2016
User: ix
Message:i gave 31849 one shot, it leads you to believe you are going somewhere only to lead you off a cliff, i will try it again, thanks for posting these, cubic
Date: Mon Apr 11 13:15:09 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:Took care of the 2 easier ones. Makes me mad I lost that 6x5-6 in the first place as it wasn't real tough.
31849 9x2-6 (1/19)
8169 6x5-6 (1/2)
Date: Mon Apr 11 15:23:07 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:21937 6x5-5 is brutal but now 1/98.
Date: Mon Apr 11 15:52:09 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:12364 6x5-5 (0/50) is probably even worse. It took me 3 tries as a 6x6 and is just 2/28 as a 6x6, but winnable as a 6x5...just not by me (at least not yet)
Date: Mon Apr 11 16:04:06 2016
User: Tasmanianmom
Message:Aloha ix, and hotnurse,
i love, love E B White's writing! Read 'Charlotte's Web" to the children when they were little. I'll get "Once more to the lake", by White. ....Used to write humor for a friend to read ....she was an English majorly, major!!She read my work and told me all about my misplaced modifiers, scary spelling, and improperly used adverbs, and adjectives . She terrified me about my writing....I returned back to painting, sculpture, and raising cantankerous off spring. And she went to NewYork City, to help her brother-in-law to move and dropped over DEAD, and no one knew what hit her. No I didn't say.... WHO,... no, what really .... hit her.
I quit writing. .
Shortly after that. Met mr.bob . Life changed. His love made anything possible. he loved my art work, and understood it! ' Enjoyed my stories and basically told me to write like I talk.
Here in Hawaii, we have "talk story", and sometimes scary people like the MAJOR English Officer, chops the writer , and the thoughts run and hide.
But you ...yes.. you guys are helping me to go ahead and try again.
I'll write like I'm talking to you.
Like an email.
I'm dedicating WHaTEVER to ix and hotnurse!
thanks!
Date: Mon Apr 11 17:00:35 2016
User: hotnurse
Message:xxoo. I suppose we should move this to facebook...if you have that.
You need to talk with Snowguy, Joseph Bogo on fb, about writing. He self-published via Lulu his first book.
At one time, back when things were really fun here, we had a little saga going where anyone and everyone added to the story as it went along. It was hilarious. I wish we could bring that back just to show how crazy-fun things used to be.
Date: Fri Apr 15 16:01:52 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:Game #: 6x5 12364
Game stats: 68/1/1.47%
It was brutal, taking the better part of a week, but it is done now.
I wonder how many of the other ~1280 unwon 6x5-5 are actually possible.
Date: Sat Apr 16 08:59:14 2016
User: free@last
Message:There are only 269 games on the 6x5-5 unwinnable list.
Date: Sun Apr 24 12:22:33 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:shocked this was 1/17 after playing...seemed pretty straightforward
Game #: 8x3 16141
Game stats: 17/1/5.88%
Difficulty: 8
Elapsed: 1:34
Date: Tue Apr 26 01:05:27 2016
User: jlyer
Message:This one killed my 8x3 streak yesterday and took me about 11 tries before I finally got it. It was a 0/1 before I played it (so after my first loss it was a 0/2):
Game #: 8x3 18696
Difficulty: 7
Date: Wed Apr 27 16:49:36 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:definitely a tricky one. now 1/32
Date: Thu Apr 28 02:51:49 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Got it second try, after giving the first one a "bum's rush". Tricky, yes, but imo not (now) 3/39 difficult. I could give a very vague hint, if anyone wanted such....
Also, I think there are multiple paths after tip-toeing past a certain spot.
Date: Thu Apr 28 03:29:42 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Yeow.
Sorry You Lose
13297
Difficulty: 5
(W6x5)
Game stats: 45/0/0.00%
I could tell it was going to be tough, but didn't think anything like that. Only that one try is mine.
Date: Thu Apr 28 09:05:26 2016
User: rws33315
Message:W9x2 29091-6
only a few plays (0/7), all 7 lost by me.
Date: Thu Apr 28 11:38:11 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:13297-5 (W6x5) now 0/70. I have not gone back and tried it again.
Date: Fri Apr 29 10:51:04 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:6x5 13297-5
now 1/115
Date: Fri Apr 29 12:34:55 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:I was just waiting on you to get to it.....
At least looks like it took you several attempts. I've not tried it more than once, still.
Good job.
Date: Fri Apr 29 12:41:42 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:thanks, i basically played it in tournament mode. 11 tries in 15 minutes. I knew I had the opening on the 4th try, but took a few more tries to get back to that and then another few tries to work out the end game.
Date: Sun May 1 11:44:20 2016
User: ix
Message:thanks for winning that 6x5 cubic, i agree with tn on the sentiments about said game, and also the 11x1, which is the only 11x1 i've ever just given up on, even though i know it didn't give you and tn much trouble. its fun to have big guns to rely on. if i were one of them i'd kiss my biceps and mutter "welcome to the gun show". its fun to have you guys around.
Date: Sun May 1 22:07:45 2016
User: dcn21
Message:I got that 11x1-8, 6082 on the first try but it took me 7:50.
Date: Mon May 2 03:12:20 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Thank you for the compliment, Senor brujo ixtapolapoquetl, but from my perspective, lumping me in with CubicSprock is somewhat heretical. Although we "ply our trades" differently, and I'm probably not a *bad* solver, I don't think I'm in his league.
And while I'm at it, I just looked at W6x5 13297-5..........now 1/139. Where is andaronjim when he's needed? This one definitely needs to be considered for climate 6 status.
Date: Thu May 5 13:16:16 2016
User: free@last
Message:Sigh.
6x5
Game #: 6295
Game stats: 75/0/0.00%
Difficulty: 5
Date: Thu May 5 13:37:12 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:6x5
Game #: 6295
Now 86/1
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