Art of sandbagging

General Go Discussion
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I watched a video of two sandbaggers playing IRL and started to wonder.

What some of the techniques masters of sandbaggery arts use during play?

Of course, it’s easy to steamroll your opponent but it’s a bit too obvious, it’s easy for your opponent to see he isn’t playing someone weak.

On one hand you need to play weak-ish moves but not too weak that you can’t catch back. And of course, one needs to choose natural-looking moves to play, when you plop down stones randomly opponents also start to suspect something.

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As for sandbagging irl, I’ve heard stories in China of the way high dans grab stones to make themselves appear like a weak player. This is to bait their opponent to bid more money on the game. It seems to work surprisingly well against a lot of people.

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What, apart from betting which isn’t really a thing around here, is the point of real life sandbagging? I mean online sandbaggers most likely have a “real” account and a sandbagging account. But in RL one would pretend that they (with their real face) are weaker than they actually are.

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It makes sense to bait people to make money. Why do people do that otherwise, especially online? Also, just curious, how does game look like?

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Sandbagging isn't a major, but a minor or specialization; not a class itself, but a subclass; and there are many variants:

  • The Hustler/Sandbagger, using his skills in sandbaggery for personal gain—Mr. Dake in Hikaru no Go, a SDK wanting to win a DDK Tournament prize, someone trying to win a quick bet etc.;

  • The Bully/Sandbagger, seeking pleasure in antagonizing the weaker;

  • The Troll/Sandbagger, who just want to watch the world burn, Mr. Wayne.

We even have some altruistic variants—such as the Teacher/Sandbagger, which comes with its own subdivisions, ranging from The Sibicker to The Secret Oriental Master.

I’m a newcomer to Go but such characters appear in all walks of life. And this is something I’ve learned after nearly thirty years: you never know what’s gonna come through that door.

:P

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Hustling is a big problem in almost any game, not just Go. When I was about 9 years old I almost got hustled for one reason or another, but I don’t quite remember what happened. At that age, my form of money was quartz crystals. :smile:

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I could say a few things on this subject, but won’t, as it would be helping the sandbaggers.

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8

If sandbagging is a problem on a weiqi server, best thing to do IMHO is to make handicap the default for games with a rank difference of greater than 2 grades or if one side wins 5 games consecutively. This should discourage most sandbaggers.

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I like the idea, but it is not applicable for a couple reasons in my opinion: it is easy to get around and could hit innocent players (non sandbagger) very easily.

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Sorry, it would not work at all. Sandbaggers would just create a new account after four games. I have seen some players create a new account for every game they play.

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11

If I have to play a 9-stone handicap game against someone who is much more than 9 stones weaker:

  • I won’t kill any group.
  • If I’ve surrounded a group, I’ll make moves that help the opponent get a good shape and that will encourage the opponent to play at the vital point to make eyes.
  • If the opponent has weaknesses in their territories, I’ll play endgame moves that should help them fix those weaknesses
  • I’ll count the score pretty precisely and avoid getting a lead in territory. It’s easier to win points in endgame than to lose them.

If I have to play a 9x9 game without handicap against a weaker opponent:

  • If possible I’ll play White without komi, which is a discrete way to have some handicap
  • I’ll try to split the board in two relatively equal halves
  • If they have the West side and I have the East side, I’ll try to play gote moves on the North side so that they can play first on the South side.
  • I’ll count the score very precisely to make sure the two halves are equal.
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