Curling,Advanced Strategy1

HORSE SENSE: Strategy in curling.
    The picture is a re-creation and angles and lines are not exactly as those on a real sheet.
    Forcing your competitor into an uncomfortable situation will cause misses and an advantage for you.
Scenario above: Blue has hammer. Red must place rock in house to minimize scoring (be willing to accept 2). If Red gambles on "clearing" the house by long runback doubles, the game may be over in one end as Blue is set up to score 3 or more.
    Red is in a heavy defensive mode. Red is obviously in deep trouble. The upper Blue was placed by a righttee with the outurn. It is relatively easy to freeze to IF your team is also good at the outturn. Any bump; however, is bad as it will keep Blue in play and Red will rebound in for an easy hit by Blue with a roll behind Blue cover. Red does have a chance here to neutralize the end if Red stops slightly above at an angle above or actually does angle freeze to Blue.
   Contrast the bottom Blue rock situation that was placed by an outturn to the outside of the guard. If you have a leftee, here is where you use him. He can bury from the outside in with his "inturn" due to the "source" of the rock -- the leftee originates the rock from the right hack and can bury the inturn easier just like a rightee can better bury his inturn vs. outturn by 3-6".
    It is more difficult for the Red to freeze to Blue with the rightee inturn because it is fully buried (from that inside direction) leaving the difficult freeze or hit by the RED with the rightee otturn. There is an edge showing outward to the 12' but a Red hit may skid the Blue inboard such that Blue is still in the house and Red has rebounded out of play.
    The only play for Red is a draw above the Blue, hoping a Blue peal will jam Red onto Blue. As the Red sits now with the foiled attempt to freeze, Blue will tap out with hack weight and have another rock in the house. Red MUST get a rock to stay in the house to minimize Blue's chance of scoring 3 or more.
FROST:
    Commentators often say, "There is more frost buildup along the boards." A true statement would be, "there is a thicker frost buildup evident outside the 8 foot."
    There is, in actuality, more frost being generated in the playing area!! It looks like more frost buildup along the boards and actually there is more actual frost to look at because it is not being brushed/crushed and does not have the shinny appearance as the played center area.
    A bit of semantics, but this is the (physics) why there is more total frost buildup in the playing area with subsequent crushing during play.
The "other" reason? The rocks and sliders crush the pebble into the ice surface, sheet. This is an intrusion process (opposite to extrusion). The "white" looking ice in the slide out areas give evidence of this forcing of some of the pebble into the sheet. Of course some pebble is broken off and scattered to the edges and some pebble is slowly worn down with brushing which smooth the frost into the sheet.
    There is more air flow in the playing area due to rocks, people and brushes moving very fast deflecting new moist air to the ice surface. The busy area ice surface remains clean and COLD and hence warm moist air will neucleate/crystalize there.
    Near the boards, there is a frost film/cover that reaches a limited maximum amount because frost is, in itself, an insulator -- just like in your freezer. This means that the temperature of the frost top along the boards is much warmer than brushed sheet ice and limits new frost buildup along the boards.

Now, what happens in the playing area is, the frost crystals are crushed into smaller ice crystals by sliders, rocks and brushes and become part of the shinny ice sheet so it LOOKS like there is no frost buildup. There is in effect an actual increase in ice thickness in (0.1millimeters) in the playing area.

Strategy generates options:
Whether Basic strategy or Advanced:
Think first of Scenario:
1. End of play? -- 1-10 or extra end?
2. Score up/down significantly -- Are you on offense or defense?
3. Do you have hammer?
4.Who is shooting (what rocks, #1-8? Leftee or Rightee
5.Skills of shooter vs.
6. Difficulty of requested shot?
7. Ice conditions?
8. Skill of opponents?
9. How much to lose vs. gain,risk/reward, for one shot or for the end? 10. What am I leaving?
Above unique scenario:
1. 8'th end of 10 end game.
2.Red is up 6 to 4.
3. Blue has hammer.
4. Your Red 3'rd shooter is throwing his rock #2 --#6 of end.
5. Shooter is good club level curler in 60+% average shooting range.
6.Difficulty:A. Inturn guard to protect button rock is easy.
                    B. Outturn to hit "lined up" Blue rocks with roll to cover the other Blue very difficult with low percentage of accurate completion.
7. Ice conditions are 13-1/2sec.H-H with 3' curl.
8. Blue opponents have 3 options: They can hit Blue lined up rocks. They can draw on top of Red with tap for shot. They can make double Blue raise to button.
9. Red is up 2 with time left in game. The difficult shot can minimize a couple of Blue shots but the gamble is high. Remember, "Risk vs. Reward."
Solution: Probably, a simple inturn draw to guard one and maybe two raises and the Blue "draw on top shot."     A short guard stops the draw. A closer in guard stops the long raise runback double. A little closer guard minimizes all but the heavy hit on the Blue raise which may dump all Red.
    Strategy does not concern itself with always winning now, this end, with one super shot! "Walk quietly and patiently but carry a big stick, (a leftee)".
You can't stop all scenarios when the opponent has multiple good options -- just cut down/minimize his chances of success and hope foe the next end or Game.

    For the advanced curler that wants to know why?
Why can you note the whitish straight lines under the ice surface about 6" apart that traverse lengthways down the sheet?
    These whitish straight lines are cracked ice reflecting/refracting light from overhead rink lights.
I know they'er there but why?
    The white-ish areas are directly above the refrigeration brine tubes. The white-ish lines/bands are caused by un-even warming and cooling of the brine which inturn causes ice expansion and contraction immediately above the brine tubes cracking the ice into zillions of tiny pieces. The cracks reflect the light from above at all angles giving off the white-ish appearance.
The whitish appearance at the surface is from the ice shaving machine blade which shaves and crushes this small increase in height over the coils. The increase in height is further evidence of expansion and less density/softer ice.
   It stands to reason that this area of line expansion and contraction could lead to rock travel problems if not shaved smooth.

Contrary to what most ice technicians have been taught, the whitish areas in front of the hack and above brine pipes that have cracks is softer. Why, because of the many cracks that reduce density and then identified by the refracted light.