I think that magicwand's move is probably better than the tiger's mouth - it's good to stay light and flexible here, I think. But I wouldn't say that a double tiger's mouth would be as bad here as it is in the examples that often show it. The two black stones to the bottom right aren't terribly menacing, so I don't think white has to be worried about survival here, even if he did the double tigers mouth.

So basically, I think that the double tiger's mouth is probably inferior to magicwand's move, but I don't think that it's totally unplayable on this board, compared to the examples in which it's typically portrayed to be bad (in particular, those examples usually show examples where white might have some difficulty living unless he/she plays very lightly.).

Here's an example of a popular joseki that uses a double tiger's mouth that can be exploited by peeps:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B A popular 3-4 joseki
$$ --------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ . . . 3 . 2 9 4 5 . |
$$ , . . . . . 6 1 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W and it's continuation...
$$ --------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 6 . X . . |
$$ . . . X . O X 2 X . |
$$ , . . . 4 5 O X 1 . |
$$ . . . . . 3 . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

Here, black doesn't take advantages of both peeps, but still has the option of doing so. Instead of making a the double tiger's mouth at 3, white could have tried to play out further to try something that seemed more flexible, but in this particular case, it wasn't necessary.

In the current game, I think that flexibility and "resilience" is more important than a stronger connection when compared to the joseki, but I don't think that it's totally unplayable, since the bottom right stones aren't that strong.

Thanks Kirby. This is the problem of books. I read them and take the moves to be the absolute truth in all situations... Takes a few games or a stronger player's advice to get that out of me.

Another mistake by wms, capturing the small stones. I guess I don't need to say how white will respond?

Okay, good. So I wasn't crazy. Thought about asking, but glad to see people have stepped up and responded quickly. Where would have been a better spot to play there? I know wms is wanting to attack the D9 stone, but is there really a way to kill that? Looks like wishful thinking to me.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Makes a base, attacks opponent's base
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . O . . . . . . . . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . . X O X . . . O . X O O O X O O . |
$$ | . . O O O X . . . , . O O X . X O X X |
$$ | . . O X X X . . . . . . X X . X X O . |
$$ | . O X O . O . . . . . . . . . X O O . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . X . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . X . X . . . . . O X O . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X O X . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O . O X . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . O . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . X X O . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O . X . O X . O , . X . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . X X O O . . 1 . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . X . . X . X O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Could you explain/show the possible kos. I don't see them