Well, all my reading just went down the drain. I spent the last 10 minutes looking at variations from white fixing the cut directly. I also considered what would happen if white played at G5, making the table shape, although I spent less time on that. I did not consider white would do this.
My only hesitation about cutting now is that it removes a precious liberty from my group. After white blocks - and he will block or I may just have to give up on trying to read in go - I have only 4 liberties. Not super weak, but not as strong as I could be. I can get one more liberty from the push, but I'm not sure I want it as the ladder there would protect the cut at L5. Then, I need to either live locally or kill the white stones to the left.
The problem is that I don't see how to do either.
$$Bcm1 This result doesn't seem to work - too big of a ko.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . 3 2 O O . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X , . . O 1 O X O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . O X X X 4 . . O . X . . . |
$$ | . X O O . 8 7 . 9 . 5 6 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm1 This result doesn't seem to work - too big of a ko.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . 3 2 O O . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X , . . O 1 O X O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . O X X X 4 . . O . X . . . |
$$ | . X O O . 8 7 . 9 . 5 6 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]
So, I play this slide.
Why? Because, with my extra liberty, this works. I get to either live here, connect back to my corner, or, if black resists too strongly, I can counter him with all the cutting points he'll make.
Without the extra liberty here is how this fails:
$$Bcm1 Oh dear...
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . 2 O O . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X , . . O 1 O X O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . O X X X 6 5 . O . X . . . |
$$ | . X O O . . . 0 C 8 7 4 3 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm1 Oh dear...
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . 2 O O . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X , . . O 1 O X O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . O X X X 6 5 . O . X . . . |
$$ | . X O O . . . 0 C 8 7 4 3 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]
Is this result that bad for me? Maybe not. I do get to cut off one of white's stones and build a large right hand corner, but then white's group on the bottom is not only totally solid with a lot of points, but it is touching my group in the center. That can't be good.
I'd rather just steal points on the bottom. White can let me live here and I'll be happy with that. The cut will remain unless he fixes it. And if he fixes it in gote then I get to live in sente. Seems fair to me.
EDIT: On a side note, EdLee and Hades12 are talking a lot about this fight. I'm interested to see this discussion post game. Should be interesting.
. I thought he would play elsewhere first. Sure I might lose the whole bottom but surely I'll get sente. As for whether he pushes up or out first I have no clue. But I think there may be room for a possible capture race. If it doesn't happen I'll post what I was looking at later.
?
?
. And while white's group on the bottom cannot be killed it does not yet have a two eyes for sure. I just need to keep myself strong in the area and I can still attack this later.
is urgent enough that I don't need to do anything fancy to steal sente. A capture of 
will be sente for me later, and will get me my second eye in the center. I suppose white could deny the eye for a ko, but that would mean I have a chance to cut off his lower left stones. I'd gladly fight a ko for that.
is better:
= 
in the game, then after the