Backgammon Strategy

Backgammon has an established opening theory, although it is less detailed than that of games like chess. The tree of checker positions expands quickly because of the number of possible dice rolls and the moves available on each turn. Recent computer analysis has offered more insight on opening moves, but the midgame is reached quickly. After the opening moves, backgammon players frequently rely on some established general strategies, and will combine and switch among them to adapt to changing conditions as a game unfolds.

The most direct and sometimes the most successful strategy is simply to avoid being hit, trapped, or getting into mutually blocked stand-offs. The running game describes a strategy of moving as quickly as possible around the board, and is most successful when a player is already ahead in the race.

A holding game is a strategy wherein a player keeps a point high in his opponent`s board or on his opponent`s bar point, as the game progresses. The player may gain an advantage by hitting an opponent`s blot from the held point, or by rolling large doubles that allow the player to advance both checkers and begin a running game.

The priming game involves building a wall of checkers, called a prime, ideally covering six consecutive points. This obstructs opposing checkers that are behind the blockade. The prime is usually built somewhere between the 11-point and the 2-point, and then shuffled into the home board as the game progresses.

A blitz describes a strategy of closing the home board as quickly as possible while keeping one`s opponent on the bar. Because the opponent has difficulty re-entering from the bar or escaping, a player can quickly gain a running advantage and win the game.

A backgame is a strategy of placing two or more anchors (points with two or more checkers) in one`s opponent`s home board, while building a prime in one`s own home board. The anchors obstruct the opponent`s checkers, and create opportunities to hit them as they move toward the home board. The backgame is generally used only to salvage a game wherein a player is already significantly behind; using a backgame as an initial strategy is usually unsuccessful.

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Backgammon Tricks

Backgammon is a board game requiring two players. In the game, the players compete with each other to be the first to remove all of their backgammon pieces from the board. A backgammon set consists of a board with 24 triangles, 30 game pieces, and two dice. Each player receives 15 game pieces, and they take turns rolling the set of dice to determine how they can move their pieces.

1. This is the most general and important tip: Backgammon is a game of luck and skill. You have to take risks! Don`t play safe all the time.
   
   
2. When you are behind in the game you are actually waiting for one chance to improve your position on the board. This chance can be in a hit you can make on the board. It would be better then, to arrange all of your checkers in your home board to be ready for the opponent`s checker on the bar.
   
   
3. The 4th and the 5th point on the both sides of the board are extremely important and you need to fight in holding them in early stages of the game.
   
   
4. The bar point ( the 7th point) is extremely important as well. However point 4 and 5 are even more important and you need to prefer them first.
   
   
5. When you are leading on the board it is time to break contact and run for you home board without letting the opponent chances to hit your checkers.
   
   
6. When you are bearing off it is advised to use all the numbers to bear checkers off instead of moving them on your home board in trying to close the gaps.
   
   
7. If you are back in a match game 5/3 and your opponent is doubling, you have nothing to lose by redoubling again to 4.
   
   
8. If you win this game you will win the whole match.
   
   
9. When you are playing against anchor it is better to arrange all your checkers evenly on your board, especially on the high numbers during the bearing off process. In hat way you will not leave a blot if you get a high number double.
   
   
10. When you have to play a loose man, it is better to make it on the opponent`s side of the board than to have a blot on your home board that can be hit. In the worst case you will be hit on the opponent`s board and not in your home board.
    
    
11. In a match play when you are 2 points away, it is better to go for a gammon win and not using the doubling cube.
    
    
12. The best time to offer a double is when you think your opponent will refuse to one.
    
    
13. Try to have a strategy in the game and consider it all the time, but it is better to play with a strategy in your mind and just throwing the dice.
    
    
14. Anchoring is a very good way to slow and block the opponent`s moves. When you are behind in the game, anchoring can be also the only way to get you out of this situation.
    
    
15. Always consider another 2 possible options before playing. Don`t be reckless. If you think about it you might find other better options.
    

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Backgammon Variations

Besides the original game of backgammon, many variations of the game have been developed. Some of the most common ones are mentioned below:

Acey Deucy -
Although it is played similarly to regular backgammon, the game begins differently. All of the checkers are outside the board, and must be entered the same way that a player enters a checker which was on the bar in backgammon. A player can move checkers on the board without having to enter them all beforehand. The second difference occurs when a player rolls 1:2. First, he she plays the numbers one and two. Then he/she plays any double he/she wants to, and then he/she rolls the dice and plays again! This variation is very popular and fun to play , and yet it emphasizes luck a lot more than the original backgammon.

Narde, Tabula-
two ancient games that resemble the modern backgammon. Tabula is played with 3 dice, whereas Narde is played with 2. In Narde, which spread mainly in Arab countries, there is no "hitting", and doubles are played just like any other number on the dice. Both players move their checkers in the same direction. Other than that the rules are identical to those of backgammon. In Tabula, which is the first backgammon version that reached England, the players start with their checkers off the board, and have to enter them (the same way you enter blots which were hit). You may move a checker before entering the rest of the checkers, but you can?t move them to the next part of the board.

Nackgammon-
The rules of the game are identical to those of backgammon, apart from one detail: At the beginning of the game the checkers are arranged in the following manner: 2 checkers on point #24, 2 on #23, 4 on #6, 4 on #13, 3 0n #8. This may seem like a non-significant difference, but in fact it can change the entire look of the game!

Hyper backgammon-
a short version of backgammon, played according to the same rules , but only using three checkers, which are placed at the beginning of the game on points #22,#23,#24 (in the opponent?s home board).
Long gammon- The same rules apply here, but the game may take more time, since all of a player?s checkers are situated on point #24 at the beginning of the game?

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Playing Backgammon Online

After the way poker exploded onto the Internet in 2003-2004 a natural thing to wonder is "what will be the next poker? "What other skill gambling game could replicate the widespread interest poker holds?

Online backgammon clearly has many dissimilarities to online poker, the key one being backgammon is not a multi-player game, but at the same time, many of the skills and challenges that make poker popular carry over to backgammon. Not surprisingly, online backgammon games for money are readily available.

Some strategically great poker players are also great backgammon players. Like poker, backgammon can be played a straightforward, simplistic way: roll the dice, move the checkers. But also like poker, there are layers of skill that can be peeled back to reveal a much deeper, more complex game.

The objective of backgammon is to move fifteen checkers into your home section of the backgammon board, then remove them from the board before your opponent achieves that same goal. Since both you and your opponent have the same goal (get all their checkers off the board to win the game), and you both want to protect your pieces so they don't get bumped back to the beginning while also attacking your opponents pieces to send them back to the start, what you have is the same balancing act that you have in poker -- risk versus reward, caution versus aggression.

And, like poker, you also have random luck involved as the extent of the moves you or your opponent can make are determined by the rolling of separate dice. No matter how skillful an opponent, any player with a basic grasp of the game could beat that skillful player simply from the random luck of the skilled player making a series of unlucky rolls of the dice.

But like poker, while luck can influence results, over the long run skillfully analyzing the board and your opponent's ability and game strategy will have a far greater impact than dumb luck.

Besides the one-on-one nature, backgammon differs from poker in that all game information is in plain view, complete. The only things hidden are the thoughts of the players. In poker, player's have hidden information: their own cards. While this might appear to be a skill drawback about the game to a poker player, another difference is that backgammon games are far longer than poker hands.

In any backgammon game you make a relatively huge number of decisions. All the results of your decisions can be seen by your opponent, but the sheer volume of decisions coupled with the much greater number of random incidents (you roll the dice far more than a random flop or turn card is placed on a poker table) leads to multi-level strategy, and even multiple back up strategies.

While in one-on-one poker most players play most of the hands, backgammon is constant action. You are always rolling, and moving, and adapting to changing circumstances. Action junkies who need four online poker game screens open to keep their attention should enjoy online backgammon games.

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What is backgammon game

Backgammon is a game of luck and skill. It is played by two people with 15 checkers each on a board consisting of 24 spaces or points.

The checkers are moved according to rolls of the dice. Each player tries to bring his own checkers home and bear them off before his opponent does, hitting and blocking the enemy checkers along the way.

Although the game is essentially a race, backgammon offers a significant scope for strategy. With each roll of the dice, a player must choose between numerous options for moving the checkers and plan for possible counter-moves by his opponent.

Opportunities for raising the stakes of the game introduce more strategic intricacies. Players have developed a vocabulary for common tactics and occurrences.

Like chess, backgammon has been studied considerably by computer scientists. Research has resulted in backgammon software that is capable of beating world-class human players.

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