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Table of Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 3Who is this guide for? ....................................................................................................................................... 3

History of Backgammon ................................................................................................................................... 4

Basic Rules ......................................................................................................................................... 5Backgammon Board & Setup ............................................................................................................................ 5Obecti!e of the game ....................................................................................................................................... 5

"hecker #o!ement ........................................................................................................................................... 5Hitting B$ots ...................................................................................................................................................... %

he Bar .............................................................................................................................................................. %'ntering from the Bar ........................................................................................................................................ %

Basic Strategies ................................................................................................................................. 7Opening #o!es ................................................................................................................................................. (

O!era$$ Board )ame Strategy ........................................................................................................................... (he *unning )ame ........................................................................................................................................... +

he Ho$ding )ame ............................................................................................................................................ +

he ,rime !s. ,rime )ame ............................................................................................................................... +he Backgammon B$it- ..................................................................................................................................... he /o0Way 1or/ard )ame ..........................................................................................................................

Doubling Cube Strategy ................................................................................................................. 11he Backgammon Basics ................................................................................................................................ 22

itt$e Bit #ore d!anced ,$aying .............................................................................................................. 22o oub$e or 6ot to oub$e? .......................................................................................................................... 27

he "ube 8a$ue ............................................................................................................................................... 27oub$ing in 6on0"ontact )ame ,ositions ...................................................................................................... 23

oub$ing in #atch Situations ......................................................................................................................... 24

oub$ing in a )ame and #atch '9uity ........................................................................................................... 25

Online Play ...................................................................................................................................... 16Sing$e ,$ay ....................................................................................................................................................... 2%#atches ........................................................................................................................................................... 2%

ournaments .................................................................................................................................................... 2%*ecommended On$ine Sites ............................................................................................................................ 2(

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Introduction

Who is this guide for?

Online Backgammon playing is increasing quickly, and is destined to be the new poker.This guide is meant or both completely new players to online backgammon and alsothose o you who ha!e pre!iously played the game oline.

"n this guide, you will learn about Backgammon and its origins, as well as the basic rules

o the game. #owe!er, " will also show you some helpul strategies and tactics or realgame play situations$

%ter reading this guide, you will be more than ready to take on the online backgammoncommunity, and to assist you, "&!e listed se!eral good sites that oer Backgammon.

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History of Backgammon

The ancient (gyptian game senet resembled backgammon, with mo!es controlled by the

roll o dice. #owe!er, the )oyal *ame o +r, played in ancient esopotamia, is a morelikely ancestor o modern day tables games. (-ca!ations at the Burnt /ity in "ran ha!e

showed that a similar game e-isted there around '000 B/. The artiacts include two diceand 10 pieces, and the set is belie!ed to be 00 to 200 years older than the sets ound in

+r.

The ancient )omans played a number o games remarkably similar to backgammon.3udus duodecim scriptorum 4*ame o twel!e lines5 used a board with three rows o 2points each, and the pieces were mo!ed across all three rows according to the roll odice. 3ittle speciic te-t about the gameplay has sur!i!ed. Tabula, meaning table or

board, was a game mentioned in an epigram o By6antine (mperor 7eno 4%8 9:1;9soicers.

"n the 1th century, (li6abethan laws and church regulations prohibited playing tables,but by the

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Basic Rules

Backgammon Board & Setup

Backgammon is played on a board with 29 narrow triangles called points by two players.The triangles alternate in color and are grouped into our quadrants o si- triangles each.(ach player has a home board and an outer board, which are separated by a bar.

The points are numbered rom to 29, starting with the ar right point on each player&shome board. (ach player has A checkers 4pieces5 and the initial board setup is shownabo!eD i.e. two checkers on point 29, i!e checkers on point ', three on point < and

inally i!e checkers on point 1.

Objectie of the game

Players mo!e their pieces, called checkers, around the board based on the rolls o twodice and the irst player to mo!e all his checkers o the board wins. #owe!er, checkersare not allowed to be mo!ed out play until the player has all o his checkers in his homearea. The irst player to mo!e all o his checkers out o the board 4bearing them o5

wins.

Checker !oement

Players take turn rolling two dice to determine how many points a player can mo!e his

checkers. The pieces are always mo!ed orward, to a lower numbered point.

% checker can only be mo!ed to an open point, i.e. one that isnot occupied by two or more opposing pieces.

The numbers on the two dice constitute separate mo!es. @ore-ample, i a player rolls A and ', he may mo!e one checker

i!e spaces to an open point and another checker three spacesto an open point, or he may mo!e the one checker a total oeight spaces to an open point, but only i the intermediatepoint 4either three or i!e spaces rom the starting point5 isalso open.

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Hitting Blots

% single checker on a point is called a blot. ?ince men o opposite colors may not occupythe same point, when an opponent lands on a blot it is remo!ed and replaced with their

own. This is called a hit and the remo!ed man is placed on the bar.

The Bar

The bar is the middle strip that separates the inner and outer boards and once a checkeris placed there, it remains out o play until it can be entered in the opponent&s inner

board by a throw o the dice.

"ntering from the Bar

% checker can be entered rom the bar i on the ne-t roll one o the numbers corresponds

to a point not occupied by two or more opponent checkers in the opponent&s home board." you cannot enter because both points indicated by the dice are blocked, the turnpasses to your opponent. " your opponent owns all 1 points in their board you can sa!e

your energy and not e!en roll since it is impossible to enter until your opponent opens upa point in their board. This is called a shut out or closed board. " a player has one or

more checkers on the bar they must all be reHentered beore any other checkers can bemo!ed. Once all o the checkers ha!e been entered, any unused numbers on the dicemay be used to mo!e the checker that was entered or any other checker.

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Basic Strategies

This page would help you understand some o the basic strategies and plans you can

orm while playing backgammon. These strategies can be used in either backgammongambling or playing backgammon online or un.

Opening !oes

% number o recommended opening mo!es ha!e been determined based on e-perience

o players, but also based on computer analysis. The ollowing mo!es are part o moste-perienced BackgammonHplayers repertoire.

#oll $referred play Common alternaties

%' I 'J, 1JA 'J, 29J2' I

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The #unning ,ame

The ob=ecti!e o the )unning *ame is to bring all your men into your inner board and

bear them o as quickly as possible, similar to a competiti!e race. Gou should choose arunning game when you ha!e ewer pips remaining to get all your checkers o than your

opponent, and you already ha!e gotten all your checkers past your opponent or it

appears likely that you can do so. Beore engaging in a )unning *ame, it is important toe!aluate the position o your men and decide whether it is at your ad!antage to do so. "your opponent has ewer pips remaining than you, then aiming or a running game is apoor strategy, and has little chance o success.

The Holding ,ame

The central idea o the #olding *ame is to plan on keeping a point in your control that islocated highly in your opponent&s board, usually a point in his inner board or the barpoint. This is oten the best strategy when trailing in the pipcount race. Playing this kindo positional ad!antage is more o a style than a backgammon strategy. The 20 point orbar points are the best holding game anchors, as they pro!ide ma-imum chances to hityour opponent as he brings his checkers closer to home. Points urther back get muchweaker. "t is also crucial to understand the right times to oer the doubling cube, and toaccept or drop a double when playing or deending a holding game. %nother key

strategical element to the holding game is the distribution o the opponent&s checkers. "he has only the < and ' points made 4as in the starting position5, he will oten ha!e to

lea!e a shot as he brings his checkers around. " he has made additional landing points inhis outer board, your hitting chances go down signiicantly.The Priming *ame

The Priming *ame is a particular type o holding game and in!ol!es building a prime ; along wall o your pieces, ideally 1 points in a row ; in order to block the mo!ement oyour opponent&s pieces that are behind the wall. These pieces will remain trapped as long

as you can maintain the prime, and can result in an interesting struggle or youropponent to mo!e pieces around the backgammon board. #itting an opponent&s blot totrap it behind your blockade is the main aim o playing a Priming *ame when gambling

on backgammon. The prime can be constructed anywhere between point 2 and point in your board, then you can shule it into your inner table as you approach the bearingH

o game phase.

The $rime s- $rime ,ame

Khen your opponent has a prime, it is !ery important to get your checkers to where theycan escape with a single number. @or e-ample, i his prime is A points long, it is !ery

important to get to the ront so you can escape with a 1. " his prime is 1 long, youcannot escape.

% !ariation o the priming game is the prime !ersus prime, when both sides ha!e strongblockade. The key eatures are the number o points in the prime or each side, thenumber o checkers behind the prime, and whether the stranded checkers are at theront o the prime. The most unusual thing about a prime !ersus prime game is that, allelse being equal, strategically the player behind in the pip count is a!ored to win the

game. This is because i neither side escapes their checkers, the one leading in the racewill ha!e to gi!e up his prime irst.

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The Backgammon Blit.

The Backgammon Blit6 is essentially an attack on your opponent&s pieces, with the aim o

keeping your opponent on the bar while mo!ing your pieces into your inner table asquickly as possible. The ultimate goal o the blit6 is to close out one or more o your

opponent&s pieces by occupying all 1 o the points in your inner table, making it

impossible or these pieces to return to the game until a point becomes a!ailable whenyou are bearing o.

Blit6es are !ery committal ; once you begin to attack, you ha!e to continue to hit andtake risks and changes to make additional points. " the attack ails, either because theopponent makes an anchor or because you get too many checkers hit and sent back, youcan easily reach a point where you are losing the game.

The key strategy to starting a blit6 is usually an early roll where you hit an opponent&s

checker and he stays on the bar, or perhaps you hit two and he doesn&t enter both. %blit6 is a much weaker plan when your opponent has as many 4or nearly as many5 points

made in his board as you do in yours. ?ince you are taking risks to make points, you

cannot aord to be hit and dance on the bar. "t is also crucial to double at the right time.Blit6es, when they succeed, oten result in gammons, and you can easily become toogood to double i things go well. This is especially true in money gambling games ortournaments with the Lacoby )ule in eect. "t is oolish to take risks to win a gammonand not get the ull !alue o them by doubling at the right time. The Blit6 gi!es you a

great tactical ad!antage.

The T/oWay 0or/ard ,ame

The twoHway orward game is not listed as a basic plan, because it is a hybrid o the blit6and prime games. "n the twoHway orward game, you normally ha!e built a miniHprime o' or 9 points, and then ha!e the opportunity to attack your opponent. " your opponent

anchors, you hope to ha!e e-tended your prime in the process and to win rom a priminggame. TwoHway orward games are e-tremely strong when they come up, because i thedice go badly or one plan, they oten go well or the other.

The Back *ame

The Back *ame is achie!ed by controlling two 4or more5 points in your opponent&s innertable. The main game ob=ecti!e is to hit a blot late in the game and contain it. "t is adiicult strategy to play in backgammon because the chance o a successul Back *ameis inluenced by the luck o the dice roll.

% successul Back game requires that you establish two anchors, ha!e at least 0 o your

checkers ad!anced to contain the opponent i you hit, and ha!e enough timing 4i.e. are

ar enough behind in the race5 to wait until he rolls awkwardly and lea!es a single ordouble shot. Back games that are unsuccessul oten result in gammon or backgammonlosses. " your timing is marginal 4i you are only down A0 to :0 pips in the race5, a

backgame in!ol!ing higher points 4like the 2 and 9 or ' and 95 is much stronger thanthose in!ol!ing the ace point. The back games in!ol!ing the and 2 points are not thatstrongD the best backgames are usually considered the H', 2H', and 2H9.

Khile a weak opponent can oten be seduced into o!errating his position when you play aback game, it is rarely a good strategy to seek a back game rom the start. "t will otenarise on its own i you attempt a blit6 and ha!e many checkers hit. (!en then, you wouldusually preer to hit an opposing checker early and try to trap it. Gou should only go allH

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out or a backgame once you ha!e two back points made and are at least :0 pips or sobehind in the race.

"mportant to note that this tactic is not a strategy to play rom the outset o a game ,and should only be adopted when you are signiicantly behind. "t is a losing strategycaused by the circumstances o the game and is simply intended to hinder your

opponent&s options in order to impro!e your chances o winning.

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Doubling Cube Strategy

" wasn>t quite sure where to put /ube ?trategy. any beginning and intermediate players

play like they>re araid o the doubling cube. They will almost ne!er double, and whendoubled they will take or drop almost at random. "n my e-perience, beginning players

tend to take much too oten, and intermediate players tend to drop much too oten.

Gou will ne!er be successul at backgammon i you don>t know proper cube play. " youlet your opponent win two points e!ery game he wins while winning only one yoursel,it>s like gi!ing 2HtoH odds in e!ery game.

?o " decided to put an e-tensi!e course in basic cube strategy on this page. " can>tpossibly co!er this much ground in talking about checker play. Gou might want to read

the discussion o winning chances irst, i you ha!en>t read it yet. %nd also the dierencebetween money play and match play, since they do aect cube strategy.

The Backgammon Basics

?hould you doubleM ?hould you takeM ?hould you dropM

/onsider a simple case. Gou are playing or money 4not in a match5, and you are on roll.

Gou ha!e two checkers on the board, on your A and 2 pointsD your opponent has onechecker let on his oneHpoint. (ither you will win the game on this roll, or you will lose it.

% bit o math will show that you ha!e E good dice rolls and : bad ones. Gou ha!e aA2.

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wait to double. " things go well, you ha!en&t lost anything, and i things go badly, youwill be glad you did.

The ne-t statement is probably the single most important piece o ad!ice you can e!erget in backgammon

Every roll is a new cube decision!

Fo matter what your position was last roll, you should always be at least thinking aboutthe cube. Fot necessarily long and hard, but i you got a good roll, or your opponent a

bad one ; think. #ow good is my position now. ?hould " at least be thinking aboutdoubling

To 3ouble or 4ot to 3ouble?

/onsider the our basic game possibilities

. Fot good enough to double. Ob!iously, i you are trailing, you don&t want to

double 4e-cept in certain match situations, which we&ll discuss later5. Or i youha!e only a small lead and no 4or !ery ew5 market losers.

2. 8oubleJTake. any players are araid to double i their position is noto!erwhelming. They are worried that their opponent might take. That shouldn&t besomething to worry about, though. ?uppose you ha!e bet on a ootball game, andater the team you bet on scores a touchdown, you ha!e a chance to double thebet. That&s great ; you&re in the lead and get to double the bet$ Gou might lose

double sometimes, but you&re going to win double a lot more oten. %nd anytimeyou&re in the lead in a game, there&s usually some gammon possibilities ; wouldn&t

you much rather win our points than twoM

'. 8oubleJ8rop. Ob!iously, i your opponent doubles and your position is worse thanabout a 2AN chance to win, you should drop. *i!e up a point and get on to thene-t. " you ha!e signiicant chances o being gammoned, that&s another goodreason to drop and get on to the ne-t.

9. Too good to double. 3et&s start with a little math here. ?uppose you ha!e E0N

chances to win the game, or which '0N are gammons, and 0N to lose. Ona!erage you will win . points per game 40.E plus 0.' times the e-tra point

or a gammonQ, minus 0.5. Khy settle or =ust one pointM #old the cube or now.

Think also about the idea o market losers in re!erse. Ke said earlier that i, no matterwhat sequence o rolls occurred, your opponent would still take, then there&s no hurry todouble. Kell, the same thing applies here. ?uppose that in the abo!e e-ample, the worstset o rolls you can get would lea!e you with no gammon chances and only

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" you ha!e doubled, that means you can&t double again. ?o you ha!e to play the gameto the end. AJ1 o the time you will not roll doubles. " you don&t, your opponent can winwith the ollowing rolls 1H9, 1HA, and any doubles o ' or larger. That&s a total o < o the'1 possible rolls on two dice 4allowing or the act that 1H9 and 1HA are really two rollsout o '1, since they can come up either o two ways5. ?o his winning chances are AJ1times

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3oubling in !atch Situations

8oubling in match situations is slightly dierent than in money play, where e!ery point is

equal. "t is a comple- sub=ect and !ery mathematical. But " will try to simpliy it a little.

" you are leading in a match, you should be a little more conser!ati!e about doubling,

and about taking. But only a little. 8on&t let yoursel get stolen blind.

Khen one player is close to winning the match, you should be aware o some specialsituations.

PostH/raword. Khen the /raword game has already been played, the trailer shoulddouble at his irst opportunity. Period. Gou can&t lose more than one meaningul point in

the game, so why not play to win as many as you canM

O!erage. ?uppose you are trailing 'H in a match to A and your opponent doubles. Goudecide to take. )edouble on your ne-t roll, no matter how bad your position$ Khat can

you loseM " you lose this game you lose the match ; why not put it all on the lineM The

same would go i you were trailing 'H0, or any time you will lose the match i you losethis game.

?imilarly, i you are leading, be more cautious about doubling in such a situation.)emember, i your opponent takes, he will immediately redouble. "nstead o betting one

additional point to win one, you&re eecti!ely betting three.

@ree 8rop. This is a special situation ater the /raword game. ?ay you are leading amatch to A by 9H2 and your opponent wins the /raword game, so it&s now 9H'. #e rolls

an opening 'H, playing

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3oubling in a ,ame and !atch "6uity

@rom a gi!en score, it is possible to know your chances o winning the match. /onsider a

simple e-ample. Gou are trailing 2H0 in a 'Hpoint match. Gou need to win two games towin the match, period. 4" you win the irst game without a gammon, you will o course

double on the irst roll o the ne-t game.5 ?ince you are A0N to win each game, you are

A0N times A0N or 2AN to win the match.

?uppose instead you are trailing 2H in the /raword game. Fow your chances are alittle better. Gou can win a gammon in this game to win the match, and on a!erageyou>ll do that about 0N o the time. The other 90N o the time that you win 4but don>twin a gammon5 you>ll win the match A0N o those times. 0N plus 90N times A0Nmakes you '0N to win the match.

"t is possible to know all the matchHwinning odds or all scores. That discussion is too

comple- or this article, but a good table and shortcut or memori6ing it is contained inthe sample issue o *ammOn3ine.com, Rit Koolsey>s e-cellent online backgammon

maga6ine.

?o, suppose you are leading H0 in a match to A. Khen should you doubleM Khenshould you takeM

?tart with the take decision. The odds are

3eading 2H0, 11N to win the match

3eading 'H0, :AN to winTied H, A0N to win

Trailing 2H, 9N to win

" you drop the double, you will be '9N to win 4trailing 2H05. " you take, you will be

2AN when you lose the game 4trailing 'H05 and AEN when you win 4leading 2H5. Gouare risking EN 4'9NH2AN5 to gain 2AN 4AEN H '9N5. ?o you need E wins or e!ery 2Alosses to break e!en, or about 21N. ?o you should take i you are 21N to win, and youshould double i you think there>s a good chance that by your ne-t roll you will be at least:9N to win, or i you>re already o!er that.

There are some comple-ities, o course. Gou can take a little more aggressi!ely than

this, because you own the cube and ha!e the sole right to redouble. But i you are goingto get gammoned more oten than you win a gammon, you ha!e to ad=ust or this.

The question o gammon prices 4how much gammons aect the doubling decision5 isbeyond the scope o this article. Rit wrote a !ery good book on this called #ow To PlayTournament Backgammon, which " recommend. Or you can work out the math on yourown rom the match equity table on *ammOn3ine. " you work through the math, youwill learn a lot about correct doubling strategy.

"s this topic comple-M Ges. "s it importantM Only if you /ant to be a good player.

#uge numbers o matches are lost by incorrect doubling decisions.

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Online Play

Playing Backgammon online is quickly becoming the new poker. Backgammon rooms

are starting up e!erywhere, and they&re all gi!ing out nice signing up bonuses. There arese!eral sites out there and it might be a bit diicult to decide which one to choose.

There are a ew dierent kinds o play oered online and almost all orms are a!ailableusing either real money or playmoney.

Single $lay@irst there&s the simple ?ingle Play. #ere you go up against an opposing player and

decide upon a bet. The winner takes it all. ost o these games also ha!e a limit, thismeans that the bet can only be doubled up until this igure, no more. ?o i a game has a

stake o A and a limit o 20, this means that the starting bet is SA and it can only bedoubled twice 4SA to S0 and S0 to S205.

!atches% match is won by the irst player to accumulate a predetermined number o points. Thistotal can be reached in one or more games, depending on the !alue o the cube during a

game. Points are awarded in the usual manner One or a single game, two or agammon, and three or a backgammon. The doubling cube is used, so the winner

recei!es the !alue o the game multiplied by the inal !alue o the doubling cube.

TournamentsTournaments are usually composed o matches, where pairs play a series o games to

ind a winner, who then progresses to the ne-t round. %ll games are randomly assigned.There are usually two kinds o tournaments, scheduled and sit n go. The scheduled

tournaments take place at times decided by the online site, usually on a daily basis. ?it n*oes are a!ailable 29J: as soon as the decided number o players ha!e registered.

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