Backgammon is a dynamic game. Staring at isolated positions gets pretty dull. Skills then develop out of baby steps, the motion, the flow. And that's where the miniature game enters the picture. Miniature games, often perfectly played, cause swings in equity that rival the volatile disasters from yesterdays gone by. A miniature game becomes a…
the opening spotlight
Every position in backgammon has a spotlight directed somewhere, a moving location on the board where the current action focusses. Black opens with 64s, making the big split 24/18 and bringing down the best builder 13/9 White replies with 16s, pointing on the black checker and thus making White's barpoint. Every position in backgammon has…
a bankroll of its
?? maybe play some backgammon tonight, ten dollars a point say, just a friendly urbane game, with plenty of breaks for story telling or the heroics of late game recubes, rare as hens teeth, to be had either for cash or for a heating up of any short match. ?? of course you may bring…
dealing with bad luck
In backgammon, bad luck will follow you and love you like a bride. You need to remain dispassionate. The wheel will turn. The wheel will always turn. Here is the most recent game, encapsulated. Despite Black's desperate yet careful scurrying, White's final roll of double 55s has crushed Black's soul and gammoned him. The final…
bearoff redoubles
During the bearoff, the ownership of the doubling cube is of some importance. In the ten positions below Black is on the roll and owns the doubling cube. No gammons are possible. Only Black owning the cube can cash the game with 75% winning chances; White must finish the entire bearoff if Black chooses to…
perfection and Sly’s rule
Cash game. Black opens with 31s and makes his golden point in his home board. The best possible opening toss: 6/5 8/5 White replies with 45s. White is prevented from the usual big split but has the old-fashion play of two checkers down from the midpoint: 13/8 13/9 Black rolls 53s. A good roll permitting…
juggling risk in an opening
The short exchange seen below captures some elements of risk versus reward in the opening. In a cash game White opens with the roll of 36s. White makes the big split 24/18 to start a barpoint anchor, happy to engage in an exchange of hits should Black prevent White from anchoring. White also brings down…
crazy talk
Just for a bit of fun, here is a position where Black cubes while dancing on the bar with two black checkers, knowing full well that White will beaver. But in a real game, with human players, foolish plays in backgammon often have strange outcomes. Black has two checkers on the bar, dancing. Black doubles,…
cubing on the threat
Cash game. Jacoby rule. Black opens with the toss of 54s. Black splits to White's golden point and shifts the black midpoint spare to the Black 8pt stack. White replies with the roll of 46s. The other classic opening plays for the roll of 46s are the big split 24/18 13/9 or the straight run…
the bots and the buddies
When Gerry Tesauro developed the first self-educating backgammon bot, the techie TD-Gammon, a sacred dominion between mankind and the machine was flipped forever upon its Janus heads. Everyone involved in the story resists change in some way or another, including the change just to submit or to die. But the Bot persists, aloof, as a…
the baron talks backgammon 