A recent game.

Black 31s: Black makes the 5pt.

White 23s: White initiates the small split and down, as per usual.

Black 51s: the parity brothers

The old school builder’s guild of attack and blitz with 6/5 is just as respectable as the bot-trained small split of the backmen with 24/23. Both plays finish with 13/8.

Hints become game plans and perhaps GPs become strategies with tactics.

The strong player will play 13/8 6/5 in a cash game. Black wants to take White out of her comfort zone, maybe induce some mistakes and some compromises.

White rolls 26s and makes her 4pt.

Black 54s: Black runs into the outfield, 24/15. A strategic error — Black must hit inside his home board, leaving a black blot exposed. Also, pointing on the 1pt misses the purpose of White’s other blot. Hit loose, otherwise what is the meaning of Attack ?

Hell hath no fury like a loose hit scorned.

White 23s: White anchors and hits the runner blot — a sweet roll.

Black rolls 61s from the bar and enters with the ace. A classic backgammon position, although not for any puzzlement reason. Structured as three choices – a tragedy dumps the 8pt spareto the 2pt or two elegant slots of a barpoint. Black can start either the White barpoint or the Black barpoint.

Take your pick. Start a defensive anchor? or Tighten a blockade? Which game plan is best in this position?

In the game Black blunders with over-aggression and plays B/24 13/7 to start the blocking 7pt. White still has sixes to escape. Reflecting on Black’s last two rolls (the 54s non-hit and the 61s attacking slot) Black’s plays in the game are out of balance with Safe vs Bold criteria — not aggressive enough then too aggressive, a subliminal compensation.

Before, correct was hit loose in the home board. Now, correct is start the defensive barpoint, B/18.

White rolls 56s, misses the black blot, but stacks spare builders on her 3pt and her 8pt to flood the Attack Zone.

Black rolls 21s.

Four reasonable candidates … slim pickings … entry level job … visualize the “Final” views of the positional choices. Unlike the also-rans, the correct play 8/7 13/11 of cover and down by Black leaves White only one combo shot (26s) to hit the black blot. Good choice.

White rolls 34s and clears the midpoint, locating two more blots as outfield builders.

Black rolls 32s and cannot hit a white blot. Interesting here are Black’s three top choices (shown below) — the voluntary slot at the head of the prime, the voluntary slot at the tail of the prime, and a safer trio of outfield builders. All three choices have nearly the same equity. In the game Black chose the safer play by clearing the midpoint.

Slot the head of the prime (above).

Slot the tail of the prime (above).

Clear the midpoint to enhance builders (above).

White rolls 26s and makes another home board point, her deuce point.

Black is rewarded with the roll of 21s, which makes the tail of the prime.

The doubling cube may soon make an appearance.

White rolls 45s and makes her golden 5pt.

No Double.

A prime vs prime affair with prospects favoring both White and Black — particularly the gammons, which seem unpredictable and perhaps equally distributed. Black has the better blockade but the wrong anchor for the timing of a deep holding game.

No cube, the shortage of gammon advantage advises “Wait to Cube” since Black is about a 2-to-1 favorite to win a single game plus a small yet balanced chance to win gammons.

Black rolls 42s.

Dub this tactical choice as The Bravest Man In Scotland.

Starting the bar 18pt and hoping to anchor is frightening, but vital. Under some scenarios, when Black is hit then dances, White may crack her home board. Under other scenarios, Black is hit then hits back, trapping a third white backman.

Every other choice is craven. Black’s timing suffers after the 11pt blot is advanced.

Courageously Black slots the defensive barpoint.

In the game White rolls 26s and cannot hit a black blot. White distributes the home spares.

Black Doubles and White Passes — a major league Drop.

Noteworthy, the exchange sequence “Black starts a risky 18pt anchor then White misses the hit” is a market loser. When Black has No Double the roll before and now wishes White would Take the cube, that defines a market loser, a lost virtual opportunity. Cashing the game with D/P is the best Black can do.

Epilogue: The bot XG has many helpful features.

One handy graphic called Game Summary produced by XG is the equity game flow. Above is the game flow for this duel with Lady Luck.