Details matter in backgammon. Sometimes a learning technique is best applied to small differences. The bots make posing and answering these What If? questions very easy, perhaps too easy. Backgammon positions quickly modify and morph, leaving a trail of equities to interpret. Yet insight can come from introducing small controlled changes, clearly attributed. Consider this…
typical cube actions
Many backgammon players view turning the doubling cube as a solitary event. To improve upon cube decisions, a cube action should be viewed as a sequence of events -- a three-act stage play with theatrical opening-middle-end scenes. The sequence below is clearcut to all good players, no puzzles about the decisions, thereby allowing the underlying…
random thoughts at night
Lady Luck has an interesting side hustle going. Not only does the playful Lady navigate the game against world class fakers at world class stakes, but little Miss Luck herself uses her rare foresight and ample wit to subtle advantage, thereby on average demanding only correct odds in every backgammon situation -- first Black rolls…
thoughts on rtp550
Here is an essential backgammon position. It becomes a benchmark position when you make it so, by thoughtful study. Before rolling the dice, White doubles Black in a cash game. Should Black take the cube or pass? What is in it for Black? A cube position establishes a memorable scene, often complete with dialogue. A…
study trick (1)
A benchmark position must be set up by memory, no exceptions. To remember, a short narrative may be attached to the backgammon situation, where the herald proclaims a royal position with its entourage a chorus of backgammon ideas. Tweets blare the bling: a closed board, a number puzzle. How to spread the three black spares?…
takepoint #105
Backgammon has plenty of intrigue. Some cube decisions can tempt paint to strip itself. Other choices seem routine, mundane, dull even. However, whether to drop a cube or continue the game at twice the price? That is never a dull question. Deserving a thoughtful answer. When a backgammon position is on the cusp of Take…
Reference positions for taking and passing the cube
Cash game. Jacoby rule in force. White doubles. Once White doubles, the Jacoby rule is irrelevant. Black must decide whether to take the cube, even though Black is clearly losing this game. Or should Black pass, resign to defeat, chalk up the lost stake, and begin the next game in the session with renewed vigor.…
currency exchange for gammons
In a cash game sometimes a position offers two plays about equal in profits but one play is riskier with more losses of single games yet generates more gammon wins. How many extra gammons are needed to offset the additional loss of a single game? In a cash game this currency exchange is well known…
look before leaping
Black is on the bar and must choose which location inside White's home board to enter after the roll Black 54s. Black dancer must enter from the bar A common mistake blamed on not looking before leaping and on visual laziness. Sometimes Black has the right -- nay the requirement -- to place the checkers…
classic prime versus prime
Cash game with Jacoby rule. Black pauses to consider a first cube. Black pauses to consider a first double Cube decision over-the-board: White has a slight racing lead. Both the deep Black and White anchors are becoming trapped in a classic prime versus prime scenario. White has a gapped 4-prime with its illogical 16pt-22pt structure,…
the baron talks backgammon 