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Winning the Game: The Backgammon Strategy
Have you played backgammon? When you’re already faced with the board
and the dice, and you’re truly serious with the game, you should come
up with your own strategy. Generally, the main objective of backgammon
is for the player to remove his pieces from the board at the soonest
possible time. However, winning a backgammon game requires not just
luck but also a well-planned backgammon strategy—a keen understanding
on how to move the pieces and eventually take control of the battle.
Below are some helpful tips to remember when you are in a backgammon
game:
Creating a Defense Point
One good strategy when in a backgammon game is setting up a defense
point in the opponent’s home board. Anchoring, as it is called, gives
the player a place to go to in case he gets hit. It also prevents the
enemy from reaching his home board. It is best to set up anchors at
the beginning of the game, on the higher points. When you run behind
the game, the lower points become significantly stronger as your goal
is to reach your home board and wait for a shot. Try to keep two
anchors on adjacent positions. Most backgammon experts often use
anchors as shields, which they allow to be hit in order to gain more
playing time as well as protecting valuable points.
Building a Blockade
Another good way to take charge of a backgammon game is to build
points right in front of the enemy pieces in your home board so they
won’t be able to escape. Setting up six points without gaps is known
as a prime. A prime prevents the opponent from escaping the home board
as long as the structure is maintained. When a prime is established in
a player’s home board, it then becomes a closed board, for enemy
pieces are no longer allowed to re-enter the game unless the
controlling player breaks down the six points. In some cases, try
shifting points, or giving up one point to make an adjacent point, in
order to continuously create blockades.
Communication
Spreading the pieces such that they are placed six pips away from each
other is called communication. This backgammon strategy serves as a
lookout when a piece has to be covered or when a runner needs to rest
at a certain point.
Even Distribution
It is important to evenly position the backgammon pieces among the
occupied points. Usually, it is best to place three pieces on two
different points instead of four pieces on one point and two on
another. Having straight six pieces on one point is rare, and even if
you do get to have one, it may never happen again on the course of the
game. Having your pieces properly distributed will make them more
flexible to move compared to those whose pieces are piled up in just
one point.
Diversification and Duplication
Another backgammon strategy, diversification means spreading out the
pieces in order to create more good rolls on each subsequent turn.
Duplication, meanwhile, is the technique that aims to reduce the
opponent’s good rolls. A player positions his pieces so that a couple
of the enemy’s desired moves on the board would require the same die
value. An example of this would be this: when one must leave two spots
exposed to direct shots, the best strategy would be placing them in
the same number of pips from their attacking points. When the enemy
has a piece on the bar and the player must leave an empty spot for a
direct shot, it is preferred to leave the shot that would take the
same die value as the one the enemy needs to enter his piece.
Exposure
There are times when it is best to leave empty spots or blots at the
early part of the game so they can be later on used to put up strong
defense or offense points. Slots, as they are called, are single
pieces left exposed on a particular point the player would want to
make, with the desire of protecting the blot on his next turn.
However, if you are running behind the race, try to consolidate.
Consolidating in backgammon means that you must reduce your number of
slots.
The Hits
Try hitting the pieces that are most advanced or those that the enemy
would want to cover in order to set up a valuable point. Make attacks
only when it would be advantageous on your part. For example, if you
now have two enemy pieces on the bar, it is then more important to
score another point on your home board than hit another checker. Avoid
hitting pieces if that would make you more vulnerable than your enemy.
Try to make a hit then run for cover so that you may not leave the
opponent’s blots open for a return hit. Keep in mind the pieces that
have the potential for hitting. Keep your pieces within hitting
distance from a point controlled by only two of the enemy’s pieces,
for this will “freeze the enemy’s builders” by limiting these pieces
from being active builders. If it is not favorable to hit the
opponent’s blots, then you can try to apply pressure by using a piece
that would bear directly on the enemy’s blot. This backgammon
strategy, therefore, forces the opponent to protect the blot and move
it instead of using his turn to score a point.
Equity, Vigorish, and Volatility
Among the other techniques considered in a backgammon strategy are
equity, vigorish, and volatility. Equity pertains to the player’s
foreseen value of a backgammon position. It refers to the sum of all
the possible outcomes from a certain position multiplied by the number
of times that it may occur throughout the game. Vigorish, meanwhile,
refers to the additional factors that affect the position’s equity.
Meanwhile, volatility is defined as how frequent a backgammon position
can change in the game. Positions of higher volatility contribute to a
bigger change in equity when the player or his opponent takes the next
roll.
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