The skill factor

Earlier this year an experiment took place in Israel to see if the game of backgammon was more skill based than luck based. The experiment was supervised by a professor from the statistics department of Bar-Ilan University, Israel. 16 players participated in the experiment: 5 were top level (information taken from Play65 site), 2 intermediate and 9 with weak abilities.

The results showed that 3 out of the 4 finalists were top level and in the finals itself both players were high level.

The objective of this experiment was to provide empiric datum for quantities basis to discuss the question: 'Does a backgammon player with ability and experience have a significant advantage over a player with absent experience and/or weak ability'.

In other words the more you play the better you develop a strategy that will defeat the opponent and the more skilled you become, the more chances there are for you to win. Giving that some people see backgammon as a game of chance or luck, this experiment would seem to disprove that assumption conclusively for as soon as a player stabilizes himself as a strong player; it is possible to predict with very high probability his repeating winnings over a player who stabilized himself as a weak player.

Confirmation again that skill is necessary to facilitate the outcome of a backgammon game, match or tournament.

The next time you play and are branded as a lucky player, you can say with some confidence, luck has nothing to do with it, it is all down to skill and that is a fact, whether you play on or offline.