Recommended Backgammon Moves

How many times have you found yourself in the middle of a game blaming the dice for your woes? To prevent such situations, it is important to realize that unlike games of chance, backgammon centers around the player’s ability to create a calculated strategy step-by step.

The natural inclination is to make as many points as possible, leaving fewer vulnerable blots. While this is a correct train of thought, you should not stick to it at all costs. Making more points and adding checkers onto them, so as to prevent hits, will limit your possibilities for reaching the ultimate goal, which is bearing off your checkers before the opponent.

The point is to create opportunities and not just make points. Often, blots will enable you to make quality points on your home board, creating more opportunities for hitting the opponent’s blots. The classic example is the opening throw of 3-2 or 1-4, which in the past was traditionally played as 12-17. Today, it is becoming clear that although this move prevents a hit, it severely limits the possibilities for the following moves.

In general, if you dare to leave more vulnerable blots during the early game, it will be easier for you to build up an advantage as the game progresses. In the beginning of the game, the opponent has not yet made quality points and his home board is exposed. Therefore, you can reenter your hit checkers fairly easily, while taking advantage of your blots for making quality points of your own.

Keep in mind that the dice do not determine the outcome of the Backgammon Game. The possibilities which you have created will enable you to choose good moves from a wide variety of number combinations.

The ability to balance the risk inherent in leaving blots against the opportunities for making quality points, will allow you to progress through the game with greater security. Seeing your self-confidence and the strategy behind your moves, the opponent will hesitate to take chances, therefore limiting his own possibilities during the game. Once the opponent understands that you are willing to take repeated chances, leaving more blots, hitting more of his checkers, and making quality points, he will play more conservatively, hampering the progress of his game.