Backgammon tips - some common beginners mistakes

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 860

There are different types of games you can play - races, priming games, holding games, backgames. It doesn't really matter if you know what all these terms mean. Just look at the board and, based on your experience, think. Ask yourself what your main goal is, how you plan to win the game (or, if the game is hopeless, avoid losing a gammon) without a miracle of the dice. And if only a miracle will save you, make sure you have set yourself up to benefit from that miracle. Your game plan may change from roll to roll - but always have a game plan. Focus on your best chance to win, and then play your checkers to achieve that.

One of the great backgammon tips is to pay attention and early in the game, try to avoid playing checkers too deep in your own home board. Once you play checkers to the 1-point or 2-point, they are pretty much out of play for the rest of the game. While that may help you in the race, almost all games have a phase where hitting your opponent or containing their checkers are the most important goals, and checkers buried in your board can't do that.

Here's another one of our backgammon tips: It is almost always better to make the 5-point than the 7-point. The 5-point has almost as much blocking power as the 7, plus it can prevent your opponent from entering from the bar and helps you un-stack the 6-point at the beginning of the game.

Try to avoid building towers. This is one of many backgammon tips from the pros. Get 2 or 3 checkers on a larger number of points. Having 5 or 6 (or more) checkers on each of 2 points is very bad strategy, and is usually worth taking some risks to avoid.