Winning Gammon at Backgammon
If you have managed to bear off all your checkers in a game of backgammon and your opponent has not managed to bear any of his own checkers off the board, you win a gammon game and are thus eligible for double the amount of stakes that is shown on the doubling cube. A spin off from the gammon game is a ‘backgammon’ where you win three times the value of the doubling cube if the opponent has not managed to bear off any checkers, and in addition still has one or more checkers in his home board or still on the bar.
A gammon game can be won from a number of positions on the backgammon board. One of the more common ones involves the winning player creating a six prime block to avoid the other player from advancing on the board and thus managing to bear off. Generally speaking, if you are in the lead of the game and want to create a gammon situation, you will need to take some risks in order to do so. To accurately calculate how much chance you have of winning a gammon game, you will need to take a look at the probabilities. In a nutshell, you need to examine the chances of you winning a gammon game against the chances of you losing the backgammon game. The chances of scoring a gammon should be double that of you losing the game, before you decide to go for a gammon.
If things do not go according to plan, you still have one to two turns before deciding on your next option. Essentially, if you see that the gammon is not going to work, you should offer a double which will at least secure you one win or more – depending on the doubling cube’s position.
There are a number of things that you can do to ensure that you lose fewer points and save your game if you feel that you might be losing your gammon game. Firstly, try and move your checkers to different quadrants on the board. In this way, you will be making the most of your pips and you will also be advancing your checkers gradually across the backgammon board. Secondly, do not put two or more checkers in one point. Instead, make the most out of different dice scores during your rolls. Finally, avoid moving inside your home board. Take advantage of every pip to advance checkers that are back on the board, especially if you are far back with your pip count. Avoid also wasting your pips by moving your checkers to five points or lower at this stage of the game.
It is essential for players to build up enough experience to recognize a gammon-go situation. Experienced players thus take considerable risks to create a gammon – bold moves that other players might not dare taking under normal circumstances. However, once this has been mastered, the rewards ultimately justify the risks.
