Creating an advantage during the bear off

Jennifer · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 17

If I am the underdog in a game of backgammon, how can I increase my chances of winning during the bear off? In other words, are there any strategies or techniques that will allow you to bear off faster?

I remember hearing that a good technique is to make big stacks on points in your home board in order to make doubles pay off—after all, if your opponent is already ahead you can’t really win the game unless you get some doubles. But recently I also heard that the better move is to evenly spread all of your checkers over the home board. This doesn’t make sense to me, as I don’t see how it gives you any advantage over your opponent.

I’ll appreciate any help you guys can give me. Thanks.

Quadrant · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 20

The problem with stacking your checkers is that you don’t know which doubles, if any, you are going to roll. In theory it would be a great idea to stick four checkers on your six point, four on your three point, for on any point really, and then to roll doubles of that point. However, what are the odds of rolling a double at any given time—not very high.

The best thing to do would be to stack on your low points and then you should be able to bear off checkers in any case, as this leaves more chance that your rolls will be either on the mark, or higher than your checkers and you can bear off no matter what. But if you really are behind in the game and don’t have the time to move all your checkers to low points your best bet it to space your checkers as evenly as possible to give yourself the chance to make as many rolls count as you can.