Holding Backgammon Game

GulBara · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 19

I haven’t been playing backgammon seriously for very long so I’m not all that familiar with the terminology. I’ve been hearing the term “holding game” thrown around a lot and I have no idea what it means. I’d love it if someone could tell me what a holding game is, as well as any strategy that I can use in a holding game (if strategy applies here).

Jade · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 27

A holding game in backgammon occurs when a player has one or two made points or anchors in the opposing half of the board and the rest of their checkers are on their side of the board. The purpose of a holding game is to hold the anchors until you move all of the rest of your checkers to their home board, hopefully creating blockades or primes there, and waiting until the chance arises to hit your opponent.

The specific definition of a holding game, and the way in which you can recognize it yourself, is as follows: one or both players has one to two (or more) anchors or made points in the outfield; these anchors are not behind primes of two or more points; the rest of the player’s checkers are on the player’s home side of the board.

A holding game can make it very difficult for your opponent to bear his checkers into his home board and can be very tricky to beat.

If you and your opponent are both in holding games then you should be careful not to leave blots when you are moving your checkers forward. Do your best to keep pairs together to protect yourself.