Playing against safe players

Kleinman · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 14

I just finished playing a match online against a “safe player”. I find players who use safety as their strategy to be so annoying and infuriating! I ended up winning most of the matches in the end, but playing the games was like pulling teeth and I hated it. What is the best tactic when playing backgammon against safe players?

Fiona · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

I think that the best strategy when you are playing against a safe player is to keep your checkers spread throughout the outfield to achieve as much coverage as possible. After all, your opponent can only play it completely safe for so long, and as soon as he has the misfortune of throwing dice that force him to leave a blot you want to be in the best position possible to hit the blot. With safe players, there isn’t really much use in backgaming them because they tend to be especially safe in their home board. Aside from that, as you are probably aware playing safe takes a lot longer than playing risky. So use your opponents safe play to your advantage by pushing forward with your checkers and playing even more bold and risky than usual. You should find that this does the trick.

leonardo · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 17

You said that you were annoyed and infuriated throughout the game. I think that that answers your own question—don’t play against safe players. Isn’t the point of playing backgammon to have fun? Never choose to keep yourself in a position where you are annoyed and infuriated.