Playing backgammon for money Rules?

ellyssian · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 18

Tonight I went out to a pub and played a guy there in backgammon. We were playing for money and I wasn’t really sure about the rules for money play. In the past, I had just played against friends for a few bucks so I suggested that we play a 5-point match for five dollars. The guy told me that that was how payouts work in tournament play, but that in one-on-one games backgammon is played for money per point. In the end, we played for five dollars per point. Is this the usual rule for money play? I think I prefer to play for a set amount of money per game and not per match…

Aside from this, later on in the game I was about to beat the guy and he still had checkers far from his home board. He informed me, however, that if I won then I would only win one point, even if I had a gammon, because gammons and backgammons only count once the doubling cube has been turned. The game had not get been doubled. I wanted to win the 2-point gammon so I doubled but of course he declined so I only won one point. I wasn’t sure if this was an actual rule or if this guy was just trying to screw me over.

GammonGo · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 14

Well, if you prefer to play for a set amount of money per game and not per match then you better stick to tournaments because these are the rules. Most people play backgammon for money based on a certain amount of money per point and not for the whole game. I’m sure that you can find people who will be willing to play the way you like to play, but most people prefer to play per point.

As far as the rule about gammons and backgammons not counting if the cube has not been turned goes, this is a real rule. It is called the Jacoby rule. However, I think that it was a little unsportsmanlike of your opponent to only bring this rule up once it affected your game. In the future when you play for money I think it is a good idea to specify all of the rules beforehand so that there is no confusion. The Jacoby rule is a pretty standard rule, but not everyone plays with it so I think that if your opponent had wanted to play with it he should have spoken up before you started playing.

ellyssian · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 18

Thanks for your response… so I understand what this Jacoby rule is, but what’s the point of it? It seems like a pretty pointless rule to me.

Pigeon · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 13

The Jacoby rule has a point, although I can see how it may sounds pointless… the point of the rule is to speed up the game—it keeps players from playing out a full match to the bitter end when they have a guaranteed win but a small chance of winning a gammon. In this case it is better for the player to double and have the opponent forfeit for one point so they can just move on in the game.