Woolsey Law of Backgammon Doubling

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 788

One of the biggest problems for beginning and intermediate backgammon players seems to be how to know when to double and when to accept or reject a double offered by your opponent. I will admit that this was always one of my biggest shortcomings in backgammon. However, Kit Woolsey's law of doubling helped me out quite a bit.

Kit Woolsey is one of the best backgammon players in the world, as well as the developer of FIBS, the First Internet Backgammon Server. In other words, he is a good person to go to for backgammon advice and in regards to backgammon he gives some fantastic advice. Woolsey says that if you are thinking about doubling the best thing to do is to put yourself in your opponent's shoes and ask "Would I accept or drop?" If you are sure that your opponent will drop then you should go for it - especially if you are playing for money - so you can move on with the game. The only situation in which you shouldn't double in this instance is if you are in a position where you are "too good to double", which I will get to later. If you are in a situation where you are on the edge then you should also double as it gives your opponent a chance to make a mistake. Either he will drop when he was ahead or he will accept the double and you are likely to win double the points!

Now I want to get back to situations that are "too good to double". The first time I heard this expression I had thought it was totally bizarre - when could a position ever be too good to double? However, it really makes perfect sense. If you are ever in a position where you could earn more points by not doubling than you could if you doubled and your opponent dropped the position is too good to double. For instance, if you have the chance of winning a gammon and the cube has been turned once you stand the chance to win four points if you don't double and you win the gammon. However, if you choose to double again your opponent could drop in which case you would only win two points. As you can see, your position is too good to double. Always look into these factors before you choose to double or not.