Bat in the Backgammon Belfry
by Bart Brooks
25 May 2008
Bart Brooks
The reason I decided to do this article has to do with one of the very few times I played with a partner. It was a long time ago. I don't remember the exact position just the situation and remonstration. Our opponent had a made board and had been able to hang around just long enough with a bat in the belfry. That's an enemy checker in the empty spaces or pips between say your five or six point and remaining checkers on say the ace and deuce points.
We wound up with a choice of taking off one high checker and moving a pip closer to our opponent cutting down the number of shots to be left or taking off a second checker leaving an extra shot or two. I had decided to take the extra checker off leaving an extra shot. "What are you doing?" he exclaimed, "Are you crazy? Always leave the minimum shot in that position!" Rather than argue, and being a bit exhausted from instruction, I made his play. I don't even remember if we got hit or not. I do remember thinking what did he mean 'that position?' There must have been a hundred variations and there are no 'always' in backgammon. So this article is a bit of research for me, trying to perfect another piece of the backgammon puzzle.
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1.
Subject: Re: Bat in the Backgammon Belfry
From:
neil.foston
Date:
03 Jun 2008 08:15 EST
There's a small section in Paul Lamford's "Improve your Backgammon" on this subject. It doesn't have as much detail as the above but he formulated a loose rule which was something like: If you have 6 checkers off you can leave 1 extra shot: If you have 7 checkers off you can leave 2 extra shots. This was probably just for money and I have probably got it slightly wrong...
2.
Subject: Re: Bat in the Backgammon Belfry
From:
Coolrey
Date:
04 Jun 2008 12:52 EST
Hi Bart...
Don't say all problems are DMP and then in your article address gammon no gammon considerations. I was confused by this. Maybe treat the two situations separately? Gammons count v gammons don't count.
3.
Subject: Re: Bat in the Backgammon Belfry
From:
Coolrey
Date:
04 Jun 2008 12:54 EST
OOPS! Sorry Bart... you stated that each problem was 2 parts, up front.
4.
Subject: Re: Bat in the Backgammon Belfry
From:
PhilSimborg
Date:
05 Jun 2008 16:23 EST
Excellent article. What I liked most was the statement in your first paragraph that there aren't any "always" in backgammon. I totally agree with one exception: if you are playing partners and your move doesn't work, you can always count on your partner to tell you that you made the wrong play.
5.
Subject: Re: Bat in the Backgammon Belfry
From:
RichMunitz
Date:
22 Jun 2008 11:35 EST
Did I see an implied "always" that it is always right to make the play that maximizes game equity in money play? Well I know that if the plays were close, and I was the captain in a chouette in which I was the strongest player (or the fish was swimming right behind me in the rotation), I'd certainly give up a small amount of game equity to increase my chances of winning the game and the box, as that maximizes my session equity.
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