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Risk Assessment at the Nevada State Backgammon Tournament

by Steve Sax
20 April 2009

Steve Sax

Following my success in Chicago, I wasn't under an illusion of invincibility as I reviewed my play and found that along with my good fortune, I had made my share of misplays. So when the Las Vegas backgammon tournament concluded, I held a paltry 6-7 match record, and a fistful of errors I had made during the mid April tournament.

I made a variety of errors, but the ones that stood out most to me were the ones where I made an un-necessarily risky checker move where a more cautious approach was called for, or a cowardly non-double, where sending the cube over, was the appropriate action.

In addition to those examples, we will take a look at some positions where I made the correct action. Those checker plays and cube actions were not clear to me at the time, and after analysis, I found them interesting enough to include in this month's article.

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Subject: Re: Risk Assessment at the Nevada State Backgammon Tournament

From: jk_ace

Date: 06 May 2009 00:44 EST

Interesting positions Steve. On #12 I was thinking about hitting two. How does bar/22*, 6/2* do? bar/22*, 8/4 is a little too loose even for me - but might not be so bad when gammons dont count.

Thanks,

John

Subject: Re: Risk Assessment at the Nevada State Backgammon Tournament

From: STEAMSAX Member has a photo available

Date: 07 May 2009 14:01 EST

Both the hit plays are down the list from the suggested moves.

I don't like putting pieces out of play (with the 6-2* move) and I don't like breaking the eight point and creating such a mess when I am out-boarded as I am.

At DMP the hit plays fare a little better, but still are not advised.

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