In the last article we looked at some bear off situations with a bat in the backgammon belfry, an enemy checker in the empty spaces or pips between your remaining checkers on five or six point and ace or deuce points. This month we compare match games and money games in these situations.
4.67
25 May 2008 - by Bart Brooks
Is it ever appropriate to leave more shots when bearing off? What do you do over the board without the advice of a backgammon bot like Snowie? Columnist Bart Brooks introduces a new term to describe a certain class of backgammon position.
4.64
25 Apr 2008 - by Bart Brooks
I like to look at backgammon as being able to be broken down into sections, let us say like the small pieces of a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. While you may not have the whole picture you can surely get a single piece just perfect.
4.09
25 Mar 2008 - by Bart Brooks
Most of us know the general bear off rules when an opponent is on the bar; leave the ends even, preferably the last four checkers so as not to leave a shot with a double roll, and not to open up a slot where he can enter in front of you. However, these smooth plays are not always obtainable in every backgammon game.
4.42
25 Feb 2008 - by Bart Brooks
Bart delves into his personal backgammon tournament experience and answers the question "Should we always double right away when on roll at 2 away 2 away? When should we take or drop?"
4.75
20 Jan 2008 - by Bart Brooks
About forty years ago, I remember watching Walter Cook, one of the finer backgammon players in his time, and a partner playing a wealthy and very smart older gentleman heads up for $100 per point. That was big bucks back then when $6,000 would buy a new Cadillac.
4.93
25 Dec 2007 - by Bart Brooks
It seems suitable to bring up the bear off at the end of the year. Every backgammon games ends with a bear off. Just to keep you in shape we'll do the end of the bear off cube action scenarios.
4.63
25 Nov 2007 - by Bart Brooks
Bart Brooks presents a holiday gift to you: 12 challenging backgammon 3rd Roll Dance positions to test your teeth on and sharpen your game. Next time you'll know with confidence the cube actions arising from these scenarios.
4.50
25 Oct 2007 - by Bart Brooks
Bart discusses differences between classical Sixties and Seventies style backgammon plays and modern computer-analyzed plays. Plus, he offers a method for remembering how to respond to openings.
4.42
25 Sep 2007 - by Bart Brooks
I've always felt that not enough attention has been paid to the Post Crawford plays. Post Crawford is mostly looked at as: "If I'm the trailer I always double and if I'm the leader and favorite, I'll take, otherwise I'll drop." The catch? Our opponent may decide to not double.
5.00
25 Aug 2007 - by Bart Brooks
Behind in the backgammon match but oh so-ooo close. Two away, one away, Post Crawford. Maybe, just this once, your opponent won't escape.
4.78
25 Jul 2007 - by Bart Brooks
Some of the most important decisions in backgammon slip by quietly unnoticed. Even after they have altered the outcome of the match they often remain completely unobserved. For me one of them has been the free drop.
5.00
