People seem a little bit lost on how to approach the problem where one player is trailing by an inordinate number of points. They usually lack experience in that area because generally one plays shorter matches and this phenomenon will be a rarity to creep in.
4.88
25 Nov 2011 - by Stick
Thanks to one of my students I've been devoting a lot of my time to studying backgames over the past few months. I had never fully launched into backgame study because I'd never had a real reason to.
4.64
31 Oct 2011 - by Stick
If you know Phil Simborg well enough you'll be part of the onslaught of backgammon emails he regularly sends out. Positions from his chouette play, positions from their weekly tournaments, positions they bet on, a quiz from Jake, etc... It never stops.
4.87
27 Sep 2011 - by Stick
This particular type of problem always has one man on the bar so the entry with one die is forced. The other half of the roll you have to decide which outfield checker of your opponent's should you hit?
4.50
07 Sep 2011 - by Stick
I had recently decided to seriously commit myself to improving my game. The best start I thought was revisiting double match point study so I set to it. I played XG about 100 matches before I logged into Gridgammon and started to play against humans.
4.88
25 May 2011 - by Stick
I'm taking a month siesta from my Mythbusters series. Instead I'm going to share how I prepare for the more important tournaments. I'm sure every individual soul has a different way of preparing for tournaments.
4.27
25 Apr 2011 - by Stick
This month's myth to be potentially busted is 'Don't break the midpoint'. We all know at some point the midpoint has to go or we'd get gammoned every game but under what circumstances is it ok to let go of that point?
4.75
25 Mar 2011 - by Stick
This month we will take a look at 22 point anchor cubes. I've heard this myth expressed many different ways so you may have your own version of it. Roughly the myth we're looking at today is 'most 22 point anchor games are takes'.
4.76
25 Feb 2011 - by Stick
This month's article is going to cover something I've referred to as long as I can remember as Pottle's Law. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Pottle's Law simply states "Always run the last checker."
4.86
25 Jan 2011 - by Stick
When I started playing backgammon I heard a lot of backgammon proverbs. Over the next set of articles I'll be inspecting these proverbs and hopefully adding an element or two to your game to help keep your error rating down.
4.87
29 Nov 2010 - by Stick
Still being relatively new on the backgammon scene I haven't attended some of the tournaments people who have been around for decades have. For example, last year was my first year for a lot of big tournaments.
4.82
30 Sep 2010 - by Stick
When I started playing backgammon roughly 5 years ago now I was taken aback at the lack of opening game theory available. Backgammon books mentioned reference positions, early game blitzes, or how certain early game positions should be played but there was nothing definitive.
4.97
28 Aug 2010 - by Stick
I briefly considered not covering 5 away 5 away because so much of the score reflects money play. I soon came to my senses after noting that it is probably the most common score at most backgammon tournaments.
4.92
30 Jun 2010 - by Stick
Veni, vidi, vici. Well, almost anyway. I had good results at this past weekend's Portuguese tournament held in Estoril just outside of Lisbon which makes writing about the tournament more of a joy and less of a pain.
4.38
25 May 2010 - by Stick
This month we're covering the most confusing score there is for both backgammon players, -3 -4. I have seen this score botched, blundered, and butchered on numerous occasions by some of the world's best players.
4.91
27 Apr 2010 - by Stick
As much as I enjoy boring the living hell out of my devoted readers by presenting them with how to play the opening at various scores, this month I'm unable to do so even though the theme is still match play at special scores.
4.60
28 Feb 2010 - by Stick
My last match score related article cover the -4 -2 score from the trailer's perspective. This month we'll take a look at the score which everyone who is reading this is more likely to reach, -2 -4, as the leader.
4.55
26 Jan 2010 - by Stick
This month I'm taking a break from my match play series to take a look at different ways of improving your backgammon game. I show some methods that are more tried and true than others.
4.50
04 Jan 2010 - by Stick
This month's column tackles one of the easiest special scores to understand and one my most favorite backgammon scores to write about, four away two away, or -4 -2.
4.75
25 Nov 2009 - by Stick
Stick continues his comprehensive series on backgammon scores that has already covered Double Match Point, Gammon Go, Gammon Save, Two Away Three Away and Three Away Two Away.
4.46
26 Oct 2009 - by Stick
Last time we covered the dynamics of three away two away from the trailer's standpoint, otherwise known as -3 -2. This time we'll be launching into the same score from the leader's point of view which will be referred to from here on out as -2 -3.
4.76
28 Aug 2009 - by Stick
Continuing my coverage of the most common backgammon scores and branching out to short match scores where checker play and cube actions can vary widely from your typical money play we will now move on to -3 -2.
4.95
25 Jun 2009 - by Stick
Having already covered Double Match Point and Gammon Go the next logical step is the flip side of the gammon go coin commonly known as Gammon Save or GS.
4.55
25 Apr 2009 - by Stick
This month we continue our journey through match play with another score usually found near the end of the match: gammon go, otherwise known as GG.
4.88
25 Mar 2009 - by Stick
It is a key element of tournament backgammon to understand as much as possible about the most common scores. This month we begin with double match point, or dmp.
4.83
