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Bill Robertie

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Running off an Anchor

Dec 16, 2019 |

White – Pips 67 (-22)

Black – Pips 89 (+22)
Black to Play 5-3

One-way holding games are, for the most part, pretty easy to play. You hold onto your anchor, watch your opponent try to clear points, wait for a shot, and then hopefully hit it. Alternatively, you roll a 6-6 or 5-5 somewhere in this process and move into a race where you’re close to even or maybe a little ahead.

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Playing a Random 6 from the Bar

Dec 3, 2019 |

White – Pips 168 (=)

Black – Pips 168 (=)
Black to Play 6-2

This position shows a typically awkward moment in the early game. Black’s game is temporarily a little loose, and now he throws a 2-6 from the bar.

Sometimes a six from the bar will allow us to do something obvious and good, like hitting a blot or building a point. When we can’t do anything good, we’re usually faced with a choice among several unappetizing alternatives. That’s the case here. We have four legal sixes: 8/2, 13/7, 21/15, and 22/16. None look great, but we have to pick one. Let’s set up some guidelines and see if they can lead us to the least unappealing six.

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Playing a Busted Back Game

Oct 21, 2019 |

White – Pips 77 (-109)

Black – Pips 186 (+109)
Black to Play 6-2
In this position Black finds himself at the tail end of an ace-deuce back game. Things seemed promising for a while, then not so good, then downright awful. Now, with seven men trapped behind a full prime and his board completely shot, Black has a 6-2 to play.

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Pay Now or Pay Later

Oct 1, 2019 |

White – Pips 138 (+59)

Black – Pips 79 (-59)
Black to Play 5-1
This position shows White playing a well-timed holding game while Black is struggling to clear his points and get his men home. Black leads in the race by just over 60 pips, so it’s always been highly likely that he’s would have to leave a shot or two unless he rolled a useful set of doubles. Now Black has reached his first key decision point. Out of spares, he can still play safe, but he may not want to.

With the 5-1, Black has just three reasonable plays. Let’s take a look at them.

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