Bill Robertie's Blog | The Gammon Press

Beavering

Jan 1, 2024 | Backgammon Generally

Cash game, center cube.

Should White double? If White doubles, what should Black do?

By convention, most cash games use several auxiliary rules beyond the basic rules of backgammon, intended both to speed up the games and increase the stakes in an exciting way. The most common cash game rules are these:

The Jacoby Rule: You can’t win a gammon unless the cube has been turned. This rule eliminates long, dull games where one side gets a huge early edge and plays for the gammon while leaving the cube in the middle.

Automatic Doubles: If both sides roll the same number to start the game, the cube starts at 2. This rule doubles the stakes in one game out of six. Since weaker players tend to play more cautiously with bigger cubes, this rule strongly favors the better player.

Running from a Holding Game

Dec 1, 2023 | Backgammon Problems: Holding Game

Cash game, White owns the cube.

White to play 6-3.

Checker play in holding games is generally a pretty simple matter. When you’re holding onto an anchor and you’re way behind in the race, you try to follow three rules:

1) Keep your anchor as long as you can.

2) Run off your anchor when the alternative is breaking your board.

3) Run off the anchor if staying raises your gammon chances a lot.

If you’re familiar with these rules, you’ll be able to handle most normal holding game positions well.

Things get trickier when you have a third checker back. The third checker can generate more potential shots; it can also get you gammoned if Black can point on the checker and you get stuck on the bar a long time. This position shows a typical situation: Should White stay to get more shots, or run to eliminate gammon chances?

Early Doubles

Oct 1, 2023 | Backgammon Problems: Early Game

Cash game, center cube.

Should White double? If he doubles, should Black take or drop?

In the last post we talked about the importance of cube benchmark positions — positions where one of the cube decisions (either doubling or taking) was perfectly marginal, while the other was completely clear. Learning typical benchmark positions gives us the ability to analyze a wide variety of related positions over the board with unusual accuracy.

This position shows us another type of useful benchmark. We’re currently just four moves into the game. The opening sequence was

White: 5-3, making the 3-point.
Black: 4-3, bringing down two builders.
White: 6-2, hitting.
Black: 6-3, dancing.

With Black on the bar and White clearly having the upper hand, White now contemplates a double. Considering Sylvester’s three criteria for offering an initial double, here’s how White stands:

Race: solid edge for White. His hit and Black’s fan leaves White up 25 pips, 151 to 176.

Threats: small edge for White. He’s threatening to hit Black’s other blot, but White’s weak board means this is really just a threat to gain a little more ground in the race.

Position: Small but solid edge for White. He has a 2-point board, while Black’s board is undeveloped. White’s extra point, however, is just the 3-point, and there’s no prime in the immediate future. White has almost escaped one of his back checkers, another plus.

To summarize, White has a sizeable edge only in the race, while his other edges are small. Rollouts show that this is a small but correct double, which of course means that the take is very clear. White’s problem is simply that a big lead in the race isn’t as significant as one might think if the inner board is weak. The most likely sequences in that case are ones in which Black easily makes a good anchor or exchanges of hits occur; either of these scenarios minimizes White’s racing lead.

If you were at all tempted to drop this position as Black, just remember that the combination of a weak board, few builders, and an anchor for Black almost always guarantees an easy take. That’s the case here.

Once you know the value of this position in a cash game, you can easily make some practical adjustments for tournament play. If White were trailing in a match, this would be an easy double. If White were the better player, it would also be an easy double, since this will be a long game and White should expect to outplay Black in the later maneuvering.

Benchmark Doubling Positions

Sep 15, 2023 | Backgammon Problems: Blitzes

Cash game, center cube.

Should White double? If he doubles, should Black take or drop?

A key idea in understanding the proper use of the doubling cube on a practical level is that of the “benchmark” position. A benchmark cube situation is a position where one of the decisions (doubling or taking) is a toss-up, while the other is completely clear. Properly understanding a benchmark position is very useful since it unlocks the key to many related positions. Just compare your actual position to the benchmark, spot what the relevant differences, and you should be able to make a good cube decision over the board. Better players are aware of hundreds of good benchmarks, so they can make their over-the-board decisions quickly and accurately.