Note: All ‘cash game’ problems assume the Jacoby Rule is in effect. That is, you can’t win a gammon unless the cube has been turned.

We sell a lot of books at the Gammon Press and the most popular books right now are a three-volume set called “How to Play the Opening in Backgammon”. The most common question I get asked about the set is “Why a 3-volume set just on the Opening? What about the other parts of the game?”

It’s a good question but there’s a simple answer. The opening occurs in every single game you play. You might see a blitz in perhaps one game in five, or a complicated back game once in maybe one game in 50. But you’ll play an opening in every single game, so it makes sense to focus on openings and make that part of your game as strong as possible.

Here’s an opening situation that occurs pretty frequently. You made a defensive anchor pretty quickly, and now you have a chance to slot a valuable point in your home board. What determines whether slotting is a good or bad idea in this case? It might be right, it might be wrong. Here’s how I explained it in Volume 3 of the series:

Slotting Criteria When You Have an Anchor

Slotting can be very right, or very wrong, or something close to a tossup. Almost every aspect of the position will influence a slotting decision in some way. Let’s lay out some key features and see how they bear on the choice of slotting or not when your back men are already anchored.

The race: This one is pretty simple. Being ahead in the race implies you probably don’t want to slot, and it’s a pretty strong indicator. Being somewhat behind in the race mildly favors slotting. Being way behind in the race strongly favors slotting.

The stack on the 6-point: The is another strong indicator. Five checkers on the 6-point strongly favors slotting with an ace. Only three checkers on the 6-point, by contrast, strongly favors not slotting. Four checkers is just a mild indicator for not slotting. Note that slotting with an ace is by far the strongest slot. Using other checkers (like a three from the 8-point) is occasionally correct but much more unusual.

Your opponent is anchored on your 4-point: Overlooked by many players, this is yet another strong indicator. If your opponent has moved up to your 4-point and you still have a stack on your 6-point, those checkers have nowhere very constructive to go except to your 5-point with an ace. When you roll an ace, that’s exactly where you want to put it.

Your opponent’s board: The stronger his board, the less you want to get hit. A weak board (only the 6-point) favors slotting. A strong board (three points or more) strongly favors not slotting. A two-point board depends on the points. If he has the 6-point plus a low point (1-point, 2-point or 3-point), then slotting is all right. Owning the 4-point or 5-point along with the 6-point is a negative indicator.

Your board: The stronger your board, the less incentive you have to take a risk to improve it further. However, this indicator ties closely to the stack on the 6-point. If you have a strong board, the chances are very good that you’ve already unstacked your 6-point to build that board.

Your opponent is developing a good block: If your opponent develops a blockade, you don’t want more men behind it, so this is a negative indicator for slotting.

Number of your men back: The more men you have back, the smaller the marginal cost of being hit. Three men back is a modest indicator for slotting.

Duplication: This old reliable indicator always plays a role. If your opponent’s hitting number works elsewhere on the board, it’s a positive indicator. The absence of duplication doesn’t mean much.

Alternatives? Slotting requires that the alternatives be fairly weak. A slotting play won’t take precedence over making a good point or hitting a blot or even escaping a back checker. It will, however, typically beat plays that are merely safe or involve shuffling a checker around.

Does the actual location of your anchor belong on this list? This seems like it might play a role in a slotting decision, but it actually doesn’t matter much. Having a high anchor lowers the risk from slotting since the anchor provides a jumping-off point for the third checker. (Of course, the racing risk is still quite real.) Having a low anchor isn’t a strong negative either since your opponent may have to hit your slot with a number that would otherwise make a blocking point.

So much for the theory. Now let’s look at a good example.

This position touches almost every base for favoring the slot.
> White trails in the race by 18 pips before the roll and has three men back.
> The 6-point is stacked and White’s board is weak.
> Your opponent’s board is also weak
> Your opponent doesn’t have any kind of block.
> After slotting the 5-point, there’s some serious duplication: all Black’s fours make inner-board points.
> Alternatives to slotting are poor. The best non-slotting play is 13/8, which doesn’t do much.

Solution: There’s no real decision to be made here. White should just slot the 5-point with 6/5 and then play 13/9.