Table of Contents

Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 3
Who is this guide for?....................................................................................................................................... 3
History of Backgammon................................................................................................................................... 4

Basic Rules......................................................................................................................................... 5
Backgammon Board & Setup............................................................................................................................ 5
Objective of the game....................................................................................................................................... 5
Checker Movement........................................................................................................................................... 5
Hitting Blots...................................................................................................................................................... 6
The Bar.............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Entering from the Bar........................................................................................................................................ 6

Basic Strategies................................................................................................................................. 7
Opening Moves................................................................................................................................................. 7
Overall Board Game Strategy........................................................................................................................... 7
The Running Game........................................................................................................................................... 8
The Holding Game............................................................................................................................................ 8
The Prime vs. Prime Game............................................................................................................................... 8
The Backgammon Blitz..................................................................................................................................... 9
The Two-Way Forward Game.......................................................................................................................... 9

Doubling Cube Strategy................................................................................................................. 11

The Backgammon Basics................................................................................................................................ 11
A Little Bit More Advanced Playing.............................................................................................................. 11
To Double or Not to Double?.......................................................................................................................... 12
The Cube Value............................................................................................................................................... 12
Doubling in Non-Contact Game Positions...................................................................................................... 13
Doubling in Match Situations......................................................................................................................... 14
Doubling in a Game and Match Equity........................................................................................................... 15

Online Play...................................................................................................................................... 16
Single Play.......................................................................................................................................................16
Matches........................................................................................................................................................... 16
Tournaments.................................................................................................................................................... 16
Recommended Online Sites............................................................................................................................ 17

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Introduction
Who is this guide for?
Online Backgammon playing is increasing quickly, and is destined to be the new poker.
This guide is meant for both completely new players to online backgammon and also
those of you who have previously played the game offline.
In this guide, you will learn about Backgammon and its origins, as well as the basic rules
of the game. However, I will also show you some helpful strategies and tactics for real
game play situations!
After reading this guide, you will be more than ready to take on the online backgammon
community, and to assist you, Ive listed several good sites that offer Backgammon.

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History of Backgammon
The ancient Egyptian game senet resembled backgammon, with moves controlled by the
roll of dice. However, the Royal Game of Ur, played in ancient Mesopotamia, is a more
likely ancestor of modern day tables games. Excavations at the "Burnt City" in Iran have
showed that a similar game existed there around 3000 BC. The artifacts include two dice
and 60 pieces, and the set is believed to be 100 to 200 years older than the sets found in
Ur.
The ancient Romans played a number of games remarkably similar to backgammon.
Ludus duodecim scriptorum ("Game of twelve lines") used a board with three rows of 12
points each, and the pieces were moved across all three rows according to the roll of
dice. Little specific text about the gameplay has survived. Tabula, meaning "table" or
"board", was a game mentioned in an epigram of Byzantine Emperor Zeno (AD 476
481). It was similar to modern backgammon in that the object of the game was to be the
first to bear off all of one's checkers. Players threw three dice and moved their checkers
in opposing directions on a board of 24 points.
In the 11th century Shahnameh, the Persian poet Ferdowsi credits Burzoe with the
invention of the tables game nard in the 6th century. He describes an encounter between
Burzoe and a Raja visiting from India. The Raja introduces the game of chess, and
Burzoe demonstrates nard, played with dice made from ivory and teak.
The jeux de tables, predecessors of modern backgammon, first appeared in France
during the 11th century and became a favorite pastime of gamblers. In 1254, Louis IX
issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing.Tables games
were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reached Iceland by the 13th
century. The Alfonso X manuscript Libro de los juegos, completed in 1283, describes
rules for a number of dice and tables games in addition to its extensive discussion of
chess. By the 17th century, tables games had spread to Sweden. A wooden board and
checkers were recovered from the wreck of the Vasa among the belongings of the ship's
officers.
In the 16th century, Elizabethan laws and church regulations prohibited playing tables,
but by the 18th century backgammon was popular among the English clergy. Edmund
Hoyle published A Short Treatise on the Game of Backgammon in 1743; this described
rules and strategy for the game and was bound together with a similar text on whist.
In English, the word "backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" and Middle English
"gamen", meaning "game" or "play". The earliest use documented by the Oxford English
Dictionary was in 1650.
The most recent major development in backgammon was the addition of the doubling
cube. It was first introduced in 1926 or 1927 in New York City among members of
gaming clubs in the Lower East Side. The cube required players not only to select the
best move in a given position, but also to estimate the probability of winning from that
position, transforming backgammon into the expected value-driven game played in the
20th and 21st centuries.

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Basic Rules
Backgammon Board & Setup
Backgammon is played on a board with 24 narrow triangles called points by two players.
The triangles alternate in color and are grouped into four quadrants of six triangles each.
Each player has a home board and an outer board, which are separated by a bar.

The points are numbered from 1 to 24, starting with the far right point on each players
home board. Each player has 15 checkers (pieces) and the initial board setup is shown
above; i.e. two checkers on point 24, five checkers on point 13, three on point 8 and
finally five checkers on point 6.

Objective of the game

Players move their pieces, called checkers, around the board based on the rolls of two
dice and the first player to move all his checkers off the board wins. However, checkers
are not allowed to be moved out play until the player has all of his checkers in his home
area. The first player to move all of his checkers out of the board (bearing them off)
wins.

Checker Movement
Players take turn rolling two dice to determine how many points a player can move his
checkers. The pieces are always moved forward, to a lower numbered point.
A checker can only be moved to an open point, i.e. one that is
not occupied by two or more opposing pieces.
The numbers on the two dice constitute separate moves. For
example, if a player rolls 5 and 3, he may move one checker
five spaces to an open point and another checker three spaces
to an open point, or he may move the one checker a total of
eight spaces to an open point, but only if the intermediate
point (either three or five spaces from the starting point) is
also open.

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Hitting Blots
A single checker on a point is called a blot. Since men of opposite colors may not occupy
the same point, when an opponent lands on a blot it is removed and replaced with their
own. This is called a hit and the removed man is placed on the bar.

The Bar
The bar is the middle strip that separates the inner and outer boards and once a checker
is placed there, it remains out of play until it can be entered in the opponents inner
board by a throw of the dice.

Entering from the Bar

A checker can be entered from the bar if on the next roll one of the numbers corresponds
to a point not occupied by two or more opponent checkers in the opponents home board.
If you cannot enter because both points indicated by the dice are blocked, the turn
passes to your opponent. If your opponent owns all 6 points in their board you can save
your energy and not even roll since it is impossible to enter until your opponent opens up
a point in their board. This is called a shut out or closed board. If a player has one or
more checkers on the bar they must all be re-entered before any other checkers can be
moved. Once all of the checkers have been entered, any unused numbers on the dice
may be used to move the checker that was entered or any other checker.

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Basic Strategies
This page would help you understand some of the basic strategies and plans you can
form while playing backgammon. These strategies can be used in either backgammon
gambling or playing backgammon online for fun.

Opening Moves
A number of recommended opening moves have been determined based on experience
of players, but also based on computer analysis. The following moves are part of most
experienced Backgammon-players repertoire.
Roll
2-1
3-1
4-1
5-1
6-1
3-2
4-2
5-2
6-2
4-3
5-3
6-3
5-4
6-4
6-5

Preferred play

8/5, 6/5
13/9, 24/23
13/8, 24/23
13/7, 8/7
13/11, 24/21
8/4, 6/4
13/8, 24/22
13/11, 24/18

8/3, 6/3
24/18, 13/10
13/8, 24/20

24/13

Common alternatives
13/11, 6/5
13/11, 24/23

13/8

13/8, 6/5

13/10, 13/11

13/8, 13/11

13/10, 13/9
13/10, 24/20 13/9, 24/21

24/15

13/8, 13/9

8/2, 6/2
24/14
24/18, 13/9

Overall Board Game Strategy

As you develop your backgammon skills and begin to test out different tactics during
money play, your overall planned objective is always finding a way to get your checkers
around the board and off before your opponent does. There are a variety of strategies
available to do that. The strategy you choose is often dictated by the dice rolls early in
the game and the strategy chosen by your opponent. If your first two rolls are 65 and
65, you will often move your back checkers forward and get into a race. If you are hit
early and have checkers sent back, you will choose a holding game or a back game.
The Five Basic Backgammon Strategies
There are 5 basic strategies that you can use when you play backgammon online for fun
or gambling on money.

The Running Game Strategy

The Holding Game Strategy
The Priming Game Strategy
The Backgammon Blitz
The Back Game Strategy
Practice Your Strategies

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The Running Game

The objective of the Running Game is to bring all your men into your inner board and
bear them off as quickly as possible, similar to a competitive race. You should choose a
running game when you have fewer pips remaining to get all your checkers off than your
opponent, and you already have gotten all your checkers past your opponent or it
appears likely that you can do so. Before engaging in a Running Game, it is important to
evaluate the position of your men and decide whether it is at your advantage to do so. If
your opponent has fewer pips remaining than you, then aiming for a running game is a
poor strategy, and has little chance of success.

The Holding Game

The central idea of the Holding Game is to plan on keeping a point in your control that is
located highly in your opponents board, usually a point in his inner board or the bar
point. This is often the best strategy when trailing in the pipcount race. Playing this kind
of positional advantage is more of a style than a backgammon strategy. The 20 point or
bar points are the best holding game anchors, as they provide maximum chances to hit
your opponent as he brings his checkers closer to home. Points further back get much
weaker. It is also crucial to understand the right times to offer the doubling cube, and to
accept or drop a double when playing or defending a holding game. Another key
strategical element to the holding game is the distribution of the opponents checkers. If
he has only the 8 and 13 points made (as in the starting position), he will often have to
leave a shot as he brings his checkers around. If he has made additional landing points in
his outer board, your hitting chances go down significantly.
The Priming Game
The Priming Game is a particular type of holding game and involves building a prime a
long wall of your pieces, ideally 6 points in a row in order to block the movement of
your opponents pieces that are behind the wall. These pieces will remain trapped as long
as you can maintain the prime, and can result in an interesting struggle for your
opponent to move pieces around the backgammon board. Hitting an opponents blot to
trap it behind your blockade is the main aim of playing a Priming Game when gambling
on backgammon. The prime can be constructed anywhere between point 2 and point 11
in your board, then you can shuffle it into your inner table as you approach the bearingoff game phase.

The Prime vs. Prime Game

When your opponent has a prime, it is very important to get your checkers to where they
can escape with a single number. For example, if his prime is 5 points long, it is very
important to get to the front so you can escape with a 6. If his prime is 6 long, you
cannot escape.
A variation of the priming game is the prime versus prime, when both sides have strong
blockade. The key features are the number of points in the prime for each side, the
number of checkers behind the prime, and whether the stranded checkers are at the
front of the prime. The most unusual thing about a prime versus prime game is that, all
else being equal, strategically the player behind in the pip count is favored to win the
game. This is because if neither side escapes their checkers, the one leading in the race
will have to give up his prime first.

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The Backgammon Blitz

The Backgammon Blitz is essentially an attack on your opponents pieces, with the aim of
keeping your opponent on the bar while moving your pieces into your inner table as
quickly as possible. The ultimate goal of the blitz is to close out one or more of your
opponents pieces by occupying all 6 of the points in your inner table, making it
impossible for these pieces to return to the game until a point becomes available when
you are bearing off.
Blitzes are very committal once you begin to attack, you have to continue to hit and
take risks and changes to make additional points. If the attack fails, either because the
opponent makes an anchor or because you get too many checkers hit and sent back, you
can easily reach a point where you are losing the game.
The key strategy to starting a blitz is usually an early roll where you hit an opponents
checker and he stays on the bar, or perhaps you hit two and he doesnt enter both. A
blitz is a much weaker plan when your opponent has as many (or nearly as many) points
made in his board as you do in yours. Since you are taking risks to make points, you
cannot afford to be hit and dance on the bar. It is also crucial to double at the right time.
Blitzes, when they succeed, often result in gammons, and you can easily become too
good to double if things go well. This is especially true in money gambling games or
tournaments with the Jacoby Rule in effect. It is foolish to take risks to win a gammon
and not get the full value of them by doubling at the right time. The Blitz gives you a
great tactical advantage.

The Two-Way Forward Game

The two-way forward game is not listed as a basic plan, because it is a hybrid of the blitz
and prime games. In the two-way forward game, you normally have built a mini-prime of
3 or 4 points, and then have the opportunity to attack your opponent. If your opponent
anchors, you hope to have extended your prime in the process and to win from a priming
game. Two-way forward games are extremely strong when they come up, because if the
dice go badly for one plan, they often go well for the other.
The Back Game
The Back Game is achieved by controlling two (or more) points in your opponents inner
table. The main game objective is to hit a blot late in the game and contain it. It is a
difficult strategy to play in backgammon because the chance of a successful Back Game
is influenced by the luck of the dice roll.
A successful Back game requires that you establish two anchors, have at least 10 of your
checkers advanced to contain the opponent if you hit, and have enough timing (i.e. are
far enough behind in the race) to wait until he rolls awkwardly and leaves a single or
double shot. Back games that are unsuccessful often result in gammon or backgammon
losses. If your timing is marginal (if you are only down 50 to 70 pips in the race), a
backgame involving higher points (like the 2 and 4 or 3 and 4) is much stronger than
those involving the ace point. The back games involving the 1 and 2 points are not that
strong; the best backgames are usually considered the 1-3, 2-3, and 2-4.
While a weak opponent can often be seduced into overrating his position when you play a
back game, it is rarely a good strategy to seek a back game from the start. It will often
arise on its own if you attempt a blitz and have many checkers hit. Even then, you would
usually prefer to hit an opposing checker early and try to trap it. You should only go all-

Page 9

out for a backgame once you have two back points made and are at least 70 pips or so
behind in the race.
Important to note that this tactic is not a strategy to play from the outset of a game ,
and should only be adopted when you are significantly behind. It is a losing strategy
caused by the circumstances of the game and is simply intended to hinder your
opponents options in order to improve your chances of winning.

Page 10

Doubling Cube Strategy

I wasn't quite sure where to put Cube Strategy. Many beginning and intermediate players
play like they're afraid of the doubling cube. They will almost never double, and when
doubled they will take or drop almost at random. In my experience, beginning players
tend to take much too often, and intermediate players tend to drop much too often.
You will never be successful at backgammon if you don't know proper cube play. If you
let your opponent win two points every game he wins while winning only one yourself,
it's like giving 2-to-1 odds in every game.
So I decided to put an extensive course in basic cube strategy on this page. I can't
possibly cover this much ground in talking about checker play. You might want to read
the discussion of winning chances first, if you haven't read it yet. And also the difference
between money play and match play, since they do affect cube strategy.

The Backgammon Basics

Should you double? Should you take? Should you drop?
Consider a simple case. You are playing for money (not in a match), and you are on roll.
You have two checkers on the board, on your 5 and 2 points; your opponent has one
checker left on his one-point. Either you will win the game on this roll, or you will lose it.
A bit of math will show that you have 19 good dice rolls and 17 bad ones. You have a
52.8% chance of winning the game. So you should double.
Should your opponent take? This is easy. He should take when he is 25% or more likely
to win the game. Say you have 4 games where your opponent doubles when you are
25% to win. If you drop all four, youll lose four points. If you take all four and win one,
losing three, youll break even compared to dropping all four - losing four points. So your
opponent should take anytime you have 26 or fewer rolls that win the game, and drop
when you have 28 or more. If the number is exactly 27, well, does he feel lucky today?

A Little Bit More Advanced Playing

Well, a lot of times, players have an advantage and dont double. Say you open with a 61 (making your bar point) and your opponent rolls 6-2. Surely you have the advantage.
Why not double?
Lets say your game-winning chances are 52% at that point. What do you think theyll be
the next time its your turn to roll? Well, it depends on how your opponent played his 6-2
and what the next two rolls are, but lets say the range is plus or minus 15% - say, 37%
to 67%. And thats a pretty wide range, kind of a best-case to worst-case, since this
position isnt very volatile.
Well, if next two rolls turn out badly, youll be glad you didnt double. If they turn out
well, you can always double next time. If your opponent has a 33% chance to win, hell
still take. (And if he drops, great!) So you dont need to be in a hurry to double this turn.
Im going to introduce the concept of market loser here. A market loser is a sequence
of rolls (one for you and one for your opponent) that would cause your position to get so
strong that your opponent would drop. Anytime you have no market losers, you should

Page 11

wait to double. If things go well, you havent lost anything, and if things go badly, you
will be glad you did.
The next statement is probably the single most important piece of advice you can ever
get in backgammon:
Every roll is a new cube decision!
No matter what your position was last roll, you should always be at least thinking about
the cube. Not necessarily long and hard, but if you got a good roll, or your opponent a
bad one think. How good is my position now. Should I at least be thinking about
doubling

To Double or Not to Double?

Consider the four basic game possibilities:
1. Not good enough to double. Obviously, if you are trailing, you dont want to
double (except in certain match situations, which well discuss later). Or if you
have only a small lead and no (or very few) market losers.
2. Double/Take. Many players are afraid to double if their position is not
overwhelming. They are worried that their opponent might take. That shouldnt be
something to worry about, though. Suppose you have bet on a football game, and
after the team you bet on scores a touchdown, you have a chance to double the
bet. Thats great youre in the lead and get to double the bet! You might lose
double sometimes, but youre going to win double a lot more often. And anytime
youre in the lead in a game, theres usually some gammon possibilities wouldnt
you much rather win four points than two?
3. Double/Drop. Obviously, if your opponent doubles and your position is worse than
about a 25% chance to win, you should drop. Give up a point and get on to the
next. If you have significant chances of being gammoned, thats another good
reason to drop and get on to the next.
4. Too good to double. Lets start with a little math here. Suppose you have 90%
chances to win the game, or which 30% are gammons, and 10% to lose. On
average you will win 1.1 points per game (0.9 plus 0.3 times 1 [the extra point
for a gammon], minus 0.1). Why settle for just one point? Hold the cube for now.
Think also about the idea of market losers in reverse. We said earlier that if, no matter
what sequence of rolls occurred, your opponent would still take, then theres no hurry to
double. Well, the same thing applies here. Suppose that in the above example, the worst
set of rolls you can get would leave you with no gammon chances and only 80% odds to
win the game. Well, your opponent still has only 20% chances to win the game, and
would still have to drop. So you can hold the cube for now. If things go well, youll be
glad you did, if things go badly, you can always double next roll.

The Cube Value

Consider the following position. You are on roll, with 4 checkers on your ace-point. Your
opponent has one on his six-point and one on his 4-point. What are your chances of
winning the game?

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If you have doubled, that means you cant double again. So you have to play the game
to the end. 5/6 of the time you will not roll doubles. If you dont, your opponent can win
with the following rolls: 6-4, 6-5, and any doubles of 3 or larger. Thats a total of 8 of the
36 possible rolls on two dice (allowing for the fact that 6-4 and 6-5 are really two rolls
out of 36, since they can come up either of two ways). So his winning chances are 5/6
times 8/36, or 40/216 about 18%.
But if you havent doubled, your chances of winning the game are 100%! You should
double, and your opponent should drop. So having doubled has cost you something. Now
youre not sorry you doubled, of course. When youre in this strong a position, youre
happy to be playing for two points rather than one. But the point is that you shouldnt
double with a weak advantage (if you doubled with a weak advantage, you were lucky to
get to this strong a position), because giving up control of the cube costs something.
Game Implementation of the Cube Strategy
Weve talked mostly in principles so far. How do you decide whether to double or not?
Well, thats not a question with a simple answer. Its certainly not about pip count
(except in racing positions). The important thing is to recognize that when you have a
solid lead, you should be thinking about doubling. Most players dont realize that.
One good rule is to put yourself in your opponents shoes. If he doubled, would you take?
Would you even think of dropping? Many times, players will look at a position and say I
would drop, my position is pretty bad yet, on the other side, they think Im not good
enough to double. Someone has to be wrong!
And if your opponent takes your double, dont think youve necessarily made a mistake.
You might have doubled too early when your position isnt as strong as you might like
but how bad can doubling the stakes when youre in the lead be? And also, maybe your
opponents take was a mistake!

Doubling in Non-Contact Game Positions

The simplest kinds of doubles are in non-contact (racing) positions.
A general rule of thumb is that if you are ahead by 10% in pip count, you should double.
You can take with up to a 12-13% deficit in pip count. The needed percentages get larger
as the race gets shorter. For example, a lead of 88-80 is enough to double, but a lead of
44-40 probably isnt.
You also need to pay attention to how smooth your board is for bearing off, and how
many checkers (if any) each side has off. Particularly bad are useless gaps. If you have
no checkers on your 3-point but have checkers on your 6-point, if you roll a 3, you cant
take any checkers off, but at least you can move 6-3 and have useful 3s next time. But
if you have no checkers on the 6-point or a gap on the 5-point or a gap on the 2point and no checkers on the 4-point be wary. You can waste an entire die movement
in a position where every roll is crucial.
And remember every roll is a new cube decision. Dont think that just because its the
last or next-to-last roll of the game, you cant double. Suppose you are trailing badly,
and then roll a big set of doubles. Suddenly lets say you are on roll with one checker
on the ace-point and one on the three, and your opponent has just one checker left.
Double! Why let yourself get unlucky and roll 2-1 and win when your opponent would
surely have dropped?

Page 13

Doubling in Match Situations

Doubling in match situations is slightly different than in money play, where every point is
equal. It is a complex subject and very mathematical. But I will try to simplify it a little.
If you are leading in a match, you should be a little more conservative about doubling,
and about taking. But only a little. Dont let yourself get stolen blind.
When one player is close to winning the match, you should be aware of some special
situations.
Post-Crawford. When the Crawford game has already been played, the trailer should
double at his first opportunity. Period. You cant lose more than one meaningful point in
the game, so why not play to win as many as you can?
Overage. Suppose you are trailing 3-1 in a match to 5 and your opponent doubles. You
decide to take. Redouble on your next roll, no matter how bad your position! What can
you lose? If you lose this game you lose the match why not put it all on the line? The
same would go if you were trailing 3-0, or any time you will lose the match if you lose
this game.
Similarly, if you are leading, be more cautious about doubling in such a situation.
Remember, if your opponent takes, he will immediately redouble. Instead of betting one
additional point to win one, youre effectively betting three.
Free Drop. This is a special situation after the Crawford game. Say you are leading a
match to 5 by 4-2 and your opponent wins the Crawford game, so its now 4-3. He rolls
an opening 3-1, playing 8/5 6/5, and you roll 5-2. Regardless of what you play, you are
clearly trailing in this game. Your opponent now doubles.
Normally, you would take. Youre the underdog, but by no means as bad as 25% to win
the game. But if you take, the match is on the line on this game. If you drop, it will be 44 and the match will be on the line next game. So you might as well drop, and take the
chance to start the game over. Basically, you should drop anytime you are the underdog
at the time your opponent doubles.
Note that this only applies when the difference between the two scores is an odd
number. Say that the score, instead of being 4-3, is 4-2. Now, you should take. If you
drop, your opponent will double in the next game and the match will be on the line in
that one game. If you take and lose, the match will be tied 4-4. In short, you always
take when a drop would mean your opponent needs one less game to win the match, and
you at least consider dropping when dropping will not decrease the number of games he
needs to win.
2-away/2-away. This refers to a particular situation where both players need exactly two
points to win the match. In theory, you should double anytime you have an advantage.
This is because once the cube is turned by either player, it has no more value. So you
are not giving away control of the cube by doubling, because once you do, neither player
controls it. The theory that shows you should double with any advantage is complicated.
In fact, the same theory suggests you should double even when behind! (Because if
youre behind after you roll, your opponent will double anyway, and if youre ahead,
youll wish you had doubled.) In practice, most players double with a smaller lead at this
match score, but its still pretty rare to see the cube turned immediately.

Page 14

Doubling in a Game and Match Equity

From a given score, it is possible to know your chances of winning the match. Consider a
simple example. You are trailing 2-0 in a 3-point match. You need to win two games to
win the match, period. (If you win the first game without a gammon, you will of course
double on the first roll of the next game.) Since you are 50% to win each game, you are
50% times 50% or 25% to win the match.
Suppose instead you are trailing 2-1 in the Crawford game. Now your chances are a
little better. You can win a gammon in this game to win the match, and on average
you'll do that about 10% of the time. The other 40% of the time that you win (but don't
win a gammon) you'll win the match 50% of those times. 10% plus 40% times 50%
makes you 30% to win the match.
It is possible to know all the match-winning odds for all scores. That discussion is too
complex for this article, but a good table and shortcut for memorizing it is contained in
the sample issue of GammOnLine.com, Kit Woolsey's excellent online backgammon
magazine.
So, suppose you are leading 1-0 in a match to 5. When should you double? When
should you take?
Start with the take decision. The odds are:
Leading 2-0, 66% to win the match
Leading 3-0, 75% to win
Tied 1-1, 50% to win
Trailing 2-1, 41% to win
If you drop the double, you will be 34% to win (trailing 2-0). If you take, you will be
25% when you lose the game (trailing 3-0) and 59% when you win (leading 2-1). You
are risking 9% (34%-25%) to gain 25% (59% - 34%). So you need 9 wins for every 25
losses to break even, or about 26%. So you should take if you are 26% to win, and you
should double if you think there's a good chance that by your next roll you will be at least
74% to win, or if you're already over that.
There are some complexities, of course. You can take a little more aggressively than
this, because you own the cube and have the sole right to redouble. But if you are going
to get gammoned more often than you win a gammon, you have to adjust for this.
The question of "gammon prices" (how much gammons affect the doubling decision) is
beyond the scope of this article. Kit wrote a very good book on this called How To Play
Tournament Backgammon, which I recommend. Or you can work out the math on your
own from the match equity table on GammOnLine. If you work through the math, you
will learn a lot about correct doubling strategy.
Is this topic complex? Yes. Is it important? Only if you want to be a good player.
Huge numbers of matches are lost by incorrect doubling decisions.

Page 15

Online Play
Playing Backgammon online is quickly becoming the new poker. Backgammon rooms
are starting up everywhere, and theyre all giving out nice signing up bonuses. There are
several sites out there and it might be a bit difficult to decide which one to choose.
There are a few different kinds of play offered online and almost all forms are available
using either real money or playmoney.

Single Play
First theres the simple Single Play. Here you go up against an opposing player and
decide upon a bet. The winner takes it all. Most of these games also have a limit, this
means that the bet can only be doubled up until this figure, no more. So if a game has a
stake of 5 and a limit of 20, this means that the starting bet is $5 and it can only be
doubled twice ($5 to $10 and $10 to $20).

Matches
A match is won by the first player to accumulate a predetermined number of points. This
total can be reached in one or more games, depending on the value of the cube during a
game. Points are awarded in the usual manner: One for a single game, two for a
gammon, and three for a backgammon. The doubling cube is used, so the winner
receives the value of the game multiplied by the final value of the doubling cube.

Tournaments
Tournaments are usually composed of matches, where pairs play a series of games to
find a winner, who then progresses to the next round. All games are randomly assigned.
There are usually two kinds of tournaments, scheduled and sit n go. The scheduled
tournaments take place at times decided by the online site, usually on a daily basis. Sit n
Goes are available 24/7 as soon as the decided number of players have registered.

Page 16

Recommended Online Sites

Feature

PartyGammon

Play65

Deposit Bonus

50%

20%

Free Rolls
Tournaments
Other Offerings

Yes
Yes
Poker, Casino and
much more
Yes

Yes
Yes
None

Playmoney

Page 17

Yes

Backgammon
Masters
Up to $50 = 20%
$50 = 100%
$75 = 133%
Yes
Yes
Poker, Perudo,
Blackjack
Yes