Author: Orad Reshef

Let’s start with the good news: there’s a backgammon idiom that says “prime vs primes are always a take.” That conveniently takes care of half of the equation! With that out of the way, we can spend the rest of the article learning when to double in a priming game. Now comes the bad news:…

Just like how I struggled to even describe backgames in its game plan article, it was challenging to come up with reasonable rules of thumb for cube action in backgames. There simply isn’t anything as neat and tidy as “double with a 14 pip lead.” However, a true 101 course would feel incomplete without at…

For the last lesson in the module, we’re going to learn another beloved backgammon proverb: Two on the bar is better by far. The idea is that it is extremely powerful to hit two checkers — way better than hitting only one checker, and better than many alternative plays. In the current context, it often…

The next great reason to leave loose blots in your homeboard is when you’re playing a containment game. Sometimes, you’re desperate to keep your opponent from leaving and will stop at nothing to keep your opponent from doing so. Below is our first example. We’re trailing by a ton in the race, and are split…

In the last lesson, we highlighted positions where leaving blots in our homeboard somehow turned out to be safer than any alternatives. Here, we will focus on positions at the complete other end of the spectrum — where the consequences of the hit are the main benefits of the loose play. Tempo hit Sometimes, hitting…