Author: Orad Reshef
-
Two checkers left
The first trick applies in situations where we’re down to the wire in a race against our opponent with only 2 checkers remaining on the board. The question is where to place them to maximize the chances of bearing off both in a single roll. This seems super inconsequential, but the wrong play is usually…
-
Doubling in… everything else (O’Hagan’s Rule)
Throughout this module, we’ve gone through different situations from every game plan with prescribed advice. However, not every position can be neatly classified into categories with tidy rules. Sometimes, we need to use judgement to evaluate cube action. Building sound judgement takes experience and analysis, but here is a small shortcut to get you going.…
-
Using reference positions
Having studied the appropriate cube action for a variety of position classes (such as holding games or blitz games), we have clear instructions for cube handling in a set of well-defined situations. In this article, we will learn how we can use these positions as reference positions to dramatically expand the domain in which our…
-
Doubling in priming games
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:…
-
Backgame Cubes by Dan Rovira
[10:56] A beginner’s lesson on backgames cube action on the Backgammon is Beautiful Youtube channel.
-
Doubling in backgames
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…