Author: Orad Reshef
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Point on head
In backgammon, if given the option, it’s usually better to do two good things than only one good thing. The strongest example of this principle is if you can make an inner board point while also hitting one of your opponent’s checkers. This is known as “pointing on” or “pointing on head.” Let’s adjust the…
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Anchor up
One of the most important assets in a backgammon game, typically undervalued by new players, is an anchor: an inner board point in your opponent’s home board. You actually start every game of backgammon with the 24-pt anchor made, but this turns out to be the weakest one for a variety of reasons, and so…
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Intermediate checker play
We have laid the groundwork, learning about safe play and the different game plans. Finally, we are ready to start improving our play! We will begin with checker play, and will focus on cube play in a subsequent module. Here, we present some basic rules of thumb and the reasons for them, and hopefully will…
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Just make the 5-point
Following the last lesson, it should come as no surprise to learn of the importance of the 5-pt in your homeboard. It is the most important point on your board for many reasons: since it is an inner-board point, it enables a blitzing game plan by increasing your opponent’s dancing numbers; since it is adjacent…
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Jonah Seewald – Pip Counting Shortcuts
[1:01:10] A lecture with many examples of pip counting using clusters from the USBGF Women of Backgammon lecture series.
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How to install eXtreme Gammon on macOS
As of this writing, eXtreme Gammon (XG) is the most authoritative backgammon bot. This is despite the ticket price ($60), it having no new major releases since 2013 or any active development since 2015. Most damningly, XG only runs on Windows, making it inaccessible to Mac or Linux users. There are also more affordable cross-platform…