Online Gaming: Backgammon
Written by Jenny Ramone
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
If you love playing backgammon, you really should investigate online backgammon playing, a game identical to the live version with the exception that it’s available 24/7 and an opponent (either human or computer) is never hard to find. If you’re a beginner, you may even prefer playing backgammon online because you can make your mistakes privately and learn from them without the embarassment of having a live opponent. In this article, we’ll discuss general online backgammon playing strategy with an eye toward helping you improve your game.
Strategy #1: Keep an eye on your checker distribution. A good strategy for online backgammon is to have your checkers distributed more or less evenly across the board. The reason for this is that if you have your checkers evenly distributed, you’ll be in a better position to utilize more of the possible rolls that might come up. Don’t stack more than six checkers on a point.
Strategy #2: Minimize advantageous rolls for your opponent. This is related to the checker distribution strategy in that if, for example, you arrange your checkers so that your opponent is forced to roll a certain value, you are limiting his ability to gain an advantage in strategic online backgammon.
Strategy #3: A good backgammon strategy is to keep checkers off low-numbered points, as this will restrict your actions later on in the game. For example, don’t place checkers on low points early in the game, especially points 1 and 2.
Strategy #4: Don’t overthink bearing off. Remember that in a sound strategy for backgammon, it’s usually to your advantage to bear off checkers with both dice, rather than worrying about equal distribution, etc.
Strategy #5: Open wisely. In backgammon, the maximum number of opening rolls is only 15. So, a good playing strategy for online backgammon is to learn which is the best move for each roll. That little bit of memorization will stand you in good stead later in the game.
Your online backgammon playing strategy will develop over time. But it never hurts to study a classic online backgammon strategy or two that have proven to be effective and advantageous to players in the past.
