Backgammon Strategies

If you’re new to the world of  online backgammon, one of the most important things you need to do is develop a winning strategy. And when it comes to strategy, most seasoned backgammon fans will tell you that creating and holding onto a game plan is a crucial to achieving a consistent level of success.

While backgammon has many variables and circumstances can change from one roll of the die to the next, you can try and keep ahead of your opponent by calculating your next move. A sound strategy is to learn and keep in mind the best action for every scenario. You can read about several well-known and established strategies below.

When you are significantly trailing your opponent in backgammon, you may wish to apply the Backgame strategy. This involves building two or more anchors inside the home board of your opponent. This attempts to throw your opponent’s game plan into disarray while you get ready for the game conditions to work in your favour. You can also slow your opponent’s game down by adopting the holding strategy. This is simply making sure that you try to hit as many of your opponent’s checkers as possible once they approach his home board. This can significantly distract your opponent by forcing him to play backgammon defensively.

The Priming game strategy involves building a wall of checkers that should cover six points on the backgammon board. This is designed to prevent your opponent from moving his checkers toward his home board. An even more aggressive strategy is known as the Blitz, which is a variation of the Priming strategy and involves keeping your opponents checkers on the bar by closing your home board as quickly as possible thereby preventing him from bringing his checkers back into the game.

The Running strategy is one to use when luck is going your way. As its name suggests, this strategy involves moving your checkers quickly around the backgammon board as possible while avoiding possible hits and blockages caused by your opponent. You can combine this strategy with some of the aforementioned strategies to finish a game once you’ve taken care of your opponent.

Another useful strategy is to obtain as much information as you can on your opponents strengths and weaknesses and how they use the backgammon board. You should study your opponent’s previous game plans in order to recognize his habits and the escape routes he may employ to get away from some of your more aggressive strategies.

Finally, a simple list of do’s and don’ts should help you to incorporate the following into your successful backgammon strategy. Firstly, make sure you always keep your checkers in pairs to protect them from your opponent’s hits. Secondly, refrain from attempts to hit your opponent when you have two or more checkers in your home board. Lastly, if you like to gamble on your backgammon game, make sure you begin with small amounts you are confident your strategy is a successful one.