Backgammon tips for better checker play

Rules of thumb are easy to memorize and easy to misuse. The tips below come with the reason behind each one, so you can tell when a tip applies and when the position calls for something else. They are aimed at players who know the rules and want to stop losing games to avoidable mistakes.

1. Always have a plan

Before each move, ask what you are trying to do. Are you racing, building a prime, holding an anchor or attacking? The plan may change from one roll to the next, but a move made without one tends to drift. If you have one back checker left and need to escape, running it can be right even when it leaves a double shot, because staying back may cost more. If the opponent has one straggler behind your points, slotting and hitting aggressively to contain it is often right. The main plans are described in backgammon strategy.

2. Find at least two candidate moves

The worst checker play errors are rarely a matter of choosing the second-best move from a good list. They happen when the best move was never considered. Before you touch a checker, find two or three different ways to play the roll: one that hits, one that makes a point, one that stays safe. Then compare them. This habit alone saves more points than any single piece of theory.

3. If you must leave a blot, count the shots

When every play leaves something to hit, prefer the blot that fewer rolls hit. A blot six points away is hit by 17 rolls of 36; one eleven points away by only 2. Blots seven or more points away need both dice, so they are much safer than close ones. The full table is on the backgammon math page.

4. Put the blot where it helps if it is missed

Among blots that are about equally risky, choose the one that does the most good if it survives. A builder aimed at your 5-point or bar point gives you a strong point next turn. A blot sitting on a point you will never use is pure risk.

5. Value the right points

Not all points are equal. Your 5-point is usually the most valuable early in the game, followed by the 4-point and the bar point. These points block the opponent's back checkers and form the core of a prime. Your 1-point and 2-point are too deep to block much, so making them early often takes checkers out of play.

6. Stay flexible

Avoid stacking many checkers on one point. Six checkers on your 6-point do the work of two; the rest are idle. Spread your spare checkers so that many different rolls play well next turn. Diversified builders, spare checkers spaced at different distances from the point you want to make, give you more good numbers.

7. Hit when it gains tempo

A hit costs the opponent the pips the checker had traveled and part of a turn, because they must enter before anything else. Hitting is especially strong when your home board is better than theirs and when the hit also stops them from making a key point. Hitting loose in your own board is riskier when the opponent's board is strong, because a return hit hurts you more.

8. Bear off safely when there is contact

If the opponent still holds a point in your home board, clearing points from the back and avoiding gaps matters more than taking off the most checkers. Taking one checker off less is better than leaving a blot that loses the game.

9. Learn the match score

In match play, the score changes the value of gammons and cube decisions. One clear example: after the Crawford game, the player who is behind should double at the first chance, because they lose nothing by it. Many players learn a match equity table to make these decisions with numbers rather than guesses.