Recently I had the pleasure of playing backgammon with a delightful retired couple at one of our regular group get-togethers.  They have played backgammon in several countries spanning a few decades.  They were very experienced players indeed!  As we sat down to play, I suggested that we play a five-point match in order to allow time for each player to play against every other player who showed up that night.  I was surprised to find that the concept of playing a match to a specific point score was totally foreign to my new friends.  As it turns out, they normally play the traditional open-ended “Money Game” style of backgammon and had not played the closed-ended “Match” that is more common in tournaments, online games, and even live over-the-board games where there is a group of players who all want to play with everybody else in the group.

Traditionally, “normal” backgammon is a gambling game and the “points” equate to money won or lost.  When two people play a money game, the game may be open-ended in terms of points/money.  You might play for a specified amount of time, and then settle up the bets when the time runs out.  Or you might agree to play until one player is ahead by a specified point/dollar amount, and then end the game and settle up.  Like a Poker game, a backgammon money game can go on for a long time, depending on what the players have agreed to.  In this sense, a money game can be thought of as “open-ended.”

Match play is more closed-ended, where the players agree to a specific number of points, and they play until one of the players has met or exceeded that score and is declared the “winner” of that match.  In a tournament, that winner would go on to the next “round” in the tournament, and the loser would be eliminated.  By limiting the number of points to a match — five points is common — the matches move along quickly and several “rounds” can be completed in order to declare an overall “winner” of the tournament in a reasonable amount of time.  The winner may win some kind of tournament prize.

The doubling cube adds an important dimension to the game.  It forces you to really evaluate the strength of your position at various points during a game.  Used well, the doubling cube will help you to win more matches, or to win more money in a money game.  There are some important differences in how the doubling cube is played in a Money Game vs. a Match, and there are even some official rules that typically apply to one but not the other.  Some examples are:

• Crawford Rule: This applies to match play, but not to money games.  Under this rule, when one player is one point away from winning the match, for the following one game only, the doubling cube may will not be used.   The reasoning for this is pretty simple: If you are only one point away from winning, you have nothing to gain by doubling the other player.  Similarly, if you have the lower score in the match and your opponent is one point away from winning, you would double automatically, because you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  The Crawford Rule therefore requires the lower scoring player to win a game before being able to use the cube again.  The normal point multipliers of one point for a win, two points for a gammon and three points for a backgammon do still apply during the Crawford Game.
• Automatic Doubles: This optional rule may apply to a money game, but not to match play.  Under this rule, when the players both roll the same number on the opening roll, the stakes are automatically doubled for that game, and the doubling cube is advanced to “2″ while remaining in the middle.  When players agree to use this optional rule, they also agree on how many automatic doubles will be applied to a game, typically specifying a maximum of one automatic double.
• Jacoby Rule: This rule also only applies to money games, and states that gammons and backgammons are scored as a single game if neither player has offered the doubling cube during that play.  This is to discourage a player from prolonging a game by not offering the doubling cube because his lead is “too good” to double.
• Beaver: This optional rule is often used in money games, but never in match play.  This rule says that a player who accepts the doubling cube may immediately redouble without waiting until it is his turn to do so, and still retain possession of the cube.   These additional doubles are called “Raccoon,” “Otter,” etc.

In a money game, you are free to double your opponent before your turn anytime that you have possession of the cube.  But in a match game, it would be pointless to double your opponent when you are only one point away from winning the match.  Similarly if your opponent is a point away from winning the match, and it is the post-Crawford game, you should always double at your first opportunity.

In a money game, each game is separate and you “settle” up your bets at the end of each game, or when you reach your agreed time/dollar limit.  The “winner” basically wins money.  In a match game, since you don’t play for money, the “winner” of the match basically just wins the match, or maybe some kind of prize.  Match play is more about the love of playing rather than being about winning money.

This summarizes some of the key points that make Match Play different than Money Games.  To avoid confusion, it is important to always agree to which type of game you are playing at the start, and which rules/options will be used.  This keeps everyone “on the same page” and avoids misunderstandings.

You’ve just begun playing a money session and roll an opening 2-1.  Basically, you have 2 reasonable choices – split with 24/23  13/11, or slot with 13/11  6/5.  You are far enough along in your backgammon training to realize that 24/21 or 13/10 don’t do anything particularly well on either side of the board.  So which one will it be?  For money, GNU 2-ply ranks the split .002 higher than the  slot.  Even for those who consistently play at a world class level, this difference is virtually negligble and thus it comes down to a matter of one’s own style.  If you tend to play on the conservative side, you will likely favor the split, while those who play aggressively will make the slot.  But what about those factors that the bots cannot take into consideration, such as who is sitting across the board from you?  Personally, if I feel I am a better player than my opponent I will slot, since it generally leads to more complicated games where strategy plays a greater factor.  If I feel I am the inferior player, I will split, hoping for a pure racing game with minimal contact.  For money (or any long match that is basically at a money-type score, such as 15-away, 15-away, it’s a close call.

Now let’s consider match play where one player has a big lead.  Trailing 17-away, 3-away, I’m now making a .028 error by splitting rather than slotting.  Maximizing gammon chances takes on much more importance, making slotting the only viable option.  Splitting in this scenario basically is saying I hope outroll my opponent.  Personally, I want as few of these type situations as possible.  Sometimes, through no fault of your own, you find yourself needing to roll better dice than your opponent as the only means to winning the game.  That’s fine, can’t be helped, and after all that’s why we play backgammon, because of the fascinating mixture of luck and skill that it requires.  But if you can, as much as possible, put yourself in the position of not having to necessarily roll “golden” dice, then you are making life a lot easier for yourself.  In fact, sometimes I think the entire essence of backgammon boils down to this one thing – placing the checkers in such a way that regardless of the roll, you can accomplish something constructive, whether it be blocking, running, slotting, splitting, etc.  At less lopsided scores than 17-away, 3-away, obviously the equity difference will be smaller, but still hardly inconsequential.   

In Bill Robertie’s “Modern Backgammon”, he opens the book by saying that the evolution of backgammon philosophy has followed three dominant modes of thinking; pre-1970′s the game was essentially played as a race, and most beginners still play it this way.  Playing things ultra-safe, this leads to checkers working in an inefficient manner, big stacks, and ultimate disaster.The next major style of play was the “pure” mode; this tended to leave one open to more risk than was necessary.  While it did produce complicated positions, eventually backgammon play improved to such a degree that it negated the complexity, while leaving the risk intact.  The point being, bold or safe “styles” are outdated concepts.  One should not always split an opening 2-1 simply because “that’s my style.”  The best path is what Robertie refers to as the “imperative of efficiency.”  That is, “it requires you to take exactly as much risk as is consistent with the logic of the position.”  

The moral here is to forget about styles of play.  While it is certainly important to play to your own strengths, as well as being able to measure the skill level of your opponent, not factoring in match score (or just the position in general if you’ve reached post-opening status) when considering checker play will cost you massive amounts of equity in the long run.  Ignore it at your own peril.

Non-believers ask why I spend such a high percentage of my precious free time studying backgammon problems.  “It’s just a game with dice, right?”  The implication, of course, is that any game with dice must be determined predominately by luck, with skill coming in a distant second.  I’ve heard this tired trope so many times that I can barely stand to respond anymore, save for a shrug of the shoulders, and a mumbled reply something along the lines of “Would you like to play an 11-pointer for money?”  To the non-fanatic, a game that is so easy to learn cannot possibly go any deeper than racing your checkers around the board and hoping you roll more double sixes than your opponent.

Allow me then the oppportunity to disabuse any beginners out there of this silly notion.  It turns out that upon closer examination, backgammon is in fact one of the more complex pursuits out there.  And this, in my opinion, is what makes it so beautiful.  The more you study, the more you realize how much more there is to learn.  Far from being frustrated by this discovery, I was inspired to play and study as much as my time allowed, so that I could find out how much more I didn’t know about this “simple” game.

So how does one well-versed in the intricacies of backgammon respond to said non-believer other than challenging them to a longish match or a solid right cross to the temple?  Well, there are a number of things you could bring up that point to the incredible complexity of this great game.

Ever rolled double ones during the middle game and played them absolutely “perfectly” according to the bots?  It turns out that rolling doubles is a kind of double-edged sword, enabling you to gain an advantage racing-wise, but also offering up an opportunity to blunder horribly.  Beginners tend to move most quickly when rolling doubles, perhaps energized by what they perceive to be a great roll.  But this is precisely the time when they should take the most time in moving their checkers, because the odds of them making a very bad move are highest.

And what about that large cube in the middle of the board?  The advent of the doubling cube changed the entire nature of backgammon, adding a level of complexity unknown to previous generations.  Now, if one wishes to engage in match play, there are all kinds of things to consider before rolling the dice.  The position, the match score, the skill level of your opponent, even his/her mood all suddenly become relevant factors in your thinking.  Cube action alone could become one’s life work.

Endgame bearoffs, when not played correctly (even wrong by tenths of a percentage point) can lead to huge changes in equity and turn a potential gammonish position into a losing one.  If your opponent has timed a backgame well enough, you have to know when to clear the rear checkers and when to leave spares, or else be in mortal danger.  And of course, by this time it’s likely you’ve turned the cube already, so you could be in the awkward position of having the cube whipped right back in your face – I’ve been there, it’s not pleasant.

All of which is certainly not meant to discourage the beginner – quite the contrary.  I emphasize backgammon’s complexity in order to offer you a challenge to play and study , study and play, so that you can find out for yourself how wonderfully convoluted this game can be.  All humans crave escape at some point.  Haven’t you ever wanted to get so lost that finding your way back seemed beside the point?  Get lost in backgammon, and start playing/studying now.  And to all those chess and Go players who scoff at the idea of backgammon being anything other than a luckfest, I invite you to visit the OCBA every third Thursday of the month and find out for yourself!

I remember learning to play backgammon when I was in high school back in the 1970s. My buddy Bosco and I had been playing checkers and when he flipped the board over onto its back we saw that it had lots of pointy triangles down the sides. “What the heck is backgammon anyway?” one of us asked, and we proceeded to read the brief instruction sheet. About the only thing we absorbed from the instructions was the part about “the one who gets all his checkers off the board first, wins the game.” Of course at that point, checkers went flying across the room in every direction! I think Bosco may have “won” that first game.

After that first quick game, we learned a bit more about the game.  “Hey, it says here something about using dice!”  That aspect did seem to make the game a bit more interesting, along with the concept of taking “turns” playing the game.  No more free-for-all, the game was starting to make more sense.  We learned to play, and we invited our friends to play too.  By the late 1970s, I was off to college and it seemed like just about everyone was playing backgammon!  Clubs were popping up everywhere and backgammon strategy books were HOT.  I remember reading “Backgammon for Blood” and thinking I really had the edge on everyone.

That was how I got started playing backgammon. Who would have guessed that a couple of geeky high school kids would be responsible for starting such a worldwide craze?  Well, at least that is how WE saw it.  But then something happened in the 1980s.  People gradually stopped playing so much.  I had a career blossoming and played less and less.  Oh sure, I would play with my Dad and brothers when I went home to visit at Thanksgiving, but for the most part, the backgammon game was retired, snoozing in the back of the closed like some Rip Van Winkle.  The 1990s flew by like a blur, virtually gammon-free.

Then, one day out of the blue, Bosco sent me an email “invitation” to play a game of backgammon online.  I thought it was kind of a joke, but I Accepted, and soon we were playing at “It’s Your Turn”, a turn based board games website.  It was kinda fun, even if it did seem slow, playing one turn and then waiting — an hour, a day, a week or maybe longer — until the game came back to me to play another turn.  After awhile, it actually became fairly addicting.  I had dozens of games “in play” at any given time, with players from around the world!  We played in ladders and tournaments, gaining fame and notoriety in the virtual world of online backgammon.

A couple years later, it was again Bosco who sent me an invitation to play at a new site, “Daily Gammon”.  This one had a really cool twist, where it predicts your opponent’s next move and allows you to enter another move — sometimes several moves — before sending the game back to the opponent to move, allowing you to still play at your own pace but to also get a bit more “momentum” going.  That turned out to be a really nice way to play, so we kept playing there.

After playing online for several years, I did have a desire to play some live in-person games, but I didn’t know anyone who really understood the game and liked to play, so I started looking for local places to meet other players.  Through the Meet-Up network, I found a small group that was playing once a month at a local coffee shop, so I gave them a visit.  I was really impressed!  They had about six to eight players that showed up monthly, and we had a great time.  But as the months progressed, some people moved out of the area, another had a baby, others lost interest, and gradually the group was disbanded.

A couple of years went by and then I got a note from Paul, one of the players from the previous Meet-Up group, saying he was interested in getting back together to play.  Well that made two of us.  We met at the old coffee shop, only to discover that it was out of business.  So we drove a couple of blocks down the street to the next coffee shop, Kean Coffee, and we have been meeting there monthly ever since.  We get an occasional visitor or two to join us now and then, but we would really like to grow the group and get more games, or even small tournaments, going.

Last week, one of our occasional visitors asked about how we are promoting our group.   We have static listings on some of the game related websites, with contact info.  And from time to time, I place ads on Craig’s List inviting people to join us.  As we chatted a bit, I realized, “Hey, I could put together a blog/website for the group!”  I have been playing around with HTML lately and learning a bit about how to put together a website.  I already had a web hosting service provider, and had been playing around with the blogging software as a hobby, so it was pretty quick and painless to put together a site.  And that is how I became the Webmaster and OCBackgammon.org was born.

There were a few key events along the way that got me here.  If Bosco hadn’t looked under the checker board, that whole 1970s backgammon boom thing might never have happened!  As we inaugurate this new website, I look forward to the potential it has to foster a new Orange County Backgammon community that will grow and bring people closer together for years to come.

By the way, even though we live on opposite sides of the continent, Bosco and I continue to play backgammon nearly every day.  So to that I say, “Thanks Bosco, I probably wouldn’t be here if not for you!”

Under construction and coming soon, a web meeting place for backagmmon players in Orange County, California.