Why wouldn't you hit?

Well, 6/5*/off does leave two extra shots as compared to 6/off. That's an extra 5.5% hits, most of which are losses. Nothing to sneeze at.

One could also consider 6/5* 6/1, which both hits and leaves only the 11 direct shots.

Two more things: DMP = no gammons = zero upside to hitting. Also this is pretty much a last roll position. So I suspect maximum safety is best.

I play 6/off.

Well crap, Peachpie, you're right. The 2 extra shots (5/1 & 1/5) didn't even occur to me, and explains why I got hit with a blunder for playing 6/5*/off. Amazing how the rust can creep up.

For maximum safety, I would play 6/5* 6/1 because White can then enter with a 6 and not bother us again.

If we go 6/off, there's always the danger to roll 1-1 next roll and give him a slight chance to hit us back if he dances a few times.

I like 6/5* 6/1 as well

You definitely get hit a little more if you play 6/5* 6/1 vs. 6/1/off. Also, the checker off is worth something when hit, so 6/1/off is clear at the score. If gammons counted and the cube was turned there'd be more to think about. Or if the race was closer.

You're overlooking the fact that you sometimes get hit down the line if you play 6/5* 6/1 and then White dances for awhile. Not particularly likely, but it's a lot more likely than the sequence where Black rolls 1-1 and then White dances for awhile.

True, although the chances of that are tiny. And black will still win a good chunk of those even if he gets closed out, thanks to so many men already off. Plus what Z said.

If you play 6/5* 6/1, White can hit with any 5 (11 shots). If you play 6/1*/0, White can hit with any 6 + 5-1 (13 shots). So I'm not sure about the bolded part.

As for the checker off being worth something, it's true but it's probably very small since we would then have an odd number of checkers left and the chance is rather good that we can bearoff in chunks of 2 checkers (or 4 with doubles) without skipping a beat.


Again, not sure I understand the bolded part. Sure, you'll sometimes be hit down the line after 6/5* 6/1 and several White dances. But so will you (at about the same frequence) with 6/1*/0 and the same White dances.


Looking forward to your next reply, because you're certainly a much better player than I am and there's probably something I'm missing right now.

You're thinking I'm recommending the play 6/5* 5/off, where I'm actually recommending 6/1 1/off (no hit).

Oh I see, misread from my part.

Sorry for all that. The only thing I don't like with 6/1/0 is that you cannot slow down White with a few dances, but the race isn't close so White would still need a few jokers to sneak back into contention.