This came up and I dropped without feeling I was going too far astray. Dropping turns out to be a huge blunder though. My reasons for dropping - I have two pips exposed and he has 4 spares zoning in on his home board. PRAT and I'm behind on every one of them.

Any help appreciated.

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According to the PRAT heuristic this seems to be a drop. However, if you take, then ownership of the cube gets very powerful as it is a 3-game. That's the only clue I have.

PRAT is a helpful guideline for doubling in the early game or middle game. It's not as useful in the take/drop department. You'll find plenty of positions where you're behind somewhat in every phase but you still have an easy take.

Here's a good example. You're a little behind in the race (11 pips), his board is a little better than yours (3 points to 2) and he has some threats which aren't crushing (he hits you on the bar, and you mostly reenter on his 3-point board). On the plus side, you have your 5-point and a great distribution of spares. You have no stacks, no ugly gaps, and no checkers out of play.

Verdict: reasonable initial double and easy take.

You are only a bit behind in each category but it's not overwhelming.

Race: You are down in the race but not crushed.

Position: worse but not hopeless.
You are outboarded but you have the 5 point.
Note the extra point is the 3 point, not the 4 point. This is subtle but significant. 6/5/4 is much better than 6/5/3.
You have 2 back to 1 back, true, but have good structure and counterplay against his lone man should you anchor somewhere.

Threats: he is threatening but can't do everything this roll.
Most likely he hits your man on the bar point and then you anchor somewhere.
And sometimes he misses.
Then most likely you anchor somewhere or hit back. Note that with your 5 point made any return shot is huge. You have the beginning of a nice block already.
If you just anchor somewhere you are worse but the game isn't hopeless and life goes on. Note again you have decent counterplay against his lone man and if all else fails you play from whatever anchor you get for the long-term.

Of course you could get rolled up and gammoned in an epic fail. That's backgammon - why he must double you now.

A couple of points I use when using PRAT.

1. For Race I consider an advantage to be 10% of the doublers pipcount to be significant. Here 10% of 136 = 13.6 or 14 pips and black does not lead by 14 pips.

2. For position I want Boardage as defined by Norm Wiggins in his underrated "Boards, Blots and Double Shots" http://www.bkgm.com/books/Wiggins-Bo...ubleShots.html Boardage = having 2 more points in your inner board than your opponent. Here you only have small Boardage (one more point).

Wow, some very helpful replies. I've completely been misapplying PRAT, so this has been an eye-opener.

The trick is not going to be over applying this and now accepting definite drops!

Thanks.