I'm a backgammon newbie. For the past few weeks I've been messing around with GNU. I started out mostly playing 5 point matches (my wife has played casually for a while, so I picked up the habit from her) but given comments in this forum that it's easier to learn playing cash games I've switched over to doing that. This position came up in a game yesterday, and since it seems kinda similar to the problem of the week I figured it might be worth a post.

In this position, I don't think anyone would attempt a blitz. Red has a much better position that the opponent in the problem of the week. I'm guessing bar/23*/17 is the right play by a wide margin.

I agree with above. There is no hope here for the blitz. I just enter with the hit and come out. If I were playing from GNU's position here I also re whip from the roof.

To my limited knowledge, compared to the problem of the week, you have two key problems that we don't face in them.

1) Your opponent has much better home board/outfield control here.

and

2) Your checker postions in and around your home board are much less fluid, with less options available to you when attempting a blitz.

This means that getting hit back is much worse due to 1, and your chances of mounting a successful blitz are much harder due to 2 (and sometimes a little to do with point 1 if you are forced to crunch your board later if a man gets stuck). This all makes the bold play much more risky than in the problem of the week, and the risk reward ratio we are endlessly striving to balance in backgammon swing a little too far in one direction compared to the escaping play.

And gammons are already live here. If you get hoovered, you lose 4 instead of 1.

Hi,

nice picture from Rene Magritte,

greetings k.

First estimation:

XGID=baA--BGaAB-----ab-bb-bbAA-:1:-1:-1:00:0:0:3:0:10

Player Winning Chances: 54,12% (G: 19,00% B: 1,82%)
Opponent Winning Chances: 45,88% (G: 23,87% B: 3,61%)

Cubeless Equities: No Redouble=+0,016, Redouble=+0,011

Cubeful Equities:
No Redouble: +0,194
Redouble/Take: -0,628 (-0,823)
Redouble/Drop: +1,000 (+0,806)

Best Cube action: No Redouble / Beaver

eXtreme Gammon Version: 1.21

A redouble from the roof after the kill might be a XXL whopper.


The main problem is the superstacked 6. Put two men from there at other places and only one man hitting is a serious error. By the way, what moves lead to the candlestick? What for example 31 makes to the best opening move by far is the issue to make the best inner board and blocking point with unstacking the heavy 6point.

I opened with 51 and played 13/8 24/23, GNU then hit twice and after that there weren't really any opportune rolls. Prior to this position, the two errors I made according to supremo GNU were doubling prematurely (I'd escaped my back checkers and had two left on the midpoint and a ~30 pip race lead, GNU was anchored on my bar point with a checker on my 1, I had the same four points as in the diagram. -.09 on double/take vs. no double) and another one that still didn't involve unstacking the 6. Following the double we got into a blot hitting exchange that led to this position.