Welcome to the Backgammon forum at 2+2. Any post relating to backgammon belongs in this forum, and the existing backgammon-related posts in the Other Gambling Games forum have been moved here. The Other Gambling Games forum now covers all games other than poker or backgammon.

Our view of what topics are acceptable here is pretty expansive. Almost anything relating to problems, strategy, tactics, tournaments, clubs, books, and magazines is fine. If you want to know how to get started in backgammon or how to improve, post your questions here and you’ll get some good advice.

There are, however, a couple of areas where the moderators will exercise some discretion:

Bad Beats. In poker, bad beat stories can be tediously routine and most forums declare them off limits. (“I was a 4-to-1 favorite on the river but he caught a spade to make his flush and blah, blah, blah.”) In backgammon, bad beats can be truly amazing. Everyone who’s played for a while can relate stories where they lost after being a 10,000-to-1 or 50,000-to-1 or more favorite. If you’ve got a story that you think is really, really weird and interesting, post it here. If we agree, it can stay. If it sounds like “My opponent rolled 6-6 on the last roll to beat me and this always happens and whine, whine, whine”, out it goes.

How to take the luck out of backgammon. If you’ve been losing lately, and you think backgammon has too much luck, and a small rules change would fix the game and allow the better player (you, of course) to win much more often, you’re wrong. Like poker, backgammon is an almost perfect blend of luck and skill. Alter the balance and the game disappears. Need more skill and less luck? Play chess.