https://www.amazon.com/Backgammon-Ad.../dp/B0BD8T2ZKS

I’m very pro-memorizing-numbers but also like the idea of developing better intuition about match play. $64 seems steep though.

Hello,
I would like to hear more opinions also.
I dont understand why backgammon books are so expensive...

Also review for Zizka and dirk schiemann books would be great.

Anyone here has ressources for match scores specific (2-4 away, 4-3 away, take and double point) ? I only know bkgm, dirk schiemann books and kit woolsey article about 5-pt match and now the book of Blasier.

Backgammon books are expensive because there aren't many backgammon players who want to read backgammon books. The printer's cost of setting up a print run is the same whether it's for 1,000 books or 50,000 books. In addition, most new books are produced in Europe, where the cost of production is higher than in the U.S.

Thank you Bill, i understand.
It's hard to be a nerd, a backgammon nerd and also a low middle class member, because you want to read everything. But things are not bad at all, thanks to internet and many ressources free.

Maybe a solution is to sell electronic books. I think about contacting some well know author and ask if i can buy their books on a lower price but in PDF format.

I read Zizka’s book. I really wish I could recommend it — but I cannot. I regret having to say that.

Reasons:
1. The format is okay — it presents a series of game situations and he discusses how he would try to analyze scenarios and which are more likely. That is a good enough approach, except that it is random and I walk away with much less of series of principles that I can remember and incorporate into my game like I get from Michy or Robertie, et al.
2. They should have provided an editor, not just for the differences in spoken English, but several grammatical errors, typos, and hard to follow language. Also the examples donÂ’t often agree with the text.
3. The binding is ghastly. Although the paper is thick, it is so pooly bound that it comes apart in one reading. Now I have a stack of pages that I try to keep in order, but are not.

I discussed this with 2 BG HOF members at a tournament — we all reached the same conclusion.

Zizka is a great player and seems like such a nice guy so I really wanted to like the book — they should have provided better support to create a better product. Hope this helps.

I have to say I’ve been really disappointed with the quality of the stuff Backgammon Galaxy has been putting out. Cube Like a Boss was riddled with typos/bad English but at least the content was good enough to make up for it. But Holding Game Guru (by Stick Rice) was a total waste of $60 IMO. Same typos, but the content sucks (you get the sense that he was just setting up positions and changing random things and screenshotting the evaluations, rather than doing it with a plan, and the commentary largely consists of stuff like “I would have found this over the board”).

Not to mention the awful new site, the bizarre decision to divide the player pool between the sites, to not let you select who you play, and the scummy “coins” mechanic. Plus the unexpected analysis outage on the main site last week where they conveniently had a nice banner to direct people to the new site. It’s been nice to have a good site with a large player pool but I’m concerned it won’t last if they keep it up.

Lol I left the same review for Cube Like a Boss on Amazon. Good content but awful, easily-correctable, English

Totally agree with posts. Was initally excited that Stick Rice had a book — he is a wonderful player and teacher. Was also very disappointed for same reasons as sdfsgf — typos, stream of conscious phrases instead of sentences, etc. The binding comes apart at first reading, so I now have a bunch of loose papers which makes re-reading challenging — and makes me very reluctant to purchase a board from Galaxy because not sure quality what I will receive.

Galaxy needs to drastically improve support for authors — editorial for language and typos, correcting numerical errors and inconsistencies with verbiage and charts, and especially production.

Lastly, my conclusions were hilariously confirmed on P. 123 where Stick abruptly stopped a paragraph by saying “I don’t have time to coment on every last detail “ (smiley face included). When did you ever read an author writing that they “don’t have time” to fully explain something? Stick must have had a tennis lesson when he sent his very roug draft in — and they were printed for us to purchase. Ugh.

I am over halfway through it — highly recommend it. Did not realize how much I didn’t know about match score cube and checker decisions.

Over the years I learned some important math concepts like take points, etc, and also theory about when to start playing more aggressively, free drops, efficient cubes, etc. But Nick goes into great detail on each particular score situation, e.g., 4A2A, 4A3A, 3A2A, etc. with multiple examples that nicely demonstate his points and a lot of text describing the highlights. Great reference positions. He also offers great section summaries to further reinforce the learning. There is also cash game references mostly for comparison, but also helpful for chouette decisions and cash game play.

When done, I am going to put important reference positions into XG and move checkers around to get more feel for how race or positions can alter decisions.

For those of us who play tourneys, it is very helpful.

just my 2 pennies to the posts so far:

• for a non native speaker it is more difficult to speak correct English and you wont have the budget for a lector.
• I agree on the binding, editing stuff for all the galaxy books. I feel the layout could be better (At least stuff made with Latex looks far better to me)
• different to Bill I think the printing is not that expensive anymore due to on demand printing, at least the books from Bray were cheaper (but I don't know the Amazon fullfillment prices)
• I was a bit disappointed by Holding game Guru too, but it seems to be usefull, at least for me. I did quite well on the holding game section of Vogl book "Super Genius Quiz"
• Now to the Blasier book. I think it is very pragmatic. When you don't belong to the gifted ones, playing a PR lower than 5 you get some good rules to obey and don't make large blunders. The rules are even sorted by effort. Very Very reasonable content. Could be a bit better on the layout etc. side but its ok.
• dont liked the Zizka book too. One of the few I wont recommend

best
Frank

I read it and am halfway thru second reading — I highly recommend it.

I now understand better why my main source of blunders identified by Extreme Gammon was cube decisions. I was definitely unconsciously incompetent — didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Cube decisions have huge impact on PR and match outcomes, and I now know how much we need to vary action based on the match score. Nick drives the point home with some situations of dramatic shifts, e.g., many examples of cube action being No double/Take for money shift to opposite Double/Pass at 4 away doubling 2 away.

The book really suited my desired approach to backgammon — understanding the concepts in English, not detailed mathmatical formulas (gain/gain = risk, dividing by 1296, etc) that drained my brain and clock time OTB. As promised, it is an intuitive approach for adjusting cube decisions based on match scores.

I took lessons from a BG HOF member giant that is expert at the math and I spent time memorizing formulae and created mnemonics to help, but it didn’t translate for me nearly how much I learned from Nick’s book. The gifted Albert Einstein said: “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.“ I memorized, but now have a much better understanding based on having an intuitive feel for different actions at different match scores.

Nick offers a very nice blend of categories of score situations, several game-type examples (blitz, race, holding), and varies both the match scores and checker placement to demonstrate how decisions vary. With the repeated examples, I began to get a good feel for common situations and proper cube action for them. He added easy to understand verbiage and clear examples on how checker play strategy varies at DMP, Gammon-Go, and Gammon-Save, as well as post-Crawford.

The $60+ price was initially a deterent, but I realized two things:
1. Was contemplating a lesson from very good giant on same topic — it is $100 per hour and I would have gotten much less information
2. Improved performance should net a profit soon.

I will conclude with an example of how easily Nick’s methodology can be applied. I watched a steam of a match between two extremely recognized giants. One was way up in match, but lost a couple of games. He recubed to 4 in a situation where he was slight favorite to win in last-roll situation (game and match) with checkers on 4 point and 2 point, but it was easy take for opponent who would win the match if opponent rolled a 1. While he was thinking OTB, I calculated in a few seconds the proper action was No Redouble given the score, but giant recubed, rolled a 1, and lost the match very astonishingly given he was winning the entire way. The two giants discussed the decision after the game and verified using XG that it was indeed No Redouble. Before reading the book, I would probably also redoubled knowing that I was favorite to win and not understanding the dramatic match score impact.

Despite knowing that we might play each other sometime and I will regret you having greater insight, I highly recommend the book.