I would like to get good at backgammon - Page 2 - Backgammon Forum - Discuss Backgammon Strategy, Clubs and Books

You can get a good overview of the math from:

http://www.bkgm.com/articles/GOL/Jun01/math.htm

Which is an article by Kit Woolsey on Backgammon Mathematics.

You can find all the information you would get from a beginner level book from the internet pretty easily, check out the articles at Backgammon Galore among other places. I am not knocking books, but with all the info on the internet I think you are better off to spend you money on books that are at least a step above beginner.

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08-10-2010 , 11:31 PM

#28

longmissedblind

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 3,736

and for the truly ocd you can play game after game against yourself. the dice make the game interesting, especially if you try to vary your style from side to side...

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08-15-2010 , 12:46 PM

#29

Quickturtle

newbie

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by longmissedblind

and for the truly ocd you can play game after game against yourself. the dice make the game interesting, especially if you try to vary your style from side to side...

LOL.... I must be really ocd cause I play against myself all the time. The roll of the dice makes it really interesting and some of the positions I come up with can be put in GNU ( or Snowie if you got it ) to analyze my play.

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09-12-2010 , 09:56 PM

#30

xyz3

centurion

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 144

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertie

Gnu and the other bots are excellent opponents, but if you're a genuine beginner they won't help you that much. You'll lose almost all the games and you won't be able to figure out why Gnu's moves are better than what you would have done.

Start with some good beginner books that explain the basic principles of the game, read them a couple of times, and then you'll be ready to start using the bots. Here's a couple of recommendations:

Backgammon for Winners
Backgammon for Serious Players
Starting Out in Backgammon
Backgammon for Blood (by Chris Bray, NOT the Bruce Becker version)

These are all available on Amazon. Skip the 501 Essential Problems for now. It assumes you're familiar with what's in these books.

If you'd rather learn from videos, there's a couple of video series on backgammon on a site called Drag the Bar.

Hope this helps.

Do you suggest choosing from this list or just getting all of them? I mean do they have similar material or do they complete each other?

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09-12-2010 , 10:37 PM

#31

Robertie

old hand

Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 1,954

Quote:

Originally Posted by xyz3

Do you suggest choosing from this list or just getting all of them? I mean do they have similar material or do they complete each other?

There's no harm in getting all of them. While there's some overlap, each book contains plenty of material not found in the others.

When I started learning backgammon, I read every book on the subject that was available in bookstores at the time. It was a good experience, even though some of the books were terrible and I never looked at them again. At least the books on this list are all good.

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09-13-2010 , 11:45 PM

#32

xyz3

centurion

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 144

Why is Chris Bray's BG for Blood so expensive? On Amazon there are 3 sellers selling a used version and the cheapest one is $80 and the new ones start from $40 and go up to $130 (Amazon itself isn't selling it). I couldn't find it in stores either.

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09-14-2010 , 05:15 PM

#33

Robertie

old hand

Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 1,954

Quote:

Originally Posted by xyz3

Not quite sure what is driving this phenomenon, but it's developed in the last couple of years. There are companies that list both new and used books on Amazon at absurd prices, apparently hoping to stumble across someone who will spend the money. I sell "Modern BG" for $45 from the Gammon Press, but it's listed on Amazon from other companies at $120 and up. I doubt that anyone every sells a copy at that price, but the listings are free, so they stay up forever.

Bray's book originally sold for something like $15-$20, and that's all I would pay for it.

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09-14-2010 , 09:17 PM

#34

Willpoker

newbie

Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 24

Quote:

Originally Posted by xyz3

There are a number of new copies of the UK version of Chris Bray's Backgammon for Blood book, Backgammon to Win: Play Like a Pro Both Online and Off available on AbeBooks at reasonable prices (in or below the range that Robertie mentioned above). According to Chris Bray, (aside from the title) "The only difference between the UK and US versions of the book is that my criticism of the original "BG for Blood" has been tactfully removed from the US version" (see this link for the reference). http://www.bkgm.com/rgb/rgb.cgi?view+1430

Last edited by Willpoker; 09-14-2010 at 09:47 PM.

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09-17-2010 , 06:48 AM

#35

Quickturtle

newbie

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluegrassplayer

I just started getting into backgammon and downloaded gnu, I was wondering is there a way to set up a board and then ask what you think is the correct play?

You can google for the GNU pdf. It's very good at explaining everything that GNU can do and has screenshots to make it easy to see how your settings should be.

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