I'm not a great backgammon player by any means, but I have happened across some poker clubs where some of the regs will gamble on backgammon. They play very conservative, amateurish games so even if I'm not much of a favorite yet I'm pretty sure I will be soon.

These guys have no problem gambling for hundreds at poker or blackjack, but the most I've played them in Backgammon for is $4 a point. I'm looking for some ways to entice them to gamble bigger.

Are there some handicaps that I can offer that will seem like a much bigger advantage than they really are? Perhaps even some "trick" handicaps that are actually an advantage for me?

There are some classic propositions that work well in this respect.

One of the best is "Double 1s versus the cube". You ask your opponent "Would you rather start a game with double-aces, or owning the cube?" Whatever answer he gives, you offer to take the other side. If he's confident of his choice, he'll probably be willing to play for more than $4/point.

(In fact, doubles 1s is slightly favored in this prop, but it's close. The whole idea is to get something going where your skill can tell, and the way to do that is by letting your opponent think he's getting the better of it.)

Another idea is to just play until you see your opponent make a cube decision that looks like a big blunder. After the game, offer to play it as a prop. Since the position came up naturally, and since he's already tied his ego into the wrong choice, you should have an easier time getting a prop started.

But the last point is to recognize that time is on your side. If the BG stakes are trivial compared to the poker stakes, just wait and they will eventually start playing for more naturally.

Good Post. Thanks.

Just one question, when typically playing backgammon for money betting a fixed unit / point. How many games do you usually play? Typically when I play, the cube either never gets offered or is only offered once per game, so usually we do not get much gambling going on, and even after play say 3 or 5 games, we will never end up having wagered very much. Since, usually the only points getting paid are the ones we are awarding for different victories.

I'm sorry if that is unclear, it is not a question of getting the action up'd it is a question of how often usually should we be playing for to ensure we get a decent amount of gambling going. Or does the doubling really not come into play all that often?

From your comments, it sounds like you're handling the cube too conservatively, with most games ending at the one level. With proper cube play, probably only 30-35% of the games should end at that level. The rest will involve a good double and a good take, with games ending at the 2, 4, and 8-levels. Maybe even a 16-game if things get exciting.

BG money play generally takes one of several standardized forms.

Private clubs will usually have a regular chouette going several days a week. At the old Ace-Point Club in NY in the 1990s, for instance, a $25 chouette would start around 3-4pm and continue until past midnight. Usually these games have a few regulars and a rotating crew of occasional players. The game used to start with as few as three players and get up to 6-8 players in the evenings, tapering off at late night. By the end of the evening, the big winner might be up $1k to $2k or more, with the big loser in the same range. That game went on pretty much 7 days a week for years.

A club might have multiple chouettes going at different price points. The Ace Point also used to have an occasional $100 game (Phil Laak was a regular there I recall) and a $5 game.

At tournaments, there will be chouettes in the evening after the tournament games are finished. $50 a point is a typical stake. During the 1990s, all the big tournaments had an ongoing $200 chouette with a regular cast of characters. The big winner in the chouette would pocket far more than the winner of the actual tournament.

At tournaments players might play the occasional head-up session, which would usually be limited to 10 or 20 games, agreed to in advance. Stakes could be anything.

If an interesting position arises, a prop may form, with the players betting on which side has the better of it. Usually players would contract for a set number of games, like 50 or 100.

As you can see, the heads-up backgammon session is actually somewhat rare. The BG money scene is really dominated by chouettes. They're a lot more fun and, for good players, more profitable as well.

Bots have affected things in the sense that props are always settled on the spot, before anyone has had a chance to do a Snowie rollout. Sometimes players will just skip the actual play and wager on the result of a rollout of such-and-such a ply level and so many games.

Most of the time games will involve missed cubes, bad doubles, bad takes, bad drops, bad beavers, whatever. But most games "should" end for 2 points while the remainder will end on 1 or a gammon or a 4 cube or whatever.

You would be extremely hard pressed to find any kind of regular chou for more than quarters these days. Most chous at tourneys are 5s or 10s, sometimes 20s or 25s.

I'm not sure what is more profitable. In chous you have more action but in HU you get to play more and if you know the right people you can play higher stakes games.

I prefer playing HU, personally.

wow. i hate to see my opponent's intitial roll of 11, but i also hate spotting the cube.

try offering the cube early since it sounds like your opps are likely to pass. hence the cube never gets to 2(really?) or if you find them takig everything, of coure tighten up.

I forgot about making that post until now - Thanks a ton for this post, very informative. Thanks a bunch.