Hi

I've just started playing backgammon and would like to know some good sites to play online. From reading some of the posts in this forum I gather that playing for money online is not recommended so I would like to know what sites offer free play but have a good player pool that takes the games seriously.

Ive been playing a bit on Yahoo Games but all the players either want to play 101 matches with auto double to 128 so I can't really practice doubling decisions. Also a ton of the players on there are complete a$$holes who try and force you to quit by slow playing as soon as you take a lead, or by refusing to double in 101 matches.

Also could anyone recommend any good backgammon software that will analyze my games from a given site.

Thanks

Of the public and easily accessible places, FIBS (http://www.fibs.com) is the best choice. Playok.com and Gamecolony.com have been mentioned a few times, but the level of play is reportedly lower here (I like Playok.com for other games since they no longer require Java applet downloads and switched to HTML5, so I can play on my tablet, but I never tried BG there). All of those beat Yahoo Games.

eXtreme Gammon 2 (http://www.extremegammon.com) allows the import of matches in various formats. It's the best choice on Windows, and it is very inexpensive, too.