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Originally Posted by pilliapina
I was wondering why the play is bar/22 3/2* to hit rather than bar/21 to make the anchor. I would guess it's because we are so far ahead in the race and our home board is stronger than on opponents and we have a decent 4 point prime (5 point broken?) prime.
Reasons to play 3/2*:
1) Your spare on the 3 isn't doing you much good sitting there.
2) You would prefer that your opponent not to advance the back anchor.
3) You have a strong board, so putting your opponent on the bar is good.
4) Your opponent has a weak board, so you should be playing more boldly.
Reasons not to play B/21:
1) You don't need an anchor back there. You're trying to race around.
2) Leaving blots isn't actually that much of a liability. Your opponent doesn't want to leave blots by attacking loose and doesn't even want to roll that prime forward right now.
3) Having your checkers on the same point means that you are less flexible. Look at how combinations of 1, 2, and 4 play if you make the anchor. But if you don't make the anchor, you have fewer unproductive numbers.
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Is this the when on the offence stay on the offence principle?
Meh... I'm not sure this is a good principle. There are definitely times to switch gears. I think it's better to assess the situation for what it is, and not based on what you did on the previous roll.
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I'm a long time 2+2 member and poker player, small stakes live poker mostly. I recently got into Backgammon with my girlfriend and we are playing together and studying XG together.
Good luck. I picked up BG a while ago and have kind of drifted away over the last few years. But I've enjoyed learning it and it's a fun game to play.