I'm always told to go 13/10 13/9, but it seems 13/10 24/20 is quite popular too. How do these two compare?

I had a game today when my opponent moved 13/10 24/20 on his opening 43, and I got to play 43 myself. What's the best play? I tried 13/9 8/5*, he got 44 to return...

The two 5-points are crucial in the opening, so once your opponent splits with 24/20, you have to fight for your 5-point if you can. Therefore 8/5* with your three is virtually forced. The four is a close decision between 24/20 (fighting for the defensive 5-point as well) or 13/9 (throwing everything into the attack). I have a slight preference for 24/20, but that part isn't a big deal. The key part is 8/5*.

What your opponent subsequently rolls has nothing to do with how well you played the move before. You made the correct decision to hit on the five point. I prefer the dynamics of having both five points slotted, but there's nothing bad about how you played your 4-3.

As an aside, I prefer 13/10, 13/9 on opening with a decent lead in a match. This is a conservative approach to avoiding more opportunities for my opponent to score a gammon. Otherwise I slot my opponent's five point.

Cashed, with a decent lead, I think playing two down with an opening 43 is the opposite of what you want to do--13/10 13/9 is probably the most gammonish way to play it. I usually play 24/21 13/9, but switch to 13/10 13/9 if I'm behind in the match. Splitting your back checkers should lead to more anchors and fewer gammons.

Edit: wait, are you saying you play 13/9 8/5 as an opening? That's bold.

Slotting his opponents five point. I know slotting is not the right term.

Oh! Reading comprehension: easily the hardest part of the SAT.

Not sure what the right term is, but yes I meant playing 24/20, 13/10 for an opening 4-3. When I can try for a five point instead, I don't like playing to establish an anchor on my opponent's four point, such as with 24/21, 13/9.

The three plays mentioned, 13/9 13/10, 24/21 13/9, and 24/20 13/10, are all thought to be about equal. Two down wins (and loses) a few more gammons, so that's my move if I'm trailing in a match. The split plays lead to fewer gammons, so they're good with a big match lead.

One merit of 24/20 13/10 is that it allows your opponent to make a very common mistake. With a 5-3 reply, he's supposed to hit, 13/5*, but most players will make the 3-point instead.

There's also a fourth play, the "Middle Eastern" play: 24/20 24/21. It's the most likely to secure an advanced anchor. Proper responses involve double-hitting whenever you can. If your opponent doesn't know to do this, it's probably the best play. If he does know, it's probably the worst.

I cannot understand the double-hitting. If our roll is 31, we would go 8/5*/4* instead of making 5p? If we rolled 43, we go 8/5* 8/4*?

To me, it has always seemed like 24/21 and 13/9 is most logical since having the new builder one pip from the 8 vs 2 pips gives us more new point making numbers

htt, I think you're right that double hitting would be silly in those cases. No reason to waste a good 31 like that. With some other junkier rolls though, like 23, 41, 21, hitting two is probably good (and more fun).

Sorry, I should have been clearer. With 3-1, just make the 5-point. With 4-3, play 24/20 8/5*. Double hit with rolls like 2-1, 3-2, 4-1. Also note that 4-4 is a good double-hit (8/4*(2) 13/5*).

Thanks for the clarifying.

Is there a book/post/essay detailing on different opening moves and their responses? I now only make the moves illustrated in Magriel's book, but now I see different moves might be good under different situations.

A couple good references for opening moves and responses: bgonline (click the buttons at the top), bkgm.

Thanks for this.

I wrote some essays on this subject a few years ago, originally posted on the PokerNews site, but I don't think the links to those are active any longer. I'll repost on this forum over the next few days.