Hey guys,

Lately I've become rather interested in Backgammon. I know all the rules and also some basic strategy, but I'm looking to go a little deeper and I was hoping you guys could tell me where to start

Firstly, what I want to know is, where on the internet can I find soms good strategy articles/videos. Preferrably for free, at least at first, but eventually I wouldn't mind paying for good strategy either. I came acrosse the site www.bkgm.com, is that a good place to start? Seems like a lot of strategy but can't tell wether it's outdated or not.

And Secondly, what is a good place to play backgammon online? Against other serious players so I can work on my game. Playing for money is not a must, but probably helps to stimulate serieus play. I really don't know any site but PartyGammon. Any thoughts?

Anything else that might help me get started is much appreciated as well. Thanks for the responses guys!

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

If you are really serious then buy "Backgammon Boot Camp" by Walter Trice. Trice was an actuary so some of this is matchmatical but it starts assuming you know the rules and builds from begginner through to quite advanced. Read and reread. He explains the Ward count but now the Keith count is far more accurate so just google it.

A lot of people recommend "Backgammon" by Paul Magriel but it's old and I rolled out the advanced section (skipping the opening rolls) and found only 72% of the positions were correct. Therefore 28% are wrong.

Next I would buy "501 Essential Backgammon Problems" by Bill Robertie - read and reread.

Next I would look at all the Problem of the Week solutions at this site. These ae done by 2 time World Champion Bill Robertie. Put "Solution" in the search facility here then starting at the oldest print them and understand them. I have had them bound into books.

Avoid playing for money online as there is so much cheating (use of computer Bots).

Buy Extreme Backgammon the fastest and most accurate bot around.

Learn to Pip Count. Walter Trice and most authors try and fail to teach this. I would run screaming from the room trying their advice on pipcounting. http://www.mindgamescenter.com/ has lots of good cheap articles on various topics but I like the one on Pipcounting (ok, I wrote it so I am biased).

Once you have Extreme backgammon you can buy some group lessons from Stick Rice. They are really good videos for about $25. Well worth it.

Avoid players who say "let me show you an interesting position that came up the other night ..". It did not! It will be a "Proposition" that they have played out many times. They want your money.

Remember to have fun and do not beat yourself up if you lose. No one plays perfectly.

Those are great books especially the Robertie. Downloading a decent bot to play against would also be a great way to improve your game - GNU or BGBlitz are commendable and have a built-in tutor - although some bots tend to play with an aggressive, risky, blitz-heavy style.

I play on three sites fairly regularly. best one is Gridgammon, but you need an invitation to register. The level of play is the best I've seen and ratings seem to be very accurate.

Two other sites, both inferior to gridgammon but still OK to play on are gamecolony.com and playok.com. The level of play on these sites is for the most part, very poor, but it's still an OK to practice and improve your game.

The one common element all these sites have in common that's important to me is that you can record and/or email the game file to yourself to analyze in a bot program.

Good luck