Tips

Backgammon Quotes and Tips By Hisako (2006). Backgammon tips from experts such as Woolsey, Robertie, Trice, and Magriel. Serious Backgammon Tips By Martin Short (2001). A list of random tips and general guidelines to help make you a better backgammon player. Words of Wisdom By Hardy Huebener (2006). Selected quotations from various backgammon books and articles. Quotes are arranged by: General, How to Play, Books and Reading, Software, the Perfect Player, Tournaments, This and That, Historical, and Curiosities. RedTop's Backgammon Tips By Hank Youngerman (2002). Various random tips for playing backgammon, using the doubling cube, and learning new concepts.

How to Improve

How to Get Better at Backgammon By Phil Simborg (2006). What sets the best players in the world apart from the rest of us? And how can you improve your game to make it the best it can be? Beginners and Bots By Steve Flanagan (2003). Some tips for beginning and intermediate players to improve their games. As you play better, your enjoyment from the game increases greatly. Using the Bots By Kit Woolsey (2000). The purpose of this article is to examine how we can make the best use of the bots in order to improve our game. First I will play a match, say on GamesGrid. I then have Snowie run through the match. I don't just look at my errors and blunders, although obviously these are the most important. I go through every move step by step. How to Use Snowie More Efficiently By Oliver Heuler (2002). Research has shown that there is an internal gratification system in our brain. The brain compares old experiences with the new situation. When we find a solution that works, the brain triggers a sense of well-being. This motivates us to solve new problems as well as continuing to follow the successful strategy. How can we use these findings to improve our backgammon skills? How to Study Your Own Matches By Mary Hickey (2000). Here is the method I recommend for letting your bot assist you in your ceaseless quest for knowledge, enlightenment, and the ability to squash your opponents like so many little ants. Becoming a Better Player By Hank Youngerman (1999). What you need to become a backgammon player, and what you don't need. The first in a series of articles on practical backgammon. Why You Should Teach Your Children Backgammon By Phil Simborg (2004). Your kids are going to be exposed to gambling anyway. Isn't it better for them to see that it is possible to compete for the joy of winning and for the trophy, and for the pleasure of doing something well? These are things you can teach your children when you are with them. Posts on Improving Your Game By Tom Keith. Many useful suggestions on ways to become a better player collected in the Backgammon Galore Forum Archive.

Book Suggestions

Backgammon Books Worth Reading By Tom Keith (2004). Recommended books to read, classified as: introductory books, books for intermediate players, books for advanced players, books of annotated matches, books of collected articles, and books on cube handling. Recommended Reading By Simon Woodhead (2006). Suggested books for beginners, intermediate players, and advanced players. Hardy's Book Suggestions By Hardy Huebener (2005). A selection of recommended backgammon books. The selection is not complete yet, but sufficient to work your way from an absolute beginner to a top backgammon player. Book Suggestions By Tom Keith. Many great suggestions on good backgammon books to read from the Backgammon Galore Forum Archive.

Book Reviews

Bagai's Classic Backgammon Revisited By Marty Storer (2001). With the help of Snowie 3, Bagai analyzes 120 problems from some of the old classics: The Backgammon Book (Jacoby and Crawford), Backgammon for Profit (Dwek), Backgammon (Magriel), Paradoxes and Probabilities (Cooke), and Advanced Backgammon (Robertie). Kleinman's Vision Laughs at Counting By Mark Driver (2001). Sold as a two-volume, self-published, spiral bound edition. Volume 1 is Vision Laughs at Counting. Volume 2 is Advice to the Dice Lorn. Kleinman is prolific author noted most for his mathematical genius. He has a gift for putting a number to every conceivable concept of the game. Cooke/Orlean's Championship Backgammon By Mark Driver (2002). Cooke was one of the legendary players on the International tournament circuit during the 1960's and 1970's. This book marks the final chapter in Cooke's "trilogy" of backgammon works, after The Cruelest Game and Paradoxes and Probabilities. Lamford's Starting Out in Backgammon By Mark Driver (2001). Paul Lamford is a former British Champion in both Backgammon and Bridge. This book marks his second venture into the backgammon literary market, following on the footsteps of his successful intermediate/advanced text, 100 Backgammon Puzzles. Ortega's Fascinating Backgammon By Roy Friedman (1993). This book consists of 50 problems with approximately 100 analyzed positions including all of the variations. The problems cover various aspects of money and match play with emphasis on cube action in the endgame. The author, an experienced international player, has won the Costa Rican National Championship in four of the last five years. Trice's Backgammon Boot Camp By Jake Jacobs (2005). Walter Trice's book for beginners, intermediates, and experts first appeared online at GammonVillage. Jeremy Bagai liked Walter's series of columns so much that he proposed publishing them as a book. Jacobs writes: "The book is a very attractive paperback running nearly three-hundred and fifty pages, which makes its $40 price tag a bargain." Lamford's Improve Your Backgammon By Jake Jacobs (2006). To whom, precisely, am I recommending this book? That's my dilemma. To decide the proper cube actions, Paul has a formula which seems quite effective. The question is: who will use it? I'm afraid it might scare the socks off of most beginners, and old timers are often set in their ways. The book examines the concept of equity, of how it is calculated, and how money and match equities differ. The book is a bargain at $14.95. You can afford it, and it is worth it. Bray's What Colour is the Wind? By Jake Jacobs (2006). This is the collection of Chris's work during the years 1998-2001. In addition to the weekly columns he turned out in the 4-year span there are a year's worth of monthly articles he did for Netgammon in 1999, and an elegy for the passing of Inside Backgammon. Go out and buy Chris's book. You'll enjoy it, and by buying it you will help keep Chris away from the off ramp. Robertie's Modern Backgammon By Jake Jacobs (2006). You must own a copy of Bill Robertie's Modern Backgammon. Robertie looked at hundreds of positions, and tried to divine what sort of principles might underlie and unify the sometimes unique approach that the bots have taken to the game. He identifies four such principles: Efficiency (put your checkers where they'll do the most good), connectivity (what we used to call communication), non-commitment (keep your game plans flexible); and robustness (have spares to play with). Heinrich/Woolsey's New Ideas in Backgammon By Jake Jacobs (2006). This book more than lives up to its billing. I would not recommend it to beginners. Kit's style is clear enough that they will easily grasp his arguments, but beginners need to ground themselves thoroughly in the basics, to master and memorize the rules. This book will fill their heads with exceptions. For everyone else, from advanced intermediate to expert, the book is a must read. Wiggins's Boards, Blots, and Double Shots By Jake Jacobs (2006). This is a book of 129 checker-play problems. Norm tells me that his experts averaged around 60% when they tried these problems. If the experts missed 40%, I'd expect the intermediates to miss at least 3/4. Don't worry, I bet you'll do a lot better the second time! Robertie's Backgammon for Serious Players By Jake Jacobs (2006). If you are willing to play, seriously, through each game, covering the player's moves before choosing your own, and spending time rethinking your play whenever it differs with the expert's, this book is for you. Bill is the perfect stylist to give you the right spin on the expert's choice. Heinrich/Woolsey's New Ideas in Backgammon By Kate McCollough (1998). Kit Woolsey was runner-up in the 1996 World Cup, and Hal Heinrich was winner of the 1990 Monte Carlo World Championship. All the positions in this book are taken from actual tournament matches in which a top expert made an incorrect choice. Becker's Backgammon for Blood By Martin Short (2001). Becker loves backgames and merciless hitting and slotting and cares nothing of the race or running game. This is a book which arouses strong opinions. Wiggins's Boards, Blots, and Double Shots By Martin Short (2002). This book has 129 positions rolled out by by Jellyfish and analyzed by the author. The purpose is to help readers develop the ability to see and evaluate the pertinent features of a position and decide which goals take priority over others. Mabardi's Vanity Fair's Backgammon to Win By Paul Tanenbaum (1998). When Chuck Bower asked for positions from serious writings which make the worst recommendations, Paul Tanenbaum replied with several quotes from Vanity Fair's Backgammon to Win. This quaint but entertaining book was written in 1930 and reprinted in 1974. Ortega/Madrigal/Kleinman's Backgammon: Costa Rica 1994 By Kit Woolsey (1996). The book examines the Third Tournament of the Américas Cariari Masters final match between experts Mike Senkiewicz and Mike Svobodny. Readers' Comments By Tom Keith. Many comments collected over the years by readers of popular backgammon books. From the Backgammon Galore Forum Archive.

Book Lists

The Backgammon Galore Bibliography By Tom Keith. Complete information on all backgammon books published in the last 150 years, including hundreds of readers' comments. The Backgammon Portal Bibliography By Art Grater (2004). An extensive listing of backgammon books and articles. Carl Tait's Bibliography By Carl Tait (2000). Posted to rec.games.backgammon in 2000. Tait's goal was to include all English-language books on the game of backgammon. Periodicals and isolated articles were not included. Hardy's Backgammon Bibliography By Hardy Huebener. A long bibliography of backgammon books including many books published in German.

Quizzes

BlotBlog By Jens Göring. Jens discusses roughly one position each week. Most of the positions are from actual games played at DailyGammon. Hit or Bust By Paul Lamford (2001). In each of six problems, you have the opportunity to make one or more hits. Decide what you would do, then check your answers. Take It or Leave It By Paul Lamford (2001). In each of six problems, you must decide the proper cube action. Give a decision for both sides: Should White double? Should Black take? Then check the answers. Ed's Backgammon Problems By Ed Collins (2002). Six instructive problems with answers. Backgammon Quiz By Phil Simborg (2006). Several interesting and difficult checkerplay and cube decision problems. Quiz Problems By Kit Woolsey (1999). Quiz problems from the demo issue of GammOnLine (now called GammonU). Compare your answers and your reasons with the Expert Panel. The solutions are here. Backgammon Quiz By Peter Max Friis Jensen (2003). A quiz of checkerplay problems collected from the Danish Backgammon Federation's Discussion Forum. I have looked for positions that I find interesting and where people have argued for large mistakes. Most of the wrong answers are blunders but this does not make the quiz easy!

Annotated Matches

Annotated Match: Kit Woolsey vs. Jeremy Bagai  By Kit Woolsey and Jeremy Bagai (1994). In February of 1994, Kit Woolsey and Jeremy Bagai thought it would be a good idea to annotate a match for FIBS players so they could see the thinking processes of the more experienced players. They played a fairly interesting match, logged it, and then annotated it independently. Backgammon by the Bay Annotated Games  By Richard McIntosh (1997). A selection of games and problem sets from Backgammon by the Bay's Open Division final matches in 1996 and 1997. The presentations feature computer rollout results and commentary by guest analysts including Steve Clark, Ron Karr, Kit Woolsey, blake Sorem, Nack Ballard, Beth Skillman, Richard McIntosh, and Elliott Winslow. Monte Carlo 2003 World Championship Final By Albert Silver (2003). The final 25-point match of Monte Carlo 2003 was between Moshe Tissona and Jon Royset. Expert commentary provided by Casper van der Tak, Chuck Bower, Alex Zamanian, Tom Suzanski, and Kit Woolsey. MatchQiz Demo Match By Kit Woolsey and Snowie (2006). This is the demonstration match analyzed by Snowie. It was played in the second round of the Bonanza event of the Las Vegas Open in September 1991. Paul Magriel is one of the fathers of modern backgammon. He won the World Championship in 1978, and is the author of the classic book Backgammon. Ed O'Laughlin has been a top expert for many years, and recently won the Colossus event at the Caesar's tournament in Lake Tahoe.

Annotated Positions

GGraccoon Speaks Out By Mary Hickey (2001). The three positions discussed here all arose in matches on Gamesgrid with GGraccoon. (GGraccoon is a bot.) GGraccoon Speaks Out Again By Mary Hickey (2003). The positions discussed here all arose in matches on GamesGrid with GGraccoon. When God is Wrong By Kit Woolsey (2001). A collection of positions which Snowie appears to have misevaluated. These are not small technical errors. They are big conceptual errors, where the difference between Snowie's 3-ply evaluation and the rollout results is quite large. Peever's Errors vs. Kit Woolsey By Paul Weaver (2001). On September 26, 2000 Kit and I played a seven point match on GamesGrid. I kept my laptop busy for over a week rolling out positions from the match. Although Kit humbly gave me permission to discuss his mistakes, there are more than enough of my own errors to keep me occupied. Sixteen Cube By Kit Woolsey (2001). Some exciting cube decisions from the Las Vegas Open in 2001. Pro Am 2002 By Kit Woolsey (2002). Several interesting positions from a match between Kit Woolsey/Donald Kahn and Mike Senkeiwicz/Wayne McClintock in the 2002 Pro-Am. Viva Las Vegas By Kit Woolsey (1999). Woolsey discusses positions from the 1999 Nevada Backgammon Tournament. Vegas 2003 By Kit Woolsey (2003). Several interesting positions from the recent 2003 Vegas Tournament.

Recorded Matches

Paul's Backgammon Vaults By Paul Stephens (2005). Large collection of recorded matches from Norges Backgammonforbund, BGBlitz vs. GnuBG, and Jellyfish vs. Snowie. Matches Analyzed by Snowie By Oasya SA (2003). Interesting matches and tournament finals. Matches from Medallion Challenge, World Championship, Paris Open, Paris Master, and Nordic Open. Dueller Recorded Matches By Tony Lezard (2006). Matches between various bots: Jellyfish vs. Snowie, GnuBG vs. Jellyfish, and GnuBG vs. Snowie. They were recorded by Dueller, a program which plays backgammon computer programs (running on Windows platforms) against each other. Hardy's Match Archive By Hardy Huebener (2007). Many important matches from top tournaments for download. Analyzing those matches is very instructive! Most matches are in .mat format which can be imported by Gnu Backgammon and Snowie. Some matches are also available in .sgf format (GNU Backgammon), which contain analysis. Towards a Better Method of Recording Backgammon Games By Jay Bidal (2007). There are several good systems used by those who manually record live backgammon play for post-analysis. In this article, Jay Bidal offers the system he uses to those who want to learn a quick and easy way of recording a match.

Go to:	Next Page of Articles
See:	List of Authors
Return to:	Backgammon Galore

Last updated: 11 Jul 2008