Humor

Give Me a Break--Give It a Number  By Phil Simborg and Stu Katz (1994). "We got sick of hearing our friends tell us about how they lost a game that just couldn't be lost, so we developed a code to save time." A Coin Toss By Phil Simborg (1997). "I pull out a coin and say, 'Heads I take, tails I drop.' The crowd goes crazy, and Jake is of course a visibly perturbed" ... Oh, the fun you can have with the flip of a coin. Fifteen Ways to Irritate Your Opponent By Phil Simborg (1994). We all know that an irritated, distracted opponent will play worse. Here's some "advanced" tips for you. (Use with caution.) Simborg's Laws of Backgammon By Phil Simborg (1996). You don't have to play backgammon long before you realize there are certain unwritten rules of the game that every player should be aware of. Simborg's Backgammon Tips By Phil Simborg (2007). If you're trying to win more often, these tips won't help. But they'll make your games more exciting! I am Tired of It By Phil Simborg (2007). "There are two things in backgammon I can't stand: bad losers and bad winners." The Ten Commandments of Backgammon By Morten Wang (1997). "Remember the tournament day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou read thy theory, and play for money, but the seventh day is the tournament day." These are the laws of backgammon you simply must follow. Scientific Steaming By David Montgomery (1999). Almost everyone has experience with players who "steam" when behind on the score sheet. I realized that there ought to be some way to mathematically define how you should change your cube actions based on the score sheet. Fun and Frustration By Tom Keith. From the Backgammon Galore Forum Archive, a collection of humorous articles about backgammon that have been posted over the years.

Puzzles

Jemimah's Beaver Creek Double By Stein Kulseth (2000). A puzzling cube handling decision with a centered 8-cube and a maximum value of 64 for the cube. Jemimah Plays Nackgammon—Not By Stein Kulseth (2000). How many rolls/moves does it take to go from a standard starting position to the starting Nackgammon position? A Position from Jemimah's Past By Stein Kulseth (2000). Can you reach the indicated position in just three moves for each side? The Worst Move in the World By Kit Woolsey (2000). What is the worst move in the world? The object of this contest is to construct a position, roll, and play which is the worst move ever. The Great Prime Problem By Bill Davis (1999). From the opening position, given three legal moves in a row, can you build a Great Prime from your 2-point to your bar-point? You get three rolls of your choice, including doubles. Your opponent doesn't get to move. Backgammon Puzzles By Tom Keith. Lots of puzzles using a backgammon board and dice, from the Backgammon Galore Forum Archive.

Biographies

The Phil Simborg Interviews  By Phil Simborg (2011). Phil Simborg has interviewed some of the most interesting people in backgammon. Bob Koca Bob Wachtel Chiva Tafazzoli Ray Fogerlund Danny Kleinman Ed OLaughlin Jake Jacobs Mary Hickey Matt Cohn-Geier Mike Corbett Masayuki Mochizuki Nack Ballard Patrick Gibson Petko Kostadinov Philip Vischjager Tobias Hellwag Xavier Dufaure de Citres Masters of Backgammon By Anonymous (2010). Short bios on the Giants of Backgammon and other famous players. Masayuki Mochizuki "Falafel" Natanzon Neil Kazaross Sander Lylloff François Tardieu Nack Ballard Jacob "Stick" Rice Lars Trabolt Michihito Kageyama Bob Wachtel John O'Hagan Morten Holm Lassen Kit Woolsey Steve Sax Matt Cohn-Geier Raymond Fogerlund Mike Corbett Ed O'Laughlin Jake Jacobs Malcolm Davis Richard Munitz Steen Groenbech Gus Hansen Peter Jes Thomsen Paul Weaver Bill Robertie Juergen Orlowski Petko Kostadinov Bob Koca Joe Russell Walter Trice Mike Senkiewicz Ralf Jonas Paul Magriel "X-22" Lars Bønding Jörgen Granstedt Dirk Schiemann Dana Nazarian Leo Fernandez Backgammon Players By Backgammon Online (2010). Short bios on ten famous players. Lars Trabolt Michihito Kageyama Masayuki Mochizuki Matvey Natanzon Neil Kazaross Sander Lylloff Francois Tardieu Nack Ballard Jacob Rice Bob Wachtel Michael Maxakuli Obituary By Bill Davis (2006). Michael "Max" Maxakuli was backgammon publisher, club director, and expert player. He published Las Vegas Backgammon Magazine from 1978 to 1980. Ten minutes with Philip Vischjager By WinningBackgammon.info (2006). Philip Vischjager from the Netherlands won the World Championship in Monte Carlo and became the 31st Backgammon World Champion. WinningBackgammon.info decided to go to Philip and ask a few questions about the past, present and future. John Clark: 30 Years of Backgammon By Gambling Online Magazine (2006). Interview with John Clark, one of the strongest players in Britain. François Tardieu, the New #3 Backgammon Giant By Michael Strato (2006). The first interview on GammonLife is with the new #3 Giant of Backgammon and three-time Champion of Europe, quite fitting since backgammon is Tardieu's life. Interview with New World Champion Philip Vischjager By Michael Strato (2006). This very first interview with Mr. Philip Vischjager of The Netherlands who just won the 2006 World Championship of Backgammon in Monte Carlo. Stepler Seeks to Spread Backgammon in France By Michael Strato (2008). GammonLife interviews Franck Stepler who has stepped forth as a candidate for the Presidency of the Fédération Française de Backgammon and seeks to spread backgammon in France. "Money is Not What Interests Me" By Michael Strato (2007). GammonLife interviews Lasse Hjorth Madsen of Denmark, the runner-up in the PartyGammon Million Backgammon Tournament held January 2007 at the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. Victoria Smirnoff Would Invest in Cancer Research By Michael Strato (2006). Victoria Smirnoff of Russia is heading for The Bahamas next month looking to roll her way to victory in the PartyGammon Million. If she wins, she says she will invest it all in a laboratory that is doing cancer research in her homeland. The Man Behind the World's Biggest Backgammon Event By Michael Strato (2006). Who is the man behind Player International Ltd, how and why did he become involved in backgammon and what did it take to organize the game's biggest prize money event? Interview With The Backgammon Player Phil Simborg By Backgammon.org (2008). Interview with backgammon player and writer, Phil Simborg. Interview with Falafel By Play65 (2008). The Israeli backgammon player, Falafel Natanzon, who was recently named a "Giant of Backgammon" talks about his professional backgammon career, on playing online, the differences between backgammon and poker, and the origins of his nickname "Falafel". Mary Hickey, US Open Champion 2010 By Play65 (2010). Interview with Mary Hickey, winner of the second US Backgammon Open. GammonVillage interviews Jeremy Bagai By Michael Strato (2001). The author of the popular book, "Classic Backgammon Revisited", tells why he wrote the book, chose the topic (revisiting old backgammon positions), and how he chose the books and authors to review. Barclay Cooke: A Personal Memoir By Bob Cooke (1982). If Barclay Cooke had decided on a career as a stock broker rather than a backgammon expert, it’s my guess he would have made Wall Street forget what E.F. Hutton says. He had a way with figures and percentages that made the nearest computer feel guilty of featherbedding. Jose Alvarez and Jim Pasko: A Study in Contrasts By C.J. Boyer (1983). The 35-year-old Alvarez is a wealthy Spanish businessman who drives a Rolls Royce, mingles with the jet set, and surrounds himself with beautiful women. On the other hand, there's Pasko, a 38-year-old former high school math and physical education teacher, who recently moved from Newark, New Jersey, with his son, Dan. Tak Morioka: Chicago’s Man of the Year By Bill Davis (1983). Gammon's of Chicago salutes Tak Morioka as Player of the Year for 1982, not only for his skillful play, but also for his friendly, sportsmanlike attitude toward the game and its players. Monte Carlo Winner Bill Robertie By Les B. Levi (1983). When Bill Robertie won the world championship in Monte Carlo this summer, few people in the backgammon world were surprised. Since his first major tournament victory in 1979, Robertie, a 37-year-old computer programmer from Boston, has come to be regarded as one of the top backgammon players and authors in America. The Life and Times of Gaby Horowitz By Les B. Levi (1982). He's probably the most controversial figure in American backgammon, so strongly loved and hated he is by the thousands who have played him and watched him play. A self-confessed hustler who claims now to be "interested only in helping backgammon," Gaby Horowitz, 34, talks freely about his past mistakes, emphasizing how he has changed. Gaby Horowitz and Bruce Roman By Marcia Clark (1997). Marcia Clark, who achieved worldwide notoriety in 1994 as the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case, was married to Gaby Horowitz during the backgammon boom of the 1970s. She wrote of her relationship with Gaby and Bruce Roman in her 1997 book, Without a Doubt. Kent Goulding: Backgammon’s Champion of Champions By Les B. Levi (1983). Kent Goulding, at 31, is the populist pro. At tournaments, hawking issues of his self-published and widely acclaimed series, Backgammon with the Champions, he is ubiquitous and easy to approach. And if the little guy from Topeka wants an answer, Goulding will give it to him, and he'll even play him for trivial stakes because backgammon is what Goulding loves most. A Conversation With Billy Eisenberg By Kate Wattson (1982). The legend of Billy Eisenberg talked about in the world of bridge and backgammon certainly has something to do with his personal flamboyance. But what about the supreme backgammon gamesman behind the legend, the seasoned competitor who plays to win? The Remarkable Barclay Cooke By Les B. Levi (1982). Few backgammon players have left as rich and varied a legacy as Barclay Cooke, a star tournament player and the author of three backgammon books whose remarkable career began with the early twentieth-century renaissance of the game and continued to flourish for over five decades.

Stories

My Bumpy Life in Backgammon  By Ric Gerace (2001). "How I found backgammon, or how it found me, and how I lost the girl, and then another girl, and oh, hell, it's been fun without them anyway." War Against Luck, Disorder And Surface Chaos By Roger Dionne (1979). Paul Magriel is a mathematician and backgammon champion of the world. His enemy is the dice, which obscure the intricate and beautiful patterns of his game On a Dicey Cruise By Edwin Shrake (1974). The voyage promised to be rough, with high-rolling in the richest backgammon tournament ever, but a first-class gambol was assured. Backgammon Hustler By Michael Konik (1999). In the jet-set world of little ivory disks, impeccable manners are essential when separating a fool and his money. Shoot the Chouette By Jake Jacobs (2000). A chouette tournament runs like this. Twelve of us entered, and were given a stake of 35 points. We drew for boards, forming three tables of four. Each player had the right, if he lost his stake, of reentering once. To insure that players would eventually lose their stakes, after 8 games the doubling cubes would start on 2, and after 16 games on 4, etc. Barry Fisk and the Early Cube By Stein Kulseth (2000). At times I regret the day I decided to teach Barry Fisk how to play backgammon. We have played weekly sessions for a few years, and by now I guess nobody has learnt more about backgammon than Barry without being able to apply it to the game. I am not giving up though, and I have even made a promise for the new millennium to stop shouting at him. The Best Play I Ever Made! By Phil Simborg (2005). "All I cared about at the moment was how he was going to play the 6-1 as my partner in the non-consulting chouette where our opponent held a 16 cube for more dollars per point than I could afford." Backgammon Bonanza By Jeremy Weintraub (2000). In New York's gambling clubs, the five-day week is just another grind.

Honors

Backgammon Hall of Fame By Tom Keith. The best backgammon players of all time. Here are the winners of all the major tournaments and other important accomplishments in the game. International Tournament Results By Carol Joy Cole. Tournament results from around the world, dating back to 1998. Giants of Backgammon By Yamin Yamin. Which players are the most respected and feared by their fellow competitors? Every two years since 1993, Yamin Yamin of Illinois has surveyed Championship-level players and tournament directors around the world. He asks them to rank the best currently active players in the world, considering both tournament skills and side action. American Backgammon Tour By Bill Davis (2005). The ABT master point race is an annual event patterned after the American Contract Bridge League's point race. Master points are earned for the year by players who cash in the tournaments. Once earned, they can never be taken away. So the ABT winner will likely be an individual who has attended and placed in a good number of tournaments during the current year. Snowie Ranking List By Iancho Hristov and Karsten Nielsen (2006). Matches recorded on GamesGrid of some of the best players in the world are analyzed using Snowie to determine the error rates of the players. Champions of Major Tournaments By Martin Short (2001). As there is no single worldwide backgammon organization, there is no single premier tournament. But here are the winners of five major competitions.

Money management

The Kelly Money Management System By Edward O. Thorp (1979). The question I will answer is how to manage your money in betting or investment situations. There is, in fact, a rule or formula which you can use to decide how much to bet. I will explain the rule and tell you what benefits are likely if you follow it. Bank Roll Management By Karsten Nielsen (2008). Factors to consider when deciding how much money to play for so you don't get in over your head.

Mathematics of Backgammon

Mathematics and Backgammon By Bob Koca (2010). An overview of the many ways that mathematics plays a part in backgammon -- from pip counting, to probability, to recursive algorithms, to confidence intervals. Backgammon Ends By Douglas Zare (2000). Proof that it is impossible for a backgammon game to last forever. If you use random dice and any legal playing strategy (even trying to lose), then the probability the game has ended by the nth move gets arbitrarily close to 1 as n increases. Is Brute Force Backgammon Possible? By David Levner (1976). In view of the recent interest in backgammon, two mathematical questions can be asked: how many backgammon positions are there, and how hard would it be to solve by brute force? Theoretical Curiosities of Backgammon By Tom Keith. Articles on various mathematical properties of backgammon and interesting formulas and facts about the game. From the Backgammon Galore Forum Archive.

Academic Papers

Efficient Approximation of Backgammon Race Equities By Michael Buro (1999). This article presents efficient equity approximations for backgammon races based on statistical analyses. In conjunction with a 1-ply search the constructed evaluation functions allow a program to play short races almost perfectly with regard to checker-play as well as doubling cube handling. Moreover, the evaluation can naturally be extended to long races without losing much accuracy. Optimal Doubling Strategy against a Sub-Optimal Opponent By Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos and Ozgur Simsek (2005). An algorithm for deriving the optimal doubling strategy of a player who is aware of the suboptimal strategy followed by the opponent. Backgammon: The Optimal Strategy for the Pure Running Game By Edward O. Thorp (1975). This paper presents a complete exact solution to the pure running game with the doubling cube under the simplifying assumption that dice totals can be arbitrarily subdivided in moving men and that men can be borne off even though not all are in the inner table.

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Last updated: 7 May 2012