Position 35, page 102
From The Backgammon Book, by Oswald Jacoby and John R. Crawford

White to play 5-3.

Your first thought is to bring one of your back men on black’s four point to safety on his twelve point. Discard that though quickly. Not only are you behind in the potential running game, but your blot on his four point becomes extremely weak. He can hit you with several shots, and he can point on your blot with several more.

The best way to play the roll is to move from his twelve to your eight point, and from your six to your three point. You are thus getting ready to make your three point, and you plan to exert pressure on his men on your bar point. Meanwhile, you two men on his four point serve as an anchor: you are behind in a potential running game — but you aren’t in a running game yet, and you aren’t going to get into one if you can avoid doing so. Furthermore, you aren’t in any danger of being gammoned, and your position is now only slightly worse than his.

13/8, 6/3  *
13/5 x
Rollout 
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Tom Keith 2013 
Money play
Centered cube
White rolls 5-3

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Checker play: 3-ply
Cube play: XG Roller
XGID=-----BDbB---bE---cbdbB----:0:0:1:53:0:0:0:0

5-3: Game BG   Equity
1 13/5 W
L
.3744
.6256
.0554
.0685
.0017
.0023
−0.4190 x 
2 13/8, 6/3 W
L
.3754
.6246
.0534
.0695
.0017
.0019
−0.4199 (0.0009)  *
3 13/10, 13/8 W
L
.3602
.6398
.0584
.0951
.0019
.0028
−0.4993 (0.0803) 
4 13/8, 5/2 W
L
.3438
.6562
.0499
.0769
.0013
.0026
−0.5294 (0.1104) 
5 8/5, 8/3 W
L
.3440
.6560
.0536
.0724
.0017
.0028
−0.5338 (0.1148) 

Previous Position
No. 34, page 101
Next Position
No. 37, page 104

List of Positions from The Backgammon Book

The Backgammon Book (1970), by Oswald Jacoby and John R. Crawford

Backgammon Galore : Books