Backgammon Strategy--Backgames

Strategy--Backgames

How many men back?

From:   Brian Sheppard
Address:   brians@mstone.com
Date:   15 July 1997
Subject:   Re: Back game question
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   01bc913a$223a5470$3ac032cf@polaris

> Can you have too many men back? If so, about how many do you want > (assuming reasonable timing) Once you are committed to a back game (meaning that losing a gammon is a foregone conclusion--unless you win!) the critical issue is maintaining timing. Often that means having more back men, but sometimes not. Let's take a few cases. First, if the opponent has a full prime, or even 5-prime, then any back men might not be able to escape. In that case the entire burden of playing the dice falls to the forward forces, and these may not be able to handle the load. This is a case where extra men back can be harmful. Another problematic case is where you have lots of men on the bar. One of the best times to get a shot is as the opponent clears his outside prime. There are two benefits to hitting such a shot. First, the opponent hasn't borne off any men, so you can win with the cube once you complete a prime (or even threaten to prime). Second, the shot comes earlier, so you need less timing. Against this is the downside that the opponent still has an inner table that poses a threat, but that's life. So the problem with having a lot of men on the bar is that they might not enter in time to hit an outside shot. If we exclude those cases, then we have a position where the opponent cannot scramble home while you are on the bar, and any back men have an exit pathway to join the forward forces. In that case, you are better off with more back men, since every back man improves your timing. The key to playing such a position is to concentrate on extricating back men one at a time. Avoid playing your forward men, since the larger the gap between the back and forward forces the longer it takes to build a prime. JF (2.0) mishandles this aspect of back-game play, so don't rely on its judgment too much. Brian

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