Strategy--Bearing Off

Forum Archive : Strategy--Bearing Off

 
Winning the bearoff race

From:   Dave Flaks
Address:   davidflaks@mindspring.com
Date:   3 January 2001
Subject:   Help! Need advice on winning a bearing off race.
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   92vku5$2nc$1@slb0.atl.mindspring.net

Help!  I consistently lose a bearing off race.  Are there any techniques or
guidelines to help me.  Sometimes I can be way ahead in the pip count and
still lose.  I am a beginning player with a great desire to get better.
Thanks for any advice or pointing me in the right direction.

Have a good one,
Dave

Donald Kahn  writes:

Probably bad luck, which you will have to learn to live with. Every
player gets streaks of it.

Other posters have advised consulting the work of expert teachers.  I
agree 100%, and if you are a serious player you must do it; but until
your luck improves you won't get a lot of extra wins.

The point of the game is to play your dice as well as you can, win or
lose. At its best, it is an art form.

Douglas Zare  writes:

The greatest blunder most beginning players make in a race is forgetting to
double. If you are way ahead and have cube access, end the game.

It is very easy in most racing situations to play decently, losing only a
few percent game winning chances. Take two checkers off when you can. Bear
in to the 6,5, and 4 points. Don't put extra checkers on the 1 and 2
points. It is much more important to work on being ahead in the race when
you break contact.
 
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Strategy--Bearing Off

Greedy bearoff exception  (Stick+, Jan 2011) 
Playing for gammon  (Max Levenstein+, Aug 2011) 
Rules of thumb  (Rich Munitz+, Oct 2009) 
Wastage  (David Montgomery, Apr 1996) 
Wastage--Positions that minimize  (Stig Eide, Apr 1996)  [Recommended reading]
Which gaps to fill  (Kit Woolsey, Mar 1996) 
Winning the bearoff race  (Dave Flaks+, Jan 2001) 

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