Backgammon strategy: how to win more games

One game can turn on one roll, which is why it feels like luck. Over many games it's mostly skill. Easy picks any legal move at random, Hard plans its move against every roll you could throw next, and Hard won 997 games out of 1,000.

Going first doesn't help either. In 1,000 games of Hard against Hard, started with the opening roll as on our board, the player who moved first won 505. What you do with the dice decides it.

Four opening rolls make a strong new point straight away, and there's no better use for them. Our Hard computer plays all four this way, and so do strong players.

• 3-1: 8/5 6/5, making your 5-point. It's the best opening roll there is.
• 4-2: 8/4 6/4, making your 4-point.
• 6-1: 13/7 8/7, making your 7-point, the bar point, which starts a wall in front of their back checkers.
• 5-3: 8/3 6/3, making your 3-point.
• 6-5: 24/13. One back checker runs all the way to safety on your 13-point, and it's out of their home board for good.

A blot is a single checker, and it can be hit. How likely depends on how far it is in front of an enemy checker. Out of the 36 ways two dice can fall, with nothing in the way:

• 1 pip away: 11 rolls. 2 away: 12. 3 away: 14. 4 or 5 away: 15.
• 6 away: 17 rolls, the most of any distance, nearly half.
• 7 or 8 away: 6 rolls. 9 away: 5. 10 away: 3. 11 away: 2. 12 away: 3.

A blot 1 to 6 pips away is hit by 11 to 17 of the 36 rolls, a third to nearly a half. One 7 or more away is hit by 6 at most, 1 in 6 or less. So when you have to leave a blot, leave it 7 or more pips away. Made points in between help too, since they block some of the rolls that would reach you.

Where the blot sits matters as much. A checker hit on your 24-point loses 1 pip. One hit on your 2-point loses 23 and has to come all the way round again.

Your pip count is the total distance your checkers still have to travel. Both sides start on 167. A roll is worth 8.17 pips on average, doubles included, so 8 pips is about one roll.

If you're ahead in the count, get your back checkers out and race. Once every checker has passed every enemy checker, nobody can be hit, and the lower count usually wins.

If you're behind, don't race, because you'll lose. Keep two checkers on a point in their home board, an anchor, and wait for them to leave a blot. Their 5-point and 4-point (your 20 and 21) make the best anchors.

A checker never moves more than 6 pips in one step, so six made points in a row can't be passed at all. That's a prime. Even four or five in a row block most rolls.

Build it from your 8-point and 6-point inwards, in front of their back checkers. A checker trapped behind a prime can't run, and if you hit it, it may not get back in, which is how most big wins happen.

• Leaving two blots in reach when one move could have made them a point.
• Running when you're behind in the race, so you lose your anchor and the race too.
• Stacking 6 or more checkers on one point. They'd do more spread over two points.
• Breaking your home board early to avoid leaving a blot. A broken board can't hold a hit checker.
• Hitting when it leaves you open to a return hit in your home board that costs you far more.

Easy moves at random, so it's for learning the rules. Medium scores every way to play the roll: the race, made points, its prime, and the risk of each blot. It hits the blots you leave, which makes it a good test of the counting above. Hard does the same and then checks each of its best plays against all 21 different rolls you could throw next. The full rules, the setup and bearing off are in our Backgammon rules guide.

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