Backgammon Strategy

Backgammon winners are strategists. Learning backgammon strategy will ensure that you know how to take advantage of good rolls, and to protect yourself against less successful rolls. This is true whether you play face-to-face or online backgammon, for fun or real money backgammon. Here are some tips to guide you how to play backgammon strategically.

Establish anchors in your opponent’s home board. This is a defensive strategy and provides you with a safe landing place if you are hit and waiting to reenter. Try to create anchors on the higher points (20 and 21). Keep two anchors next to each other. It is sometimes worthwhile to allow a blot to be hit in order to buy time and protect other valuable points, so the anchors will help you get these checkers back on the backgammon board quickly and painlessly.

Build a prime - six points in a row - to block your opponent’s checkers. The prime serves as a line of defense which your opponent cannot cross, but you can. A prime in a player’s home board is known as a closed board, since his opponent cannot enter from the bar; all the points are closed. This is a very advantageous position to be in.

Distribute your backgammon pieces to be within six pips of one another, so there is always a piece available to cover a man or to provide a resting place for a runner. Distribute your checkers evenly. You have more flexibility and will find it is easier to protect your position if you have fewer men on a point, and you should never have more than six men on a point.

Leaving blots early on in the game can sometimes be strategic, but if you are in a weak position, you should probably reduce your number of blots.

Hit your opponent when it is to your advantage. Be careful not to hit just for the sake of hitting. A hit must always increase the strength of your game; be careful that it does not serve your opponent’s game. Use this to threaten your opponent’s blot, and to force him to act evasively rather than advance his game.

You can find more information about backgammon by following this link: Dice Theory.