Starting your attack

I believe in an aggressive style of play. Attack first and only become defensive when you have to. Below are shown the opening moves I prefer. See the Glossary for any terms you don’t understand.

If you roll 1-1 on your opening move, make your 5-point (by moving 2 checkers from your 6-point) and move your 2 back checkers (the checkers on your opponent’s 1-point) to his 2-point.

If you roll 2-1, move 1 checker from your opponent’s 12-point to your 11-point, and 1 from your opponent’s 1-point to his 2-point.

If you roll 3-1, make your 5-point.

If you roll 4-1, move 1 checker from your opponent’s 12-point to your 9-point, and 1 checker from your opponent’s 1-point to his 2-point. I’ve noticed that many players move 1 checker from their opponent’s 12-point to their 8-point, on which they already have a block. This is a safe move, because this checker can’t be hit, but it does nothing to increase your chances of making your bar-point or 5-point, which you want to do early in the game.

If you roll 5-1, move 1 checker from your opponent’s 12-point to your 8-point block, and 1 from your opponent’s 1-point to his 2-point.

If you roll 6-1, make your bar point (by moving checkers from your opponent’s 12-point and your 8-point).

If you roll 2-2, make your 11-point and your 4-point.

If you roll 3-2, move checkers from your opponent’s 12-point to your 10-point and 11-point. This is a fairly aggressive move since you leave 2 blots, but it will pay off quickly if you can subsequently make your bar-point or 5-point. Many players move 1 checker from the opponent’s 12-point to their 8-point, which I consider to be a weak move.

If you roll 4-2, make your 4-point.

If you roll 5-2, move 1 checker from your opponent’s 12-point to your 8-point block, and 1 checker from your opponent’s 12-point to your 11-point. Some players use the 2 to move 1 of their back checkers to their opponent’s 3-point. The risk is, if you have checkers on your opponent’s 1-point and 3-point and he rolls a double-5, he will hit both of them and set up blocks on those points.

If you roll 6-2, I recommend moving a back man to your opponents 9-point. This isn’t a great move, but I consider the alternatives, which involve leaving a blot on either your bar-point or 5-point to be worse. You would rather have your back checkers hit than your forward checkers, because you lose fewer pips. I talk about that in my chapter on playing the Microsoft Computer Backgammon Game, because the computer game strategy is a bad example of that.

If you roll 3-3, probably the best move is to make your bar-point. Making your bar-point prevents your opponent from effectively using a roll of 6-6. An alternative is to make your 10-point and your opponent’s 4-point.

If you roll 4-3, move checkers to your 9-point and 10-point. This is an aggressive move like the 3-2 roll, but it can help you quickly set up consecutive blocks to keep your opponent’s back men from escaping.

If you roll 5-3, make your 3-point.

If you roll 6-3, move one of your back men to your opponent’s 10-point.

If you roll 4-4, make your 9-point and your opponent’s 5-point.

If you roll 5-4, move 1 checker to your 8-point block and 1 to your 9-point.

If you roll 6-4, move one of your back men to your opponent’s 11-point. Some players make their 2-point, instead, but I consider it too early in the game to have checkers that far advanced.

If you roll 5-5, make your 3-point by moving 2 checkers from your opponent’s 12-point.

If you roll 6-5, move one of your back men to your opponent’s 12-point.

If you roll 6-6, make both bar points, yours and your opponent’s.

If your opponent has the first move, some of these options may not be open to you on your first move. Others may be too dangerous to make. For example, if on his first move your opponent advances one or both his back men to within 6 pips of points on your outer board, you may want to think twice about the moves I’ve suggested for a roll of 4-3 or 3-2. See “Making the Odds Work for You” for the odds of getting hit.