Improving Your Backgammon Game

The best way to improve your game is to break the game down into single, specific areas of play, discuss them independently, and then practice that specific area until you get it.

Backgammon is a game to learn entirely at once. I know players that have played this game almost every day for many years and they have not improved at all...so simply playing and practicing is not the way to learn.

It is logical to break down the game into many basic areas of play, and concentrate on one at a time. For example, one area of play is opening moves, and another is bearing off, and another is playing a back game, another is defending against a back game, another is deciding when to double, another is deciding when to play for the gammon, and so on.

Therefore it is good to start with one area, talk about the major principles, and then provide a "sample position" where you can apply what you've learned. Put that position on the board (or on the screen, as many of my lessons are on line), and discuss how to play every roll or cube decision.

Then, go a step further. Have Snowie, JF, or GNUBG, and try to understand how to put the position into the bot so you can play the same position over and over and see what your right play should be.
Then challenge yourself with a slightly different, but more complex position, and do it again. Within a couple of weeks, YOU WILL SHOW SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT in the particular area of the game you were studying.

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