The Top Three Qualities of a Backgammon Champion

Your most difficult opponent in Backgamon is the one who is always with you—the one you see in the mirror before you head out the door to the game. This article will help you make that difficult person into an ally instead of an enemy when you play backgammon, and perhaps in the rest of your life as well.

To be able to do that, please pay attention to the following qualities that we think a good backgammon player should possess. The right ones to work on are those you recognize you are lacking, not the ones that appear first in the order but that you already possess.

First on this list there is high self-esteem in the best sense of the word, meaning that the player is satisfied with who he is, confident in what he knows, and feels no need to prove anything. Players who are too psychologically fragile to admit they are ever wrong condemn themselves to stay where they are while their opponents advance past them in skill. Self-esteem is definitely not the same thing as pride, which can cloud a player's judgment to the point where the learning process is stalled and proving himself right can be more important to him than winning.

A person with high self-esteem doesn't harbor any emotional conflicts about winning, exceeding others, or depriving someone else of the victory in fair competition. He doesn't feel guilty if he wins a match over an opponent he considers better. He also doesn't lose his confidence if he loses a match to a weak player. Instead, he pulls himself together and remembers that there's still a nice chunk of cheese at the end of the Consolation event's drawsheet, and focuses his effort on winning it.

Second on our list is patience. Patience is best in moderation, since unreasonable and excessive patience eventually becomes the character flaw of fatalism. Always be patient with bad dice, but set limits on what behavior you will tolerate in the people you play with. Most players are fair-minded, but the backgammon community, like all villages, has its share of idiots.

Courage seems to be the third-most important quality, when it is properly defined. True courage doesn't mean you are fearless or rise to every challenge. Courage means doing what you know you must do, regardless of how you feel. There are many people who come on like Attila the Hun but nonetheless lack courage. There are also naturally fearful people who can learn to act with courage if they develop sufficient resolve to do so. Courage is a quality of character that can be acquired, not an inborn and immutable state of mind.

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