Thanks, Paul, for the insight about the opponent's 5's.
In both cases, I played according to the principle of hanging on to the anchor unless the alternative is to rip up my board. However, in this kind of position, it seems that going through the opponent's rolls, while tedious, is essential.

              
 
              
 | | White is Player 2
score: 6 pip: 66 | | 7 point match | pip: 90 score: 6
Blue is Player 1 | |
| XGID=-ACCBBB----------b-bdcBbb-:0:0:1:43:6:6:0:7:10 |
| Blue to play 43 |
| 1. | Rollout1 | 5/2 5/1 | eq: -0.720 |
| Player: Opponent: | 13.99% (G:0.52% B:0.00%) 86.01% (G:5.72% B:0.03%) | Conf: ± 0.002 (-0.722...-0.718) Duration: 28 minutes 11 seconds |
|
| 2. | Rollout1 | 6/3 6/2 | eq: -0.733 (-0.013) |
| Player: Opponent: | 13.34% (G:0.36% B:0.00%) 86.66% (G:5.52% B:0.03%) | Conf: ± 0.002 (-0.735...-0.731) Duration: 22 minutes 18 seconds |
|
| 3. | Rollout1 | 22/15 | eq: -0.751 (-0.031) |
| Player: Opponent: | 12.46% (G:0.69% B:0.01%) 87.54% (G:7.67% B:0.02%) | Conf: ± 0.003 (-0.754...-0.748) Duration: 22 minutes 30 seconds |
|
| |
1 1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction. Dice Seed: 2 Moves and cube decisions: 3 ply
|
eXtreme Gammon Version: 1.21, MET: Rockwell-Kazaross

              
 
              
 | | White is Player 2
score: 0 pip: 43 | | 1 point match | pip: 108 score: 0
Blue is Player 1 | |
| XGID=--ACBCBB-----------c-ccbB-:0:0:1:54:0:0:0:1:10 |
| Blue to play 54 |
| 1. | Rollout1 | 24/20 7/2 | eq: -0.708 |
| Player: Opponent: | 14.61% (G:0.00% B:0.00%) 85.39% (G:40.07% B:3.90%) | Conf: ± 0.003 (-0.711...-0.705) Duration: 15 minutes 09 seconds |
|
| 2. | Rollout1 | 24/15 | eq: -0.710 (-0.003) |
| Player: Opponent: | 14.48% (G:0.00% B:0.00%) 85.52% (G:36.16% B:3.72%) | Conf: ± 0.004 (-0.714...-0.706) Duration: 15 minutes 09 seconds |
|
| 3. | Rollout1 | 7/2 5/1 | eq: -0.746 (-0.038) |
| Player: Opponent: | 12.70% (G:0.00% B:0.00%) 87.30% (G:40.74% B:7.07%) | Conf: ± 0.003 (-0.749...-0.743) Duration: 12 minutes 04 seconds |
|
| |
1 1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction. Dice Seed: 2 Moves and cube decisions: 3 ply
|
eXtreme Gammon Version: 1.21, MET: Rockwell-Kazaross