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Backgammon course

Posted By: Rich Munitz
Date: Monday, 29 December 2008, at 7:52 p.m.

In Response To: Backgammon course (Bob Koca)

Bob, looks good overall.

In my opinion with this audience it will be important to focus on the exciting and conceptual aspects of the game and how to keep learning and having fun with backgammon when the course is over, and to deemphasize the monotonous things that advanced players do because they must.

I would caution about overwhelming them and turning them off with too much detail on how to count races (they should know why the state of the race matters, what a pip count is, that it is good to have a sense of who is ahead, and the idea of simple comparisons, but I'd deemphasize that you need to have the exact pip count to play decent backgammon). And avoid any discussion of match equities (keep to the simple stuff like be aware of the score; don't double when you need 2 points because the cube is coming back at 4; and try to win gammons when behind and avoid gammons when ahead).

All of this stuff is good for further reading that you can supply references for, and those that care will follow up.

While I agree that even beginners should have an understanding of how to count shots (and agree it is a good topic), I have encountered advanced and low open level players that do not know how to do this. You can get quite far simply by knowing indirect shots are not so risky, direct shots are risky, multiple direct shots are very risky. So for those people that just don't get it, don't force it.

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