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BGonline.org Forums
zen in the art of backgammon
Posted By: adambulldog In Response To: zen in the art of backgammon (Toppace)
Date: Friday, 28 August 2009, at 5:33 a.m.
Nobody seems to be taking this question seriously. I'll offer up a few thoughts for the prospective student, most of which are not original.
1. Don't start playing with the goal of being as good as Neil or other top players. To play any game or sport at the absolute pinnacle requires innate talent as well as hard work. You likely don't have that talent, but you can still get quite good and enjoy yourself a lot. Just try to be as good as you can be.
2. Get a few good books. Backgammon Boot Camp by Trice is an obvious place to start. There are various threads on this site that recommend other good stuff. Magriel, Woolsey, Robertie are all good. Absorb this material. You probably will need to read it more than once. Get a few more books after you have played a while. Book learning should go hand in hand with actual play.
3a. Get used to losing. Even the best players lose 30% - 40% of their matches, often to really inferior players. If you can't lose with equanimity, or at least bounce back quickly, you'll never get anywhere.
3b. Play to win. The game often presents situations that require courage and resolve, where winners play to win and middling players play to lose slowly. Play without fear. This is really the zen of the game: playing to win without (too much) regard for the outcome.
4. Play in a good low-stakes consulting chouette. I don't know how many of these actually exist, but we have one in Madison. Backgammon is an experiential game, you need to play in order to learn to play, and if you get a chance to be involved in actual game discussions with expert players for a price you can afford during the learning stages when you are not expecting to win, you can't pass that up. The flip side is, if you play in a money game you can't really afford, you will play scared, you almost certainly will get burned, and you won't learn anything.
5. Load the latest version of gnubg (or another bot) and play a lot. Start with one-point matches on tutor mode to learn about checker plays. After you find yourself making fewer mistakes graduate to matches, and start playing more and more of them with the tutor mode off. After the untutored matches analyze them and see if you can correct patterns of thinking.
6. Play on an online server like gridgammon or fibs. Try to play against higher-rated competition. Try hard to win these matches, but don't get upset when you lose--it's a learning experience.
7. Play in local club tournaments. Ask for pointers after you lose a match.
8. If you can afford them, lessons can't hurt.
9. Learn the opening roll information on this site.
10. Play ABT tournaments. Don't bother entering the beginner flight; if you have already practiced steps 1-9, you will be ready for the advanced division and you will have more fun playing against more serious competitors. Move up to the open division in short order--the best competition will bring out the best in your game.
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