Backgammon strategies

Best way – Aggressive or defensive?

There is always a debate in backgammon on whether a player should take a highly aggressive approach to the game, or a defensive one. It is preferable to keep in mind the famous proverb; 'slow but steady wins the race'. If one keeps a watch upon the refinements in backgammon he can easily find out that the game has become more and more aggressive with the ages which being the key reason for attracting the stalwarts from other famous board games.

Here we will try to analyze some views from the experts.

If we want to delve in history the first radical change in gaming strategies was brought about by Oswald Jacoby and John Crawford in their most famous book, 'The Backgammon Book'. The book demonstrates the first step towards aggressive backgammon.
Why the book became so famous: This was the first book that brought the concept of encountering a prime of the opponent by a counter prime. They have clearly shown that the advantage goes to the player who builds the advanced prime. When the prime has to be broken with the progress of the game, Jacoby has clearly shown that the winning chance goes to the player who had been able to form the most advanced prime.

If we talk of another backgammon world champion, Bill Robertie, he has been always marked as the aggressive player and his style has been famous as 'Dynamic Backgammon'. We all learn from personal experience and perhaps this holds truer for Bill Robertie. It is known that Roberitie’s emphasis on doubling had been evolved from his personal experience, where Robertie had to throw a double on his last roll to win. He has explained the doubling and the situation for doubling in most of his books express his aggressiveness. He prefers his style to be called 'dynamic backgammon'. He advises clearly that one cant wait for the opponent to come to him; rather the player himself should try to reach the opponent.

This may be noted that another world champion, Tim Holland has always been always reckoned for his aggressive and innovative gaming strategies in backgammon. In his book Backgammon for People Who Hate to Lose, he has furnished the psychological guidance of playing the game for winning. The advantage has been the narrating examples quoted from his own life from his enormous bank of won titles.

If we talk of another world champion Walter Cookie, we must try to analyze his success from his personal views of playing backgammon for fun and his courage of taking risks irrespective of the progress of the game which have given him enough fun in his life. His risk-taking capability has also earned Titles for him. If we talk of the theoretical concepts then we should never bring Walter Cookie into discussion. A lot of experts had to spend sleepless nights just to justify his winning, a lot of which were theoretically incorrect. The fact of life remains that his reckless style had outplayed some most renowned player like Philip Martyn, who could hardly cope up. Chris Bray, the famous backgammon columnist, described the above-mentioned game as 'An incredible game; but what about Cookie’s initial double?'

So, we will never ask you to play an aggressive game like Walter Cookie simultaneously suggesting you to maintain a good pace so that the game does not become too cool and begins to fade into insignificance.

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