I want to learn backgammon

[Robertie]

In the final rounds of major tournaments, matches are to 21 to 25 points. That's enough to give top players a big edge against the occasional intermediate who might get that far. If two top players match up, the result is a coin flip, unless someone's having a bad day. (Also, not all "top" players are created equal, which is true across all games.)

If the tournament director wants skill to play an even larger role, he can start the matches at 25 points (which takes about 4 hours using chess clocks) and have the final rounds at 35-41 points. Kent Goulding and I ran the World Cup in 1988 using this format, and it was very effective at weeding out the field to the true cream.

[TheShootah]

Oh yes, another question! How do you handle rolling the dice in time trouble? Do people actually get in time trouble? In chess(I have a serious time trouble problem), it's easier to bash out moves, or most tournies have a delay on the clocks. I would imagine people don't get into time trouble in Backgammon though.

[Robertie]

Yes, you can have time scrambles in backgammon, and they're even more exciting than in chess!

The typical time limit in a major tournament that uses clocks is 5 minutes/point of match length for each player. So an 11-point match would allow each player 55 minutes for all their moves. Very few tournaments require a clock for each match. (The World Cups of the 1990s were an exception, requiring clocks at all times.) The usual rule is that clocks are available, and can be used if either player or the director desires. Most players play normally at a reasonable pace, but every so often some clown will show up and decide that he can get an edge by boring or annoying an opponent to death. (Before clocks, I once recorded a match in Vegas that took over 10 hours to play when one player stalled and the director refused to take action.) Nowadays, such a player gets a rep and quickly finds himself using a clock every game.

When using a clock, the procedure is as follows: your opponent makes his moves and pushes his clock. You pick up the dice (only one pair of dice are used), put them in your cup, shake, roll, make your move, and press your clock. Dealing with the dice requires that each move will take 4-5 seconds minimum, so if you get very low on time, you're just going to lose.

At one World Cup, my opponent and I got to double match point (10-10 to 11) with him having 3 minutes on his clock and me having about 20 minutes. I started the last game by slotting my key points, he hit 5 or 6 of my checkers, and I knew I had won, since there was no way he could complete all the moves of a massive back game in the time he had left.

[TheShootah]

Ok, I see. It seems like since the dice limit the moves you actually have to consider you can play faster. That is what I was thinking. Thank you....Can you tell me the cheapest play to get Magriel's book on the game? Oh, and I was watching the Borgata WPT from this year, you were in the crowd right next to the camera man no? If not, you clearly have a twin somewhere floating around. Watch out. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Robertie]

That was me at Borgata. Danny and I were working on Volume 2 during the tournament.

We sell the paperback copy of Magriel's book for $45 plus shipping (new), but you can find used copies of the original hardcover on Ebay or through one of the book find site like www.abebooks.com, usually for $20-$30.