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From Backgammon, the Cruelest Game, by Barclay Cooke and Jon Bradshaw
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| Black to play 6-3. |
Most players in this situation would move their man on white’s 5 point out to white’s 11 point and move the odd man on their own 10 point to their bar. This illustrates the difficulty of learning the theory inherent in the back game.
The play that should be made is to slot the man on white’s 10 point on black’s 9 point, and to move the man on white’s 5 point out to white’s 8 point. The reasoning behind this tactic is as follows:
If white does not roll a 5 or a 6 on his next roll and does not hit your blot, he will have to move forward in his inner board, which he would prefer not to do. Then if black rolls a 1 or an 8 on the next roll, he can cover his open man, thereby restricting white’s movements to his own inner board and probably destroying it. On the other hand, if white does roll a 5 or a 6 and hits black, this will give black more time in which to preserve his semi-prime.
This is a battle of masochists, since both black and white long to be hit in order to be delayed for as long as possible. White has a beautifully balanced back game, but ultimately he will have to break his anchors on black’s 3 and 4 points or destroy his inner board. Black has a fine semi-prime and should strive to maintain it for as long as he can. That semi-prime is not only black’s main offense, his spearhead to safety, it is also his chief defense, since it prevents white from releasing his reserves.
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Rollout
 Tom Keith 2013 |
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Money play Centered cube Black rolls 6-3 1296 games with VR Checker play: 3-ply Cube play: XG Roller |
| 6-3: | Game | G | BG | Equity | ||||
| 1 | 20/17, 15/9 |
W L |
.6092 .3908 |
.3310 .0523 |
.0347 .0021 | +0.7341 |
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| 2 | 15/9, 5/2 |
W L |
.6028 .3972 |
.3209 .0589 |
.0362 .0031 | +0.6772 | (0.0569) | |
| 3 | 20/14, 5/2 |
W L |
.5768 .4232 |
.3177 .0558 |
.0400 .0025 | +0.6026 | (0.1315) | |
| 4 | 20/14, 10/7 |
W L |
.5686 .4314 |
.3118 .0585 |
.0380 .0025 | +0.5542 | (0.1799) | Not |
| 5 | 20/11 |
W L |
.5687 .4313 |
.3118 .0567 |
.0383 .0026 | +0.5506 | (0.1835) |
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