| Books |
From Better Backgammon, by Tim Holland
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| White to play 4-1. |
The four is easy — the one is difficult. It may seemingly be unimportant where the ace is taken; the only correct move, however, is to move from Black’s 4 point to Black’s 5 point.
The reason for this move is that the only number that you have to fear that Black can roll is double 5s. If you move any other 1 in Black’s outer board or you outer board, with the roll of double 5s, Black will enter and move to his 5 point. Thus, you will have just a 1 with which to hit his blot with your man on his 4 point. If you are on his 5 point, he will be forced to hit you. You will therefore be on the rim and will have a chance to hit Black’s blot on his 2 point, plus his newly arrived blot on his 5 point. You have increased your chances of hitting from 11 out of 36 to 22 out of 36, exactly double.
If Black rolls 5 and 6, 5 and 3, or 5 and 2, you will have three men directly bearing on his resulting blot. If Black’s roll is 5 and 4, hitting your blot on your 9 point, you will have the opportunity to hit his blot on his 2 point, plus re-hitting his blot now on your 9 point. If Black rolls 5 and 1 (his best roll), he will save his blot on his 2 point. You’re still okay, however, for you will be able to hit his blot on your 5 point with 4s, 7s, 8s, 12s, and 15s.
Rollout
 Tom Keith 2013 |
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Money play Black owns 2-cube White rolls 4-1 1296 games with VR Checker play: 3-ply Cube play: XG Roller |
| 4-1: | Game | G | BG | Equity | ||||
| 1 | bar/21*/20 |
W L |
.6235 .3765 |
.0000 .1130 |
.0000 .0025 | +0.0300 |
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| 2 | bar/21*, 12/11 |
W L |
.6204 .3796 |
.0000 .1169 |
.0000 .0025 | +0.0179 | (0.0121) | |
| 3 | bar/21*, 17/16 |
W L |
.6105 .3895 |
.0000 .1119 |
.0000 .0019 | +0.0055 | (0.0245) | |
| 4 | bar/21*, 9/8 |
W L |
.6069 .3931 |
.0000 .1225 |
.0000 .0024 | −0.0148 | (0.0448) | |
| 5 | bar/21*, 13/12 |
W L |
.5965 .4035 |
.0000 .1241 |
.0000 .0018 | −0.0459 | (0.0759) |
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