| Books |
From Better Backgammon, by Tim Holland
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| White to play 2-2. |
The correct play is to bear four men off your 2 point.
The totally safe play of making your 1 point and bearing two men from the 2 point is inferior. It is almost inconceivable that you could lose this game. Therefore, the only important thing is to make the play that will give you the best chance to win a gammon or a backgammon. By bearing four men off, any roll of Black’s that does not enable him to get out of your board will give you the opportunity to roll double 3s, 4s, 5s, or 6s — which would win a backgammon for you. With the play of hitting and bearing two men off, you practically eliminate any chance of winning a backgammon, for at best it will take you 2 rolls to bear off your remaining six men.
As for winning a gammon, the same applies. Your chances of bearing four men from your 3 point in 2 rolls is greater than that of bearing six men off from the 1, 2, and 3 points. It is true that you will gain something with the play of hitting when your opponent fails to enter. In that case, however, it means that he is rolling small numbers, and you will win the gammon in any event. Even if Black rolls double 5s, you still could win a gammon had you borne off four men. With the other move, this would be impossible.
Rollout
 Tom Keith 2013 |
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Money play Black owns 2-cube White rolls 2-2 1296 games with VR Checker play: 3-ply Cube play: XG Roller |
| 2-2: | Game | G | BG | Equity | ||||
| 1 | 2/off(4) |
W L |
1.000 .0000 |
.4825 .0000 |
.0342 .0000 | +1.5167 |
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| 2 | 3/1*(2), 2/off(2) |
W L |
1.000 .0000 |
.4704 .0000 |
.0186 .0000 | +1.4889 | (0.0278) |
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