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From The Backgammon Book, by Oswald Jacoby and John R. Crawford
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| White to play 3-2. |
Right here is a good place to separate the sheep from the goats. Believe it or not, you can play this innocuous little roll very badly.
Suppose you move that man on the black eight point to your own twelve point. It looks perfectly safe and it is — for one roll. But suppose you followed this roll with double 6. Two 6s will bring the man from the black twelve point to your one point; the other two will bring the man on your twelve point to your six point and then off the board.
Since you have a closed board, it is your roll again immediately, and there are now lots of rolls that will force you to give your opponent an immediate shot. Specifically, if you roll double 6, double 5, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, or 6-2, you will be forced to leave a blot, while any number of other rolls which will be temporarily safe may lead to further embarrassment.
The correct play with that 3-2 would be to move just three points with your man on the back eight point, and to move one of the men on your six point to the four point. Look at your own backgammon board; check this position on it and you’ll find that you can handle any combination of two rolls with complete safety.
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Rollout
 Tom Keith 2013 |
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Money play Black owns 2-cube White rolls 3-2 1296 games with VR Checker play: 3-ply Cube play: XG Roller |
| 3-2: | Game | G | BG | Equity | ||||
| 1 | 17/15, 13/10 |
W L |
.9759 .0241 |
.0719 .0000 |
.0005 .0000 | +1.0154 |
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| 2 | 17/14, 13/11 |
W L |
.9740 .0260 |
.0711 .0000 |
.0005 .0000 | +1.0094 | (0.0060) | |
| 3 | 17/14, 6/4 |
W L |
.9743 .0257 |
.0694 .0000 |
.0005 .0000 | +1.0092 | (0.0062) |
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| 4 | 13/8 |
W L |
.9708 .0292 |
.0719 .0000 |
.0005 .0000 | +1.0037 | (0.0117) | |
| 5 | 17/12 |
W L |
.9670 .0330 |
.0732 .0000 |
.0005 .0000 | +0.9964 | (0.0190) |
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