| Books |
From The Backgammon Book, by Oswald Jacoby and John R. Crawford
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| White to play 6-4. |
The old-fashioned play was to run, using the full throw to bring one of the two back men out into the black outer board. Should this man be hit, you would only have lost your first roll; should he not be hit you would have him well-positioned to move into your outer board on your second throw.
The modern play is to use the six to move one back man to the black bar point, and to move a man from the black twelve point into your own outer board. The man on the black bar point is exposed to a direct 6 or 1 plus some combination shots. The odds are two to one that he will be hit. But unless he is hit by a point-making roll (in this case 6-1; double 6; double 3; or double 1) you will have a lot of possible return shots against your opponent’s vulnerable blot, and you have lost little anyway. If your man is not hit, your position is highly advantageous.
We recommend the traditional play for 6-4; we regard the modern play as inferior for two reasons. The first is that with our recommended running play, your blot is exposed to only a direct 2 (from one of your opponent’s men on your twelve point). The actual probability of his rolling this is eleven out of thirty-six possible shots. The second reason is that if you moved a man four points from the black twelve point in the modern manner, he would be on your nine point, exposed to a hit by one of your opponent’s back men should he throw any 8, one of the likeliest throws.
A word of warning: don’t be tempted to use an opening 6-4 to make your two point (by moving one man from your eight point and one from your six point). A point made in your board is always valuable, but the ones to aim for first are the five and four points: not only do they impede the movement of your opponent’s back men but they also furnish good landing places for your men as you start to make lower-numbered points later on in the game. Men on the two point, however, are almost entirely out of play since their only possible move is to the one point.
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Rollout
 Tom Keith 2013 |
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Money play Centered cube White rolls 6-4 1296 games with VR Checker play: 3-ply Cube play: XG Roller |
| 6-4: | Game | G | BG | Equity | ||||
| 1 | 8/2, 6/2 |
W L |
.4970 .5030 |
.1601 .1438 |
.0086 .0069 | +0.0269 |
| Two point |
| 2 | 24/14 |
W L |
.5080 .4920 |
.1246 .1356 |
.0061 .0050 | +0.0173 | (0.0096) | Traditional |
| 3 | 24/18, 13/9 |
W L |
.5024 .4976 |
.1374 .1388 |
.0072 .0065 | +0.0032 | (0.0237) | Modern |
| 4 | 24/20, 24/18 |
W L |
.4897 .5103 |
.1118 .1493 |
.0056 .0052 | −0.0632 | (0.0901) | |
| 5 | 24/20, 13/7 |
W L |
.4817 .5183 |
.1370 .1421 |
.0070 .0068 | −0.0821 | (0.1090) |
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