The 2nd Roll

24 Pages·2020·0.444 MB·English

by  Marc Olsen

The
2nd
Roll
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Contents
Rule no.1 "Bar Fight" ................................................................................................ 1
Rule no.2 "Backup" ................................................................................................... 2
Rule no.3 "Hit From Mid" ......................................................................................... 3
Rule no.4 "The Showstopper" .................................................................................. 4
Rule no.5 "The Scoop" ............................................................................................. 5
Rule no.6 "Little Steps"............................................................................................. 6
Rule no.7 "Van Damme" ........................................................................................... 7
Rule no.8 "Anchorman" ............................................................................................ 8
Rule no.9 "Halfway House" ...................................................................................... 9
Rule no.10 "Roadrunners" ...................................................................................... 10
Rule no.11 "Kickback" ............................................................................................ 11
Rule no.12 "Deep Dive" .......................................................................................... 12
Rule no.13 "Tin Soldiers" ....................................................................................... 13
Rule no.14 "Down Mirrors" ..................................................................................... 14
Rule no.15 "Downer" .............................................................................................. 15
Rule no.16 "Slot Machines" ................................................................................... 16
Rule no.17 "Twins" ................................................................................................. 17
Rule no.18 "The Opportunist" ................................................................................ 18
Rule no.19 "Two for One" ....................................................................................... 19
Minor rules ............................................................................................................. 20
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Introduction
I’ll start this ebook with a crucial part of every backgammon For the lazy ones out there the basic Nactation symbols are
game: The 2nd Roll. My approach to backgammon In gen- as follows (with my own addition for "Exceptions"):
eral is very pragmatic and focused on immediate over the
board improvements. Since second roll checker play natu- R = Run
rally comes up in almost every game, I have found it useful S = Split
to spend a lot of time studying these positions1. I heavily Z = Reverse Split (split and one down from midpoint)
recommend learning and understanding the opening replies $ = Slot
since a lot of long-term equity can be gained with little effort. D = Down (two down from midpoint)
P = Make Point
It is possible to memorize all of the opening replies and I U = Up with back checker(s)
have heard of players doing this. To me, this sounds tedious K = Kill (double hit)
and more importantly almost impossible to remember in E = Exceptions
the long run. The method I present here is based partly on
rules of thumb and partly on the basic reasoning behind the I have one important caveat. This ebook is not written for
correct moves. Understanding why the correct moves are beginners, although I think they will benefit from reading it,
correct is especially useful when solving positions on the and it’s a prerequisite that you understand which natural
3rd roll where memorization becomes impossible in prac- plays take precedence over the rules below. It’s also import-
tical terms. ant that you read all of the rules, as some of them overlap
or supplement each other.
I will present the opening reply rules one at a time and ex-
plain why they’re correct. The ebook uses Nactation2 so I All positions and rules apply to money game with Jacoby
recommend reading up on that before reading any further: and Beaver. In general, they can be applied to match play at
most scores.
http://timothychow.net/2ndroll_bill.pdf
Note that I’ve added a nickname for each rule. I believe this
will make it easier to remember and add some fun to the
concepts.
1 For the players starting out in backgammon, the the second roll is when the player on the first roll has 2 Nactation is a method of notating backgammon
only time where checker play does not take place on a free drop after the Crawford game. moves especially useful for notating the early game.
Contents
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R U L E N O . 1 " B A R F I G H T "
When hitting on the barpoint with a
1-roll bring down the second checker.
With a 6-roll split the second checker.
If the return roll contains a 1, the other half of the roll has to be played from the midpoint (E: 64S – 41).
If the return roll contains a 6, the other half of the roll must be used to split the back checkers.
Match play: When far ahead in a match you are eager to split.
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
0
159
167
0
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
b the relative weakness of the 55-blitz this tells us something
m
13/7 -0,066
about how wrong the 51 blitzing move must be3. We have
m m
2 8/7 6/1 -0,066 (-0,050) no additional inner board points and we commit to making
the inefficient 1-point which is somewhat intrinsically bad
The 51 in question is possibly one of the most frequently when we have viable alternatives. When we hit with a 6 we
misplayed opening reply rolls and Rule no. 1 should effec- keep the spare on the 8-point, hence the D-move becomes
tively eliminate this mistake. The general reason why playing an overkill except at gammon go.
down from the midpoint is correct rather than splitting is the
need for further ammunition to either make the slotted bar- Themes:
point, make another inner board point or possibly blitz when • Extra ammunition
our opponent enters (this is especially true for 21 and 41). • Pureness
Just take a look at the stripped 8-point after playing the 1 • Fighting for key points
and how it limits our flexibility. Another thing concerning • Flexibility
the 51 is the weakness of the blitzing move. Considering • Diversification
3 The alternative to blitzing with 55 is to make the ing). When the opponent has split with 51 making to win the game, although it makes up for it with the
3-point with two checkers from the midpoint, which the 3-point is only a -0,006 error. Even double hitting gammon wins.
is an entirely different game plan (priming vs. blitz- after a 52-split “only” makes us about 60 % favorite
1
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R U L E N O . 2 " B A C K U P "
Take down a checker after
hitting from the 6 or 8-point.
When the opponent has split with anything other than a 1, and you’re supposed to hit, the non-hit-checker must
be played from the midpoint (except if the opponent has incorrectly split to the 20 point with 43 and we roll 41).
Match play: When ahead splitting tends to be correct.
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
0
160
167
0
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
a pure fashion. As for the difference between the D-move
b
m
13/10 6/4 -0,090
and the split, the roll out result tells most of the story. While
2 24/21 6/4m -0,098 (-0,008) the winning percentages are almost identical the gammon
wins and losses guide us to the right play in match situa-
m m
3 6/4 4/1 -0,138 (-0,048)
tions i.e. when we’re ahead we’re supposed to split more
due to the reduced gammon value. The reason the D-move
Another one of my pet peeves is these incorrect double hits is correct is the additional ammunition it provides for inner
that I see all the time. Again, blitzing to the 1-point on the board points or a potential blitz; the split because it cuts
second roll is mostly only correct if the alternative is even down on gammons – pretty obvious stuff going on here.
weaker and/or awkward. The main reason that the hit is
superior to the double hit is the looseness and impurity of Themes:
the double hit. We have to recognize how bad it is moving • Pureness
a checker to the 1 point. We are allowed to play inefficient- • Efficiency
ly/impure but only if we have a decent blitz going, which we • Weak blitz
do not have here. • Fighting for key points
• Unstacking
The hit-and-down play is exactly what the double hit is not;
it fights for one of the two key points (4 and 5-point) and in
2
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R U L E N O . 3 " H I T F R O M M I D "
Always hit loose from the midpoint
Unless there’s another obvious play, you should hit from the midpoint, including hitting
with 53, 54, 62, 63, 64 (and thereby not making points with 53 and 64).
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
0
160
167
0
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
b Running all the way is too passive since it allows the oppo-
m
13/3 -0,125
nent to anchor, make a new inner board point, or hit. Also, the
2 24/14 -0,138 (-0,013) opponent has extra hitting numbers from the split checkers
and not only from the midpoint.
3 8/2 6/2 -0,142 (-0,017)
Themes:
Initiative is important in the early game because both play- • Pureness
ers fight for the key points, these being mainly the 4 and • Initiative
5-point on both sides of the board. If we don’t hit and in- • Fighting for key points
stead make the 2-point we allow the opponent to anchor or • Unstacking
escape and nullify the blitzing value of the 2-point. If the
opponent has not split making the 2-point acts as a deter-
rent to split, but when the opponent has already done this
it’s senseless making the point, since we’re probably not
getting a chance to attack on the next roll.
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R U L E N O . 4 " T H E S H O W S T O P P E R "
Always tempo hit
with 5’s after a 6-split
More specifically 52 and 54. The only time to tempo hit with 5s on the return roll is when the opponent
has split with a 6 (you should also tempo hit with 54 and 43 after the opponent splits with 41).
You should not tempo hit with 51. Match play: Tempo hit less often with 52 when ahead.
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
0
159
167
0
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
b Our alternative to hitting is simply to split, which isn’t a bad
m
24/20 6/1 -0,163
play per se. In this case, though, we are just making the op-
2 E 24/20 13/8 -0,195 (-0,032) ponents next roll even stronger, since he can now also point
on us. We don’t like playing a checker to the 1 point but the
3 E 24/15 -0,238 (-0,075)
upside justifies the play. To those of you who want to delve
a little deeper into this subject, try comparing the difference
I disdain tempo hitting on the 1 point but as long as the between the 62-, 63- and 64-split, and tempo hitting with 51,
world’s best player XG says that it’s correct I’m going to 52, and 54.
keep doing it. If we understand why these tempo hits are
correct we can learn a lot about tempo hitting on later rolls. Themes:
First off we need to realize that several factors have to be • Large improvements on both sides
present to make these plays right. Our opponent must have • Strength of opponent’s builders
opportunities to improve his position markedly and our al- • Value of split
ternative to hitting provides the opponent with even stron-
ger possibilities on his next roll – this statement has sever-
al nuances which I might look into in another ebook. In this
case, the opponent can make the defensive barpoint and
possibly an inner board point, both strong improvements.
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R U L E N O . 5 " T H E S C O O P "
Only double hit with 41
after an ace split
The only time to double hit on the return roll is when the opponent has made the small split
and we roll 41 (E1: 32Z – 32K). This rule generally does not apply to the third roll and later.
Also, it does not apply to 65.
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
0
161
167
0
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
(from 5 to 11). So our opponent’s position goes from decent
b
m m
6/2 2/1 -0,148
to good with the quiet play. Then what does the double hit
2 13/8 -0,159 (-0,011) have going for it?
3 E 24/23 24/20 -0,175 (-0,028)
First off, it’s never bad to put two checkers on the bar and
4 E 24/23 13/9 -0,197 (-0,049)
deprive the opponent of an entire roll, which improves the
race value of our position and takes away his initiative. Sec-
Playing down to the 8-point is a very quiet play and it’s rare- ondly, we start a (albeit very thin) blitz which sometimes
ly the best, see rule number 23. It does nothing more than turns decent when the opponent rolls a 6 and we roll well
simply move freight and gain slightly in the race, which is from there. These two scenarios aren’t appealing, and very
bad since we’re looking to diversify our position to gain a often the opponent simply reenters straight away and we’re
positional advantage in the early game. either hit or forced to make the 1-point. Both top plays make
us underdogs in the game but we receive ever so slightly
Making the small split is actually quite good since it at- more equity with the double hit.
tempts to go after an advanced anchor or escape which
has increased priority because of the extra checker in the Themes:
opponent’s zone. The problem with this move is the 4 that • Keeping initiative
has to be played down from the midpoint. Since the op- • Weak blitz
ponent has split the hitting numbers increase dramatically • Small gain in the race
5
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R U L E N O . 6 " L I T T L E S T E P S "
Only hit in the opponent's
outfield with 22 when they've
split with 64.
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0
157
167
0
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
potent point making spare, compared to a spare on the 10
b
m
24/16 +0,095
or 11 point4. Secondly the opponent is looking to make the
defensive barpoint anchor. If we don’t hit here we’re simply
2 E 24/22(2) 6/4(2) +0,047 (-0,048)
allowing the opponent too much, which isn’t the case when
3 E 13/11(2) 6/4(2) +0,038 (-0,057)
he has only split with 41.
The fact that it is only correct to hit after 64 tells us some- Themes:
thing about the strength of the non-hitting 22-plays. Here • Tempo
the hit is strong because it also acts as tempo hit. First of • Strength of 9 point builder
all, the blot on the opponent’s 9 point acts as an especially • Large improvements on both sides
4 The importance of the 9-point builder is discussed
in Ballard & Weaver, Openings Book A, position A23.
6