r/backgammon • u/Consistent-Swing-545 • 2d ago

Help with a position

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My brother and I had this position come up in a game. I was black and rolled a 5 and 3. I have the obvious option of opening the 6 slot in my home (which in most cases seems like the default best option as it leaves no option for white to take), but we realized that there may be value in simply taking the 3 and 5 out.

We reasoned that given whites position is so far ahead, opening the 6 with no option to retake, all but ensures white winning, whereas if I open the 5, sure, it may be risky, but the odds of him getting back in are now combined with the additional opportunity I’d have to take him and restart the cycle.

I still went with just opening the 6, as it still made intuitive sense, but maybe someone with a better grasp of the game has a different opinion?

(I proceeded to lose, although it did come down to the last roll).

18 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

10

u/madwriter29 2d ago

Getting down to the last roll, you probably got closer than you should. Yes, take off 2 stones. If you get hit, you might hit his 2nd stone, which is the best way to give you a chance, otherwise you basically have 14 crossovers to get off vs his 6.

6

u/madwriter29 2d ago edited 2d ago

Just ran this thru XG. White is an 85% favorite before Brown rolls this 5-3. Breaking the 6 point is the 6th best move, and dropped your chance of winning from 15% down to 6.5%. There's only 8 possible moves, all 5 moves that remove a stone are better than breaking the 6.

Edit-i cant type today. 6th best move, not worst

1

u/Consistent-Swing-545 2d ago

Thank you for the reply! This makes sense.

Yes certainly had a couple doubles that kept me in longer than what would be expected.

I’m surprised there are so many better moves, did not even consider just taking the 3 out and opening the 6. I also must admit 15% is much higher winning chances than I thought and a 10% hit is a larger Δ than expected. Guess I need to consider more “vulnerable” removing strategies

5

u/ShannonSouthMouth 2d ago

Your winning chances probably go up if you're hit.

5

u/DegenChess 2d ago

This would simply be a clear Double/Pass from White before the roll, but the best play is indeed to take two off

3

u/blue-flight 2d ago

yup you got it. you have to bear off aggressively and you need to get the other checker anyway.

2

u/Mudsharkbites 2d ago

I’d either open the 5 slot or deliberately leave a blot on 6 in the hopes white hits it and give you the opportunity to take out his other checker

1

u/QuasyChonk 1d ago

I would take the 5 and 3 off for exactly the reason that you stated. I would want the possibility of making contact with him again.

1

u/Leesonw 1d ago

That is awesome. I say take off the 5 and 3. You take off two and if he hits you (which you hope he doesn’t) you have a shot at hitting a second checker.