Backgammon Strategy - How to Play and Win

by Natalie Aranda

While backgammon may look like an easy game to win, it actually takes a lot of skill and strategy. For beginners, it may resemble Checkers, as it also requires you to get your pieces off the board before the other players. However, there are many other elements needed in order to win a game of free backgammon. Luckily, with enough practice, it is entirely possible to become a great player in a small amount of time. Therefore, it is important to know how to play backgammon as well as how to strategize.

The first thing you should focus on is strategy. Playing backgammon is all about tricking your component, thus it is crucial to make sure you do this early on in the game. For instance, you could lose one of your pieces during one of your first moves. Although this may make you look weak, the opponent may get the impression that you aren't a very good player. Therefore, they will not strategize as well. Also, by losing one of your pieces early on, the competitor will actually end up having more pieces in their home board. When the game continues towards the end, the other player will have a more difficult time trying to get them back into the game.

Another great backgammon strategy that will help you win is the blocking technique. Most players agree that blocking the opponent's pieces in your own home board will be easier. This way they will have a more difficult time trying to get out of your area. Also, remembering that points 4 and 7 are also great to block other players. No matter what you choose to do, it is crucial that you hit as many pieces as you can. The only time where it would hurt you is if it will leave you open or block your move. Nevertheless, you should always visualize the move before you actually play it. This way you can see if there will be any problems when you decide to strategize.

Many players feel that strategizing does not happen overnight. It improves only after you have played backgammon hundreds of times, and almost know what each player is going to do next. In order to develop this kind of strategy, a lot of hard core backgammon players play online backgammon. Online backgammon is great for practice, as you can play with others around the world or against a computer. This is a wonderful tool to help you improve your skills, without having to beg your friends to play every minute of the day. Regardless of who you play with, it will always benefit your overall backgammon strategy. With so many backgammon resources, the opportunities are certainly endless to win.



About the Author

Natalie Aranda writes on recreation and entertainment.