You’re a beginner – but you’ve got the basic scoring rules down:
- When you get all your checkers off first, you win a point.
- Get them off before your opponent gets any off and you win a gammon – worth 2 points.
- Win a gammon and your opponent still has a checker on the bar or in your home board and you win a backgammon – worth 3 points.
You also know how the doubling cube works: The # of points you win (or lose) is the above # of points times the cube value. And you know that the cube starts at 64 but that really means 1 when the game starts.
For example, if you win a gammon with the cube at 4 (doesn’t matter who hold it), you win 2 x 4 = 8 points.
Or if you win an undoubled backgammon, you win 3 points, assuming you’re not playing with the Jacoby Rule (a topic for another post).
Q: I just entered my first tournament and am playing a match to 5. How does that work?
A: You and your opponent each start with zero points. The first player to reach at least 5 points wins the match.
Q: If I’m winning 4-2 and I win a gammon for 2 points, do I still win?
A: You don’t have to win EXACTLY 5 points. You’ll win if you’re the first player to get five or more points. So yes, if you’re winning 4-2 and you win a gammon, you’ve won two more points, making the score 6-2, and making you the winner!
Q: If I’m the first player to four points, can my opponent double on the first roll?
A: Clearly if your opponent loses this game, you win the match, regardless of what the doubling cube shows. So it’s always in the behind player’s best interest to turn the cube at the earliest opportunity. [Note: There may be a rare exception but it’s not significant.]
Q: That doesn’t seem fair to the player who’s leading.
A: That’s right! For example, say the score is 2-3 in a match to 5 and you win the next game on a 2-cube, making the score 4-3. It doesn’t seem fair for your opponent to double you at his or her first opportunity, because that negates the previous game’s win.
Q: So is there a rule to cover this situation?
A: There is. It’s called the Crawford Rule. Oswald Jacoby (proposer of the fore-mentioned Jacoby Rule) and John Crawford were expert backgammon players.
Crawford proposed that when the first player to reach n-1 points in a match to n points, which in this case is when a player first gets to 4 points in a match to 5, for the next game only, no doubling is allowed. This next game is called the Crawford Game.
This protects the leading player.
Q: Is this rule in common use?
A: It’s use is ubiquitous. I’ve never seen a tournament where it’s not used.
Q: Do gammons and backgammons still count in a Crawford Game?
A: Yes. Although obviously the leading player only needs to win a single game to win the match.
Q: What if the cube was turned during a Crawford Game?
A: It doesn’t count. Neither does a drop, if detected in time.
Q: Let’s say I’m winning 4-0 in a match to 5. My opponent wins a gammon in the Crawford game, making the score 4-2. Can my opponent double in the next game?
A: Yes, and in every subsequent game in that match. A game that is after Crawford is called a post-Crawford Game.
Q: How do expert players think about match score?
A: Many top players do not actually think of the match score. Instead, they think of how many points they – and their opponent – need to win.
So 3-3 in a match to 5 becomes 2-away, 2-away.
16-8 in a match to 21 becomes 5-away, 13-away.
1-2 in a match to 3 becomes 2-away, 1-away.
One advantage of this way of thinking is that you only need to know two numbers: The # of points you – and your opponent – need to win the match.
Experts often abbreviate match score as 2a/3a, which means I’m 2-away and my opponent is 3-away.
I recommend that you, even as a beginner, adopt this way of thinking. It makes more advanced analysis (such as determining match equity based on the score) simpler and faster.
In subsequent posts, you’ll learn how the match score greatly influences your doubling strategy and even sometimes your checker strategy:
Remember that situation when you’re winning 4-2 in a match to 5? Or put another way, you’re 1-away, 3-away? Your checker play will change to maximize your chances of winning the game, regardless of your probability of winning a gammon.
What a great game!