This is a great series. I am a complete novice and this has helped me understand the game. Thank you very much for taking the trouble to make the vids. Your explanations are just the right pace, and very easy to follow.

Thanks for the videos. I think I learned the game in like half the time it would take to read it and understand the strategy.

I grew up playing Backgammon with my family (granddad, dad, cousins uncles and aunts.) I am Iranian so the game is part of my heritage. The rules we use is slightly different, for example in your home board, you cannot hit an enemy checker and move, which I actually believe makes a lot of sense compared to the international rules. However we do not use/have a doubling cube and I believe in a competitive sense, the cube brings a lot of depth to the game and also adds added value to your decisions and strategies in the game. Thank you for these videos and super excited to studying your videos regarding intermediate/advanced strategies. (btw I am an avid poker player at the moment and since I do not have the right bankroll to make it in poker, I have decided to have a go in my other passion, backgammon as I believe it could also be a stepping stone in improving my poker specially in the math department. This is my start, if you have any ideas on where I should continue my quest in becoming better beyond your videos and playing the game, I am open for your suggestions Ensor :) ) The doubling cube is very similar to the implied odds you get in poker, where you make a call with a draw even if you know your opponent is ahead due to the implied odds of getting paid off if you make your hand in further streets.

I've always been confused, and as such, afraid to even contemplate Backgammon. However, 35 years after that initial scare (now 44), I can say with gladness that I am now contemplating having a go at the game. Your instructions and guidance has been a breath of fresh air to me. Your videos have made the game clear and also interesting. Is this where the idea for Yahtzee came from, as I recall some similarities when I played Yahtzee as a kid? Thanks very much for an informative set of videos. Well done to you! Craig

excellent explanation!

Thank you for a wonderful clear series. Played a lot years ago when living in Turkey and this has brought it all back to me.

Thank you for clearing up the role of the doubling cube. I've been trying to learn this game, and this part has made little sense to me. I'm glad I now know what I'm actually doing when I accept a double.

I was playing all wrong!!! thanks for clearing this up

Hi. When a player accepts the cube, they gain control over the choice of whether to offer to double further in the game, and move the cube to their side to show this. In this example, black would not be able to double again unless red doubled again, and black accepted, thus moving it back to his side.

ah yes, watching your video again you did explain this. I was playing backgammon at the time and got distracted! Thanks.

In a sense, you're right. In professional play, doubling values very rarely exceed 8, and most games would only see 2 or 4. However, there are a couple of points to note; Most reasonably high level tournaments have match lengths greater than 5 - especially in later rounds - with matches typically being to 9, 11, and in some cases 25.. Also, you have to consider that the cube is used not just in match play, but also in money games, as well as chouette variants, where higher values occur more.

Ten months after my first post, and I've grown to "accept" the doubling cube. It's another level of complexity, but also another chance for experience and knowledge to provide an advantage over the luck of the dice

Thanks so much! You're videos are the best out there!

Great explanation, always wondered what that numbered dice was for!

Nicely explained, thanks!

Hi. A player refusing the cube simply concedes the game to the opponent at the current value of the cube. The passing player doesn't lose any points from their own match total. So, for example, if the match score were 2 to 1 in player A's favour, and player B refused a double to 2, then the match score would become 3 to 1.

Great Tutorial!! 👍🏻

LOVE these tutorials! Excellent work, mate. I am enthralled with this game now. A few questions: #1) Why doesn't the doubling cube start with 1, and go to 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32? 64 is such a ludicrous number. (I can't imagine anyone going that high, ever.) #2) I've heard of an "automatic doubling" rule, which is, upon opening roll, if both dice are the same value, the doubling cube is enacted by one value immediately, but not in the control of either player (stays in the center of the board)....and further doubled with each subsequent roll of double values upon the opening roll. Is this rule officially recognized by international standards, or is it just one of those "off-the-record" things like putting money in the Free Parking space on Monopoly?

Hi. The thing is, that doubles are usually offered from a position of strength, or at least perceived strength. In your example, player B should be offering the double from an advantageous position, so player A in accepting would be unlikely to be in that much of a hurry to re-double until his fortunes in the game improved. Player B could have make a mistake and over estimated his position, of course, in which case player A would be right to exploit this.

@gubbj Yes, a double offer in backgammon is a bit like a raise in poker - the opponent has to either match the raise (in this case "take"). or fold the hand and lose what it was worth (ie "pass").

@Rapchaid Yes, when a player is offered a double, they can either accept to play at the new stakes, or they concede the game then and there for the previous value of the cube. If red rejects the double to 4, he would lose the 2 points there.

When players in Hold'em go "all in", they make that decision on their own, and challenge opponents to meet the bet or fold, but in backgammon, doubling can only be done to the next doubling level, unless the opponent subsequently re-doubles etc. As there are no "hidden cards" in a backgammon game, and therefore no bluffs, there would be no gain in a losing player wishing to increase the cube value straight away. All they would be doing is increasing the value of a game that they are losing.

Your tutorials are excellent and I thank you very much for posting them. I hope you will continue in your series. I've been through your Beginner and Beyond Beginner series. I must say, I hate the doubling cube and view it as an unnecessary complication introduced 70 years ago by people who would rather gamble than play backgammon. I know, that ship has sailed long ago.

@Ensor42

10 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the comment. I completely understand your position as regards the cube. It's a view that many players share, though I am most certainly not one of them. The thing is, unlike other games in which the aspect of "gambling" may be considered a factor, backgammon does not contain any "hidden" element. In other words, the position on the board, and the relative standing of both players is there for all to see. This means that decisions of using or responding to cube decisions is one of knowledge, experience and skill. In this regard, I think that the cube adds far more depth and nuance to the play than may be lost through any variance of probabilities.

@teodelfuego

10 жыл бұрын

I know you are right and I "bet" I will grow to love the cube once I overcome my poor over-the-board pip counting skills and inability to recognize winning and losing percentages early in a game. For now, I try to get by with the Position, Race and Threat rule of thumb. But, seriously, you have a decided talent for explanation Thanks again.

@grapiken7766

9 жыл бұрын

I agree. The doubling cube spoils it.

@joshuaweiss1249

7 жыл бұрын

it is nessisary to raise the skill ceiling

@KripDrip Quick tip: If you see a game with a doubling cube value of more than 8, or 16 at the outside, then the players almost certainly don't know how to double properly.

Just FYI for everyone. I ran the computer analysis of this position using GNU backgammon. It recommend a double for red and then a pass for black. The equity is .841 for No double. Double then pass is 1.0 and double then take is 1.029. It would be a 2.9 percent error for black to take the cube after being offered the double. The explanation of the doubling process is excellent though.

Do you mean often in any given game, or often in backgammon as a whole? In high level play, I would expect to usually see a double offered in the majority of games, and a re-double in about a quarter to a third of those. Cube values of 8 are rarer, and those of 16 and above are extremely rare.

@KripDrip Yes, theoretically, there isn't a limit to the potential doubling value, and players would have to agree among themselves, or write the value down or some such, if the doubling went beyond 64. In reality, however, this almost never happens. Firstly, match lengths would very seldom be that high, and the nature of the swings in players fortunes in a given game don't in actuality lead to doubling decisions of that magnitude.

Excellent tutorial(s). My only question is about the doubling cube. Other rules I've read say the player refusing the offer to raise the stakes 'pays' the standing point value; does this mean the player backing down loses points to the winner, or does the winner simply gain the point value?

Thanks

Question: is there any limit about requiring doubling? For example, player A declares double, then player B says redouble. After that, can player A say double again? And no matter which the player refuse the double, he lose right?

What is the idea of doubling cube if there is two on cube it makes the point of dices 2x or if there is 64 it makes 64x? Why there are sometimes two dices and some times four? What is the difference if d cube is on my side or opponents or middle? Why some times opponent can put various bloks off gamebord I can just put max two in same game? Why if opponent says he wants double I deny he wins game every time?

@Ensor42 So when you say red loses the 2 points, it's the 2 points he could've won that black instead wins? So if the game were 0-0, it would now be 0-2 for black?

would i be right in assuming then that the doubling cube is used often?

not a gammon player, but there's a new CCG game "marvel snap" and it has a doubling cube which can doubled up to 3 times. Can anyone give me rough % numbers as to what min equity one should have when considering first doubling and when considering accepting a double?

Does the 64 mean 1?? does this mean that once it's been raised to 32 s player can't raise it to 64

Hi, im a complete newbie to the game, i was just wondering, say player A accepts the double then on player A's next turn offers the double to his opponent and the opponent refuse's isn't that an easy way for player A to gain points and easily win? Or is there a rule to prevent this from happening?

Why when red accepts the doubling to '4' does the cube change to the red side? How then can black double again to 8?

so the lower your pipcount the better you are? i'm a bit confused on this part..

so if red refuses to take the stakes up to 4, he automatically looses?

Oh never mind i read the last few questions

What's the point of all those massive high stakes? Like 4, 8, 16. I usually see most tournaments and games go up to a score of 5. Players actually bet almost all of the points to win on one game?

funny how each segment gets less and less viewers. Guess only 1/10th of the viewers were serious about learning backgammon.

When you say a player loses two points do you mean the other player gets two points or that the loser loses 2 of his own points

I think point Aidan Morilla is trying to make is that there is no rule to stop the players doubling up to the max of 64. Why do that? A lot of online players of texas hold em will go ALL IN so as to be in a commanding position to win the game, if they loose it's just a case of saying oh well i'll find another game to play. It's a kind of a cheat some players like to use to dominate the game. I believe he was thinking along those lines..............

I still don't get it.

if the odds were 40 60, he should accept, but because he has less than half the chance to win, he should not accept

I was full of enthusiasm for learning backgammon, however, maths has always been a weakness for me and pip counts and now this doubling cube have put me off. There is too much maths involved. I give up.

@Ensor42

9 жыл бұрын

Gra Piken To give up would be a shame. Maths are an inevitable consequence of understanding a game so heavily structured around the use of probabilities, but it is really just about thinking about it in certain ways that need not be intimidating. The pip count, for example, can just be thought of as how far each player is from the finish line in a race. The cube can be simplified to thinking about 'betting' when you think you are ahead. Higher level play does require more effort with the intricate nuances, as do so many things we may strive to achieve, but the game can still be thoroughly enjoyed on many levels until you feel ready to dip your toe in the deeper waters

@paulfogarty7724

8 жыл бұрын

You should play anyway, just enjoy the game. Its played in the Arab countries and Greece, Turkey ect for thousands of years without any cube. You can learn those things when you get better at playing.

@sixofone1307

8 жыл бұрын

+Paul Fogarty As a beginner I'm doing fine until the doubling cube...and the first thing I wondered is how modern an addition is this to just playing the original single game. Seems somebody added it later. So I won't even bother with it. I also am not bothering with pip counting. There's playing a game simply for casual fun...then there's playing at much more complicated 'expert' levels. No thanks.

@assassindroidig88

7 жыл бұрын

From what i've read, the doubling cube was added sometime in the 1920's, so yeah, it is fairly new, and I'm sure it has more to do with the gambling factor.

@paulfogarty7724

7 жыл бұрын

six of one Me too - I prefer to play it and see the outcome rather than plotting pip count, dice probabilitys ect. I suppose this may get important if you play for big money, but then the fun is gone.

I was really interested to find out about the doubling cube then you ruin the explanation by babbling on and on and on if you say it doubles the point then ok don't keep repeating your self i had to turn off half way .

Thanks