Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Advanced Backgammon Strategies - Employing the Doubling Cube

By Sarai Guareno


While, the Doubling Cube is unknown to most of the backgammon casual players, it really is an necessary tool in advanced backgammon strategies and in capital matches and tournaments.

This cube is designated for raising the stakes of the match and its introduction to the backgammon world is one of the principal factors for the rise of popularity of backgammon.

The cube has 6 faces and the numbers written on it- 2, 4, 8,16,32,64.

At the beginning of the match, the doubling cube is placed beside the board or on the Bar between the players.

Any player, who feels at any stage of the match, that he is leading sufficiently within the match, before throwing his dice, may well suggest to double the stakes by placing the doubling cube with the number 2 facing up.

For instance player A decided to raise the stakes.

Player B, his opponent, the player the offer you is given to, after reviewing his situation, has two choices:

He might refuse the provide and thus lose the game and one unit.

He might agree to double the stakes, and in this case the match continues with higher stakes.

Player B, who agreed to the supply, is now the owner of the doubling cube, meaning only him (player B) has the choice to double the stakes again at any stage of the game.

If player B decides to do so, he has to do it on his turn just before throwing his dice.

Now he takes the dice and places it so that the number 4 is facing up.

Player A, has now the identical two options, only this time if he declines the provide he will lose two units, and if he agrees the stakes will rise to 4 times the original and also the doubling cube returns to his control.

The cube can pass from player to player, each time raising the stakes.

The Crawford rule-

Should you be playing a game until N- points, and your opponent is leading and reaches N-1 points, meaning he is short one point from winning the game, you are not allowed to use the Doubling cube inside the following game, nonetheless, it is possible to use the dice in the following matches if the game continues.

The reason is the weaker player will usually would like to raise the stakes because he has nothing to lose anymore and we want keep the use of the dice in fairness of both sides.

The Jacoby rule-

This rule is utilized in dollars games and by no means in match games. It decides that a backgammon or gammon could not be scored as such only if the cube has been passed and accepted. The reason behind this rule is speeding up.

The Holland rule-

The Holland rule is used in match games and decides that in post-Crawford games, the trailer can only double immediately after both sides have played two rolls. The rule makes the totally free drop far more valuable to the leading player but generally just confuses the problem.

In contrast to the Crawford rule, this rule isn't preferred, and is rarely utilised right now.

The beavers, raccoons, otters and any other animals in the backgammon game-

These animals appear only, if wanted by both sides, in capital games and by no means in match games.

If player A, doubles the stakes, and player B believes A is wrong and he (player B) has the advantage, B can double the stakes and keep the doubling cube on his side. For instance, if A makes the initial double and puts the doubling cube on 2, B can say "Beaver", turn the cube to 4 and keep the cube at his side. If A believes B is wrong he can say "Raccoon" and turn the cube to 8. All this time, B remains the owner of the doubling cube. If B wishes to raise the stakes as soon as more, he only requirements to say one more silly name (the animal's name is really a controversy amongst players) and so on.

The Chouette-

Chouette is often a version of backgammon for additional than 2 players. 1 of the players is the "Box" and plays against the rest of the group on a single board.

Yet another player is the "Captain" of the group, who throws the dice and makes the moves for the group playing against the box.

If the Box wins, the Captain goes to the back of the line plus the next player becomes the Captain of the team. If the Captain wins, he becomes the new Box, as well as the old Box goes to the end of the line.

The rules concerning the ability of the group to consult with the Captain changes from

version to version. In some versions of the Chouette the group can freely give advice to the Captain, and in other versions, consulting is strictly forbidden.

The compromised version is the most popular- consulting is legitimate only immediately after the dice have been thrown.

Originally, Chouette was played having a single die .The only decisions that players apart from the Captain had been allowed to make on their own was concerning the takes: If the Box had doubled, each and every player on the team could take or drop independently. Right now, a multiple-cube Chouette is far more well-known; each and every player on the team has his own cube, and all doubling, dropping, and taking decisions are made independently by all players.




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