Posted by admin in Poker and blackjack are not the only games that you can play at online casinos. In many online casinos backgammon is available and is becoming increasingly popular. In this article we will take a look at the basics of this interesting game and explore some of its hidden depths.
The object of backgammon is to get all your pieces off the board before your opponents do. It is a game that is susceptible to statistical analysis, and a backgammon player who understands the statistics of it will always have a much better chance of winning the game than one who does not.
Pieces are moved and the moves are decided by rolling two dice, however whatever the result of the roll of the dice, the player has a number of options available to him regarding how to optimise his actions.
A piece can only be moved to a point not containing two or more of the opponent’s pieces. If possible all the dice pips must be used. For instance if a 2 and a 5 are rolled, one piece must be moved 2 spaces and another 5 spaces, or a single piece must be moved 2 then 5 spaces or 5 then 2 spaces assuming that all the moves made are legal.
When a double is rolled, then each number counts twice. For instance with a double 4 the player can use four 4s.
If a player lands on a space occupied by a single opponent’s piece then that piece is moved to the bar which is equivalent to knocking it back to the start. Pieces on the bar must be put into play as soon as possible.
All pieces must reach the opponent’s final board quadrant before any can be bared off and pieces can only be bared off if the exact number of spaces is thrown on the dice.
Doubling the stake per point is allowed at any time. If a double is offered and refused the player refusing the double automatically loses the game by a single point. If a player accepts a double, then he gets to right to offer the next double. As you can double up to 64 times the original stake, care needs to be exercised.