Gammon Tip -- Doubling Cube

After I played at DailyGammon for a while, I was stuck in the 1800 range. I "chatted" with a good player who said the vast majority of players could improve their game by being more aggressive with the doubling cube.

Novices should learn more about how the doubling cube works. Most intermediate and some advanced players will see a big jump in their game by being more aggressive and doubling when they have a "material advantage" and especially if there's a "gammon possibility."

My DG friend was correct. Within a few months, I saw my rating increase by almost 200 points! The cube can help you lock in the 1 point for sure, or double the value when you have the advantage.

More technical details on the doubling cube are beyond the scope of this blog -- but here's a great article with more details about the doubling cube.

Gammon Tip: DG and the GNU Bot

DailyGammon is really a great site to play backgammon. But you probably know that already if you are reading this. One great feature that most people don't know about -- is that you can play the GNU bot right at DailyGammon!

Just go to the Game Lounge and go to the bottom of the page (where you can "Find a player whose name starts with:." Just enter "gb001" -- and you can set up matches against the GNU Backgammon software. GNU plays backgammon as well as any human -- so it's great practice. The DailyGammon server allows you to play up to five matches against the bot.

You can see how GNU plays and get a sense for some winning strategy.