BACKGAMMON MYTH BUSTING
Here at Gamblingreviews.org we have made it our business to make sure the users of our site receive only the most reliable information pertaining to all things gambling. Naturally this involves dispelling myths and urban legends as well as misconceptions about the various gambling games available out there. This article takes as its focus the game of backgammon and aims to inform new players about several facets of the game that may not be immediately apparent. To many experienced players a lot of what will be discussed here may be old news, however, we're quite confident that there will be something of value here for everyone concerned, newbie and old head alike.
To kick off we must tackle that old argument, skill or luck. It is a question that is extremely pertinent, especially since many forms of online gambling are regularly in the media due to legal wrangling about whether or not the ban should also apply to games of skill as well as luck. Of course the presence of dice will always make it seem immediately apparent that you're dealing with a game of luck but as far a backgammon is concerned this is not quite so. Yes possible moves on a backgammon board are predicated largely on the spin of a pair of dice, but this is not snakes and ladders, the complexity of the game makes the skillful handling of these random turns of chance central to winning. Any experienced player will tell you that what you do with those spins is crucial to winning, far more so than the values that result from those spins. As a result backgammon is a game of what you do with what you can control, rather than resigning your self to what you can't. A player who makes the right choices with bad spins will almost always trump a player who makes sloppy decisions with good spins. This also feeds in to another preconception that is also inaccurate, the idea that the value you get after spinning the dice can be handled in a variety of ways, each one of those different choices being roughly similar. This is plainly not so. Statistically there absolutely is a best play with each roll of the dice, and that play can be several percent better than other choices. Players who rush to move without considering this will not affect their game detrimentally if it happens once or twice, but over the course of a game it most definitely adversely affect the players position. The whole point of the game is to find that best move and make it as consistently as possible. In this way the player manages to override the effect of chance, this, pitted against his or her opponents choices, is where the skillful aspect of the game of backgammon is to be found. And it is not as simple as you may think, each roll of the dice presents a player with an array of possible choices, with one being statistically superior by several percentage points to all the others. Even computer opponents fail to make these best choices each and every time and this just goes to show just how complex this seemingly simple game really is.
This next myth follows logically on from the last one in that it is disproved by it. Many people say that online gambling games are rigged, this applies to all forms of online gambling but here we will focus specifically on online backgammon. The dice are absolutely, positively not rigged. They are the result of a random number generator and as close to the random turns of real dice on a real board. Over the years it has been demonstrated that even random number generators are not completely random, over massive stretches of time displaying certain patterns but the same can be said of all seemingly random processes. It is a case of them being random enough not to affect the game. The reason concerns as to the true randomness of the dice in online backgammon are brought up is that people think they result from the computer analyzing the game in its current state of play and giving slightly better rolls to computer opponents than to human ones. The fact that computer opponents have been shown on numerous occasions to not even be able to pick the best move per dice roll should give you more confidence that they are not able to decide which roll would help them most and hinder you most in rapid real time play. People who speak of bad rolls are more likely than not making bad moves against superior opponents and this is why it would seem that the odds are stacked against them. The message here is improve your game and concentrate not so much on what the dice are saying.
The final myth that we will be dispelling today is the idea that constant and prolonged play will necessarily translate directly to becoming a more proficient player. Yes, experience is paramount in the early stages in order to get to grips with the game and sass out how other players play, as well as being exposed to more and more possibilities that the combination of rolls and moves will present. However, all experienced backgammon players will tell you, somewhat begrudgingly, that study is essential to becoming a really great backgammon player. Of course this can be said of absolutely everything in life but it initially seems somewhat counter intuitive with a game like backgammon. Trust us, everyone we have spoken to who knows their stuff has ended up saying the same thing. There are certain understandings that studying the dynamics of backgammon will give you, this knowledge will never present itself to you during play, especially since most players will quickly reach the ceiling of their abilities during extended play and will stick to what they know. Studying match equity tables and take points, among many other things will give you new perspectives that would never ordinarily be arrived at during regular play. If you're aiming to be a champ, the message here is that, willingly or unwillingly, you will eventually have to break out the books.
That's all for now, we really hope this information has been helpful to you. Happy gaming.
