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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-04-27, Page 44Page 4—Crossroads—April 27, Backgammon By W rd By JEFF WARD Should X double? There are really two .answers to this question. In almost all cases, X should not double because he is losing the game badly. The odds are heavily against X rolling the 1 he needs to hit and prevent a gammon loss. However, strange as it may seem, there is a time when X should double in this position. It is when X and 0 are playing a tourna- ment match and 0 needs two more points to win. For example, 0 may be leading 5 to 3 in a match to 7. To see why, consider the following possibilities. If X misses by failing to roll a 1, 0 is virtually cer- tain to safety his blot and then win a gammon. For a gammon with the cube at 1, 0 wins 2 points; with the cube at 2, 4 points. Thus, 0 wins the match regardless of whether X doubles or not. But if X hits by rolling a 1, he benefits greatly from having doubled. Because X owns a six point prime and 0 has only three men off the board; X- is- almost-_cer.--- tain to win the game. Be- cause he doubled when 0 had an easy take, X ties the match by 5 by winning this game. If X had waited, doubling only if he hit; 0 would then pass, leaving X trailing 5 to 4 in the match. This is a valuable con - I cept, but it can be easily misapplied. I have seen many players familiar with the idea apply it in a superficially similar but critically different situa- tion. For example, if we change the diagram by moving two X men from the 22 -point to the 6 -point, X definitely should not double. This is -because if X misses the shot, he will probably save the gam- mon. With the cube at 1, X will lose one point, trail 6 to 3 in the match, and still retain some winning chances. But , with the cube at 2, X loses the match, 7 to 3. As a second example, if we change the diagram by removing all five men from the 23 -point, X again should not double. With eight men off the board, 0 has a good chance of win- ning even if he is hit and closed out. Thus, X should wait to double until some- time after hitting as 0 will havea proper take for quite awhile. Points are numbered 1 to 24, starting with X's home board at the lower left. A move, for example, from the 7 -point to the 3 - point is written 7/3. 7/3• means that a man was hit on the 3 -point. 7/3(2) means that two men were moved to the 3 -point. mammon 10171111sI4 3 1 2 3•{ S 7! •101112 APRIL SHOWER SALE Yes, but our lot is full of Rainbows. So come to Sauder Camping Ser- vice now. We have new Rainbow trailers, hard -- tops with or without ap- pliances, and soft tops at discount prices. Plus a Targe selection of used Rainbow trailers at even better deals. Sender Camping Service Cedar St. W. 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