Five Tips to Help Beginners Improve Their Game
Dec 18th, 2007 by Manju
Learning to play backgammon is really fun since it is a board game after all. But there’ll be come a time when a beginner will want to play the game seriously and actually want to master the game. During this stage, a beginner can feel frustrated (especially when they are on the losing end). Here are five tips every beginner of backgammon should know to get through the rough times of the learning curve.
First backgammon tip is to play it regularly. This doesn’t mean that you should eat sleep and work with backgammon on your mind all the time. This means that you should set a specific amount of time each day to play a game or two.
Don’t worry about not finding someone to play, there are a lot of options to get that regular game play. An extension of this tip is to play backgammon online. You have a choice between playing against a computer program or against a real backgammon players when you play online.
There are a lot of free backgammon servers you can find. This is a great way to practice and see how more experienced backgammon players work their way through a game. Remember to observe what seasoned players do given certain situations, you’ll surely learn a lot from the pros.
Second tip is to read more about backgammon strategy. One of the greatest ways to shorten that learning curve is to read more backgammon strategies. There are a lot of books that you can find that teach beginners the fundamentals of backgammon strategy.
Other than that, your online backgammon site may also offer information you can use. Another great way to learn more about backgammon strategy is through a discussion board. There you can throw questions to the pros and they’ll be more than happy to answer your inquiries.
Next beginner tip is to record and evaluate your games. Don’t just walk away from a bad game. Try to take note of what went wrong and think of what you can do to get past that. You should also keep a record of the good moves you were able to make and add them to your strategic arsenal. To do this you should at least learn backgammon notation.
Next tip is to watch tournament finals. The greatest backgammon teachers are the pros (especially if they are live dueling with another pro in a tournament). Take note of the decisions they make especially during critical points of the game.
Last beginner tip is don’t expect to become a pro overnight. It will take some time to get those skills sharpened and ready. Just remember these tips as you go along and soon you’ll find your game improving every now and then.