501 Essential Backgammon Problems: 2nd Edition

by Bill Robertie

Book Overview

This comprehensive backgammon book challenges the reader with 501 essential problems to transform him into a thinking, aggressive pro-level player. Strategies and situation cover every aspect of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580421385
• ISBN13: 9781580421386
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Cardoza Publishing
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Expect to Improve / Highly Recommended

This is a great, affordable book on backgammon that will quickly improve your backgammon game. I haven't read Robertie's "Advanced Backgammon" books, but I have read this one (501), BG for Serious Players, and BG for Winners. They are all good depending on your level, but this one and "Serious" I found very helpful. Between these 2 books, 501 has had a greater effect on my game than any other BG book I have ever read. His approach is as simple as it gets. He discusses strategy and then gives you examples of how the strategy is implemented. The book is very easy to follow and you seem so soak up the teaching very quickly. (Nevertheless, this should not be your first book on BG. You should already know basic strategy before you get into this one, e.g. BG for Winners) The book is very broad as well. It covers practically every area and situation of the game you are likely to face, and will give you some very good principles to use in determining your move. Due to the format, this book does not have to be read in a continuous way from beginning to end as most books. It can be consulted as a reference when you need some help on a particular aspect of the game and do not want to trudge through an entire book on the subject. As with chess books, oftentimes the writer's recommendations are checked by a computer program and "errors" pointed out. I do this alot just for fun with chess problems, but I can't say it has helped me one bit when I let the computer do the thinking for me. He is human and one can hardly expect perfection when compared against todays computer programs. Further, a writer chooses examples and moves are presented in a manner that illustrates the point the author is making, when in fact there may have been a mathematically more accurate move elsewhere. However, I think this computer analysis approach misses the point somewhat. Robertie is trying to impart principles and tools to the reader that can be used to evaluate a position and choose the best move, and this book does that very, very well. This approach will help you "think on your feet" and have a good set of principles in your head to help you evaluate and choose your move. The human brain can recognize patterns and positions and can apply principles in the situation, but it can never calculate like a computer and would advise you to avoid any approach that is strictly mathematical. As I said, I have never read Robertie's "Advanced" series, nor Magriel's "Backgammon", but if I had to choose one BG book to take on the proverbial desert island, this would be it.

Amazing Backgammon Exercises

This book is of great tactical value. It let's you exersise and perform 501 plays that will change the way you play Backgammon. Not just a theoretical book, but actually a much more practical approach.

super helpful

i keep going back to this book to relearn what it has taught me! backgammon is easy when the dice go your way. this book puts you in tough positions and tight spots and helps you get out of them. makes me a much more robust player.

This book improved my game significantly.

While studying this book I noticed that my game improved dramatically. I gained a much better understanding of duplicating, slotting, and use of the cube. I am no expert but I am now challenging the best players in our club!If you are looking for examples this IS the book you should get!

Not expensive, and pretty complete

If you are a backgammon lover, this book must be on your personal library. Robertie analises problems in each point of the game, since opening rolls until the bear off. The hints are clear and at first read you can discover many points you would play in a different(and awnkward) position. As you read the topics you will feel imediately a good development in your game, specially if you try to solve then before looking for the solutions. The secret of this book is figure out the different way of think in each situation and time of the game. A great book that can be easily consulted by anytime.The book is shared in the following chapters: *THE OPENING *FLEXIBILITY *THE MIDDLE GAME *THE 5-POINT *THE BLITZ *ONE MAN BACK *HOLDING GAMES *PRIMING GAMES *CONNECTIVITY *HIT OR NOT? *BREAKING ANCHOR *CRUNCH POSITIONS *ACTION DOUBLES *LATE GAME BLITZ *POST-BLITZ TURNAROUND GAMES *TOO GOOD TO DOUBLE? *ACE-POINT GAMES* BACK GAMES* THE CONTAINMENT GAME* POST-ACE-POINT GAMES*PLAYING FOR A GAMMON*SAVING THE GAMMON* BEARING OFF AGAINST CONTACT *VARIOUS ENDGAMES *THE RACE *THE BEAROFF *Plus an introduction with basic rules and backgammon notations and a final chapter with places to play backgammon.