Backgammon Online

05-Jun-2010
03:02 PDT

This might seem a strange question to pose on an online Backgammon site, but I've never learnt to pip count otb and would welcome recommendations of good pip counting methods. I assumed there was only one obvious, standardised method that was used by all the top players, but it seems that there are many.

Any suggestions?

05-Jun-2010
09:48 PDT

It is meaningless

05-Jun-2010
16:44 PDT

I find pip counting absolutely invaluable to determining strategy and I lost many games in the past because I ignored what the pip counts were telling me.

06-Jun-2010
08:42 PDT

The easiest way I've seen described to get the differential in pips starts by looking for differences between your position and your opponents. If you both have two men on your mid-point, for example, you would ignore those men in getting the differential. The next step is to count up the differences. For example, if you have two men on your 5-point and three on your 6-point, but your opponent has the opposite, you ignore the four men in common -- 2 on each point -- and note that the 5th checker gives you a one-pip advantage.

Here's a link with some ways of getting the total pip count. http://www.1on1backgammon.com/counting-pips.html.

06-Jun-2010
11:16 PDT

I've only just noticed pip counting - can't say I think i've been harmed for my oversight - i've nearly always been ranked in the top 50 and have been in the top 20 of the Ladder for what seems an eternity, bar a couple of overnight slumps that I couldn't have done anything about anyway. I doubt my record would be significantly better if i'd noticed it from day one of joining here. Obviously I can't prove this assumption.

06-Jun-2010
14:02 PDT

An obvious example of the importance of pip counts is when you have a roll that gives you an opportunity to enter a pure race situation. If you are heavily losing in the pip count, it would rarely be wise to do so, as you would then effectively hand the game to your opponent. I have saved quite a few games by observing the pip count in such situations and playing accordingly.