Playing Backgammon For Forty Years

One of my favorite quotes is: “Does he have forty years of experience, or one year of experience forty times?” This quote applies to me, as I have been playing backgammon for some 45 years, but I only have about 20 years of experience. You see, for the first 25 years I played, I hardly learned a thing. 

 

Like a lot of players I know, I pretty much just sat down by the board and kept making the same mistakes over and over. When I lost, I was pretty sure I was just unlucky, and when I won, sometimes I thought I was lucky, but most of the time I was dumb enough to think that I had really outplayed my opponent. In effect, I had very little idea about all the things I was doing wrong. Another expression I love is: “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

 

About 20 years ago I was jolted awake, and that changed everything. I was playing gin and bridge at The Cavendish Club in Chicago, and one day I got there early and the only game going on was backgammon. Thinking I was a decent player, I got in the game, and not only got trounced, but the players in the game were constantly pointing out mistakes that I was making…and these were plays that I had been making for many years and had no clue that they might be wrong.

 

Discovering that I was a poor player was quite a shock to me. But I will say this: from that day on, to this day, I have not stopped questioning my plays; I have not stopped my quest to improve; and I am absolutely certain, beyond doubt, that there is much I still have to learn about the game.

 

I am sharing my “road” to discovery with the world for two reasons. First, because I know there are many, many players out there that play week after week, and even day after day, and have no idea how poorly they are playing. What a shame! They are missing out on the opportunity to pursue backgammon on an entirely different level, and a level that will not only help them play better and win more, but a level that will bring far greater enjoyment to them.

 

And that is the second reason for sharing my experience. If you make a decision to pursue backgammon as a learning experience, as an exercise to see just how well you can possibly play, the game becomes far more interesting and stimulating than if you just play “casual” backgammon, moving those little checkers around the board with very little thought or study. 

 

Of course I still love playing. Winning a gammon, winning a match, winning money, and winning a tournament are all lots of fun. But I get just as excited when I discover a position or situation that I don’t understand, or that completely fools me, and through study and introspection, I “get it.” 

 

Next time you see me, take a look at my forehead. It’s probably bright red from hitting myself in the head after learning some concept that I thought I knew already. Trust me…the process of learning and improving not only make the game more fun when you play, but the process itself it fun. 

 

So buy a good book on backgammon, and read it and study it. Get Snowie or GNUBG and learn how to use it as a learning tool. Find a teacher or a mentor and discuss positions and cube decisions you don’t understand. You will enjoy the experience.