How to Play Backgammon Tournaments

Playing a backgammon tournament has proved to be much harder than playing a single game of backgammon. Although the reasons for this are plenty the main one is perhaps, the match scores.

Backgammon tournaments are normally decided by single elimination matches. Competitors are grouped into pairs wherein each pair plays a series of games to decide which player will advance to the next round. Players that are eliminated in the first round would typically enter a consolation match. In big tournaments like the World Championships there might be a second consolation match and ultimately a Last Chance.

Matches are played to a clearly defined number of points and the first player to reach the required number of points wins the match. Points awarded for a single game are 1, for a gammon are 2 and for backgammon are 3. The use of the doubling cube allows the winner to receive the total value of the game multiplied by the final value of the doubling cube. There is no bonus for winning more points than required. The aim of the game is to win the match and thus the winning margin and the opponents score remain irrelevant.

The tournament has a feature called the Crawford rule which states that once a player has reached match point, neither player may offer a double in the following game. This game without doubling is called the Crawford game. In the event the match has not been decided, the doubling cube is used again and the player trailing in the match doubles at the first possible opportunity. Automatic doubles, beavers, raccoons and the Jacoby Rule are never utilized in match play.

One unique feature of the backgammon tournament is that the longer the match, the opportunity for the stronger player to win is higher as the time to recover from a setback or failure also increases. The early rounds of the World Championships are played to 13 points. With each round the matches get longer and the final is played to 25 points.

Although probability indicates that a better player should triumph in longer matches, statistically, this has been proven quite untrue wherein several times, heavy favourites have lost to rank outsiders. This is perhaps the quintessence of backgammon portraying both, the beauty and the quirks of the game rolled into one. Moreover, the involvement of dice in a game involuntarily manifest the extreme swings of fortune, without which perhaps, the game would lose its lustre and attractiveness for the players.

Time clocks are used in tournaments to allow them to run as per schedule and on time. Each player has a number of minutes for his match which is in turn determined by the length of the match. For each move he is allowed a certain number of seconds, typically 15 seconds to make his move. The time used after the predetermined time elapses is deducted from the total and in the event that you run out of time you lose the match. The restriction of the time factor has been quite interesting as it has led to some unique and entirely exceptional tactical playing towards the end of the matches.

Tournament play is considered to be the ultimate in backgammon and backgammon rules. It is not always true that good money players make good tournament players nor is the contrary. Some players who excel in tournaments are often unable to cope with the financial pressures of high stakes money play. In conclusion it can be stated with some emphasis that score is the key to tournament play and can bear a considerable influence on play and doubling sessions.

Tournament play is considered to be the ultimate in backgammon online gaming. The website is updated with online gaming resources and instructions for players interested in backgammon tournaments on the Internet.

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