The GameMaster's Secrets:
Backgammon for Fun and Profit

Back in the '70s, Hugh Hefner ("Hef") and I had a lot in common. Now understand, I wasn't a multi-millionaire publisher who owned mansions in both Chicago and California, nor did I have any Playmates hanging out in my hot tub (hell, I didn't even have a hot tub, let alone a mansion), but we were both male and we both liked women, which is a start. Of course, he was single and I was married, but at least I didn't have any rugrats around - come to think of it, neither did he. Sure, Hef was rich, but I was younger and definitely better looking. To tell the truth, we each had our strong points, but what it all boiled down to is this: If Hef did it, I wanted to do it, too. I guess that makes him a trend-setter and me a trend-follower, which is the way it goes sometimes. I can't be on the cutting edge of everything, you know.

But that was how I became aware the ancient game of Backgammon was suddenly "hip". I guess I first saw it played on the TV program, "Playboy After Dark" or some other show emanating from Hef's world. He was surrounded by a covey of delectable women (or was alone with Barbie, I forget which) but in either case he was wearing his usual silk pajamas and a robe as he played Backgammon. With ever-present pipe in mouth, he shook the dice in a leather cup and spilled them out on the board. Hef proceeded to totally mis-play the roll, but I didn't know enough at the time to argue with him about it. What really mattered was that he looked very cool doing it, so I knew right away I had to learn how to play Backgammon. Learning how to play Backgammon was simple; it's one of those, a-minute-to-learn, a-lifetime-to-master things like Hold'em Poker. The difficult part was getting all the other neat stuff Hef had. Well, to make a long story short, I didn't get a mansion with hot and cold running blondes, nor did I take up pipe smoking, but I did learn how to play a pretty darn good game of Backgammon (and I still own silk pajamas and a robe).

Backgammon, to me, is a total waste of time unless there are $$$ involved. It's a lot like Roulette and many other casino games in that regard - if you can't win or lose something at the game, why bother? Because there's no built-in "house" edge, the game is not offered in casinos, but it's a great game to play one-on-one against a worthy opponent. However, unless you're betting something of value on the outcome, luck is all that matters and it makes for a boring experience. Tack on a bet, be it a quarter or a dollar or her clothing (as an example), then the game can be very exciting because you now have a reason to win. It's the bet that takes Backgammon from being a simple game of "get lucky with the dice" to a game of skill. Sure, a novice player who gets lucky can beat a world champion, but in the long run skill is what matters and the champion's edge will become evident at some point. And nothing did more to raise the level of play in Backgammon, the gambling version, than the introduction of the doubling cube, which occurred in the 1920s, perhaps in the U.K., perhaps in the U.S. In any event, the cube rapidly caught on and the rest is, as they say, history.

When I set out to learn how to play Backgammon, my first purchase was, beside a game "set", a good book on the topic. Much like poker, there's no substitute for experience, but a book can really accelerate the learning curve, although that idea is almost obsolete here in the Internet Age. While I can still recommend some books, which I'll do later on, let me bring you up to speed on the Internet Backgammon scene. Quite honestly, I haven't played a game for at least 15 years and although I was aware there were Backgammon sites available on the Web, I was truly ignorant of the Backgammon "gambling" industry until recently. What happened was, we were contacted by a site that offers Backgammon for both play-money and real-money competition and they wanted to acquire some advertising space here. Naturally, I needed to check it out, so I went to the site, downloaded the software and began poking around.

Physically, it looks and runs much like an Internet poker room, what with tournaments of the multi-table (MTT) and "sit & go" (SnG) types; individual play (the poker equivalent of a "cash" game) and so forth. One can participate in a play-money mode or put real $$$ on the table, although bigger, scheduled tournaments are available only for real-money play. Because Backgammon is mostly a one-on-one competition, a SnG match requires an even number of players that compete "heads up", with the winner playing the winner of one of the other pairings; then the winner of that plays the winner of another pairing and so forth, just like basketball's March Madness tournaments. The only difference between an SnG and an MTT is the number of participants and the fact that an SnG begins when the needed number of participants (typically eight) have joined the match, whereas an MTT will begin at a scheduled time, regardless of how many enter, so long as it's at least eight and there's an even number of players. If you've played any poker tournaments, you get the idea and will feel right at home at the site.