THE BLOCKING ROLLS: 3-1, 4-2, 15-3, and 6-1 3-1: Make the 5-point The best opening shot is 3-1. Use it to make your 5-point, as in Diagram 21 : Diagram 21. Black has played a 3-1 24 23 22 21 20 19  18 17 16 15 14 13     With this roll you accomplish two things: you make a blocking point, further hemming in Whites two checkers on your I-point, and you make an inner- board point. The extra importance of an inner-board point (as opposed to a point in your outer board, like the IO-point) is simply this: if you hit your opponent at some point in the future, which you are likely to do, he will no longer be able to reenter the game when he throws a 5 on the dice, because that point now belongs to you. Since you own the 6-point as well, your opponent will need to throw one ofthe numbers 1,2,3, or 4, to reenter from the bar. That may sound easy to do, but in fact by making that second point in your board, you quadrupled the number of dice throws that leave your opponent on the bar! When you only owned the 6-point, only one dice throw left White on the bar: 6-6. Now that you own the 5 and 6-points, a total of four throws will leave White on the bar: 6-6, 5-5, 6-5, and 5-6. In the Middle East, where backgammon originated, inner points are called doors, because you have to enter through them to get back in the game. When all the doors are shut, you e closed out, and can get back in the game. 4-2: Make the 4-point The second-best opening roll is a 4-2, which you should use to make the 4-point, as in Diagram 22 on the next page:     4-2 is a great opening roll for pretty much the same reasons as 3-1. Its not quite as good as 3-1 for this reason: after you make the 4-point, White still has a chance to sneak behind you and bring his back men up to the 5-point. Ifhe can do that, the value ofthe 4-point will be somewhat negated. This illustrates another important backgammon principle: consecutive points are stronger than points with gaps in between. 5-3: Make the 3-point 5-3 isn as good an opening roll as 3-1 or 4-2, for an obvious reason. There are two gaps between the 3-point and the 6-point, so the 3-point doesn form as effective a block:   Diagram 23. Black has played 5-3 Still, the 3-point is an inner board point, and theres no better way to play this roll. 6-1: Make the bar-point (7-point) This roll is a little stronger than a 5-3, about on a par with a 4-2.     Diagram 24. Black has played 6-1 By making the bar-point, Black has succeeded in creating a block three points long. In backgammon, long blocks of consecutive points are called primes, and one key goal is to build a prime and trap your opponents men behind it. With the 6-1 roll, Black is well on his way to making a prime. The only drawback to this roll is that the 7 -point is not an inner-board point, so it doesn help keep White from entering if you send him to the bar. 6-5 LOVERS LEAP: Play From Your 24-Point to the Midpoint 6-5 is a special roll, since its the only number that lets you get a back checker all the way to the security of your midpoint (the 13-point). This is a good roll, although not quite as good as starting with a point-making throw. THE BAR-POINT SPLIT PLAYS: &-2, &-3, and &-4 Now we e going to look at rolls that can be played by simply making new points. These rolls require a little more creativity and imagination. We e going to play these rolls the same way. As you see, we recommend a very bold play with 6-2: one checker from the 24-point to the 18-point, and one checker from the 13-point to the II-point. Black opens up three blots around the board. Why? In the answer lies the essence of dynamic backgammon: Black has no way to play this number safely, so instead hes placing his checkers directly on the points he wants to make. In effect, hes challenging White to a fight: Hit me if you can, hes saying, ut in return I may just hit you back. Black can gain from this play in two ways: White might throw a poor number next tum and miss Blacks blots altogether. Although White can hit with sixes and ones, he misses with twos, threes, fours, and fives. So its by no means certain that he can hit at all. Even if he does hit, hell probably have to leave blots of his own. Then Black might enter from the bar and hit those blots. An exchange of hits like that could leave Black well ahead in the race. Of course, White might roll perfectly. For instance, he might roll a 6-1 and make the I8-point with checkers from the I2-point and the 17 -point, sending your checker to the bar to boot! Thats a risk you take when you play dynamically. You give your opponent a few chances to smash you with great rolls, while in return you have a good chance to make substantial progress. 6-3,6-4 With 6-3 and 6-4, you should make similar plays. With 6-3, play one checker from the 24-point to the I8-point, and another from the I3-point to the IO-point. With 6-4, play one checker from the 24-point to the I8-point and one from the I3-point to the 9-point. The alert reader will have noticed that Black had another play with 6-4: he could have made an inner board point by playing from the 8-point to the 2-point and from the 6-point to the 2-point. Why did we reject this play? To see why, take a look again at our comments to the 53 play. We pointed out there that the gaps between the 3point and the 6-point made a formation that was not so effective for blocking. The same is true for making the 2point, only more so. The 2-point is so far from the 6-point and 8-point that it has little, if any, blocking value. This leads to another rule of thumb in backgammon: beware of making your i-point and 2-point early in the game. Checkers on these points are away from the main scene of the action, and can easily become liabilities instead of assets. THE BUILDING PLAYS: 5-4, 4-3, 5-2, and 3-2. I like to call these rolls the building plays. Except for 54, all of these rolls could be played completely safely. With 4-3 and 5-2, Black could playa checker all the way from the 13-point to the 6-point. With 3-2, Black could play from the 13-point to the 8-point. In many parts ofthe world, or among groups of beginners, its not uncommon to see these rolls played in just that fashion. But thats not the dynamic way-the winning way. I prefer to use the rolls to prepare to make good points next turn. If my opponent can throw a perfect shot and hit me, more power to him. I won be out of the game. But if! get away with these plays, Ill be building up my position quickly. Thats the way I like to play-full steam ahead. Lets look at the best way to play these rolls. 5-4: Play 24-point to 20-point, and 13-point to 8point. My play of the 5-4 gets me ready to make an anchor on the 20-point next tum: 4-3: Play 24-point to 20-point, and 13-point to 10point. I love this roll. It leaves three blots, but I have plenty of possibilities next tum. Playing 24 to 20 prepares to make the anchor on the 20-point, while 13 to 10 gives me many combinations to make the 4-point or the 5-point. 3-2: Play 13-point to to-point, and 13-point to 11point. Another roll which takes a small risk for some real building potential down the road: so Its not so easy for White to hit those two blots, while almost all of Blacks rolls will make a new point next turn. (Try them and see.) 5-2: Play 13-point to 8-point, and 13-point to 11point. This is the least effective ofthe building plays: Black takes a small extra risk this turn for a few more possibilities next turn. THE SLOTTING ROLLS: 2-1, 4-1, and 5-1. With these plays, I advocate a really aggressive play: use the larger number to pull a man off the I3-point, and with the ace, slot the 5-point! Slotting means placing a blot where your opponent can hit it with a single number- in this case a4. For instance, I play an opening 2-1 like this: At first glance, this looks crazy. Ive put a blot where my opponent can hit it with a 4, and ifhe hits it, I lose a lot of ground in the race to get my checkers around the board. Why would I take such a risk? Basically, for two reasons. First of all, if my blot isn hit, I have a great chance to cover it next turn. When I do that, its as though I started with the best roll of all, a 3-1. Second, being hit and sent back isn the end of the game. I can still reenter, build a defensive position, and hope to hit a shot, an opportunity to hit a blot, as my opponent comes around the board. The more you play backgammon, the more youll learn that its very difficult to avoid leaving shots for the whole game. And a player whose whole game is built around playing safe will rarely be a big winner.   Heres a secret that very few beginners understand: in backgammon, taking calculated risks isn really riskyin the long run, its actually the percentage play. Thats it. Those are all the rolls that you can start the game with, and the dynamic way of playing them. You can play these openings with confidence. When you run up against a player who likes to play completely safe, piling his checkers up on the points he already owns, don worry. He may look askance at your bold style of play, but in the long run, youll win his money.