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Backgammon Vs. Poker
Source: GammonEmpire
Any professional poker player understands the importance of acting according the
weaknesses in an opponent's game. For example, if an opponent never bluffs, you
will call his bets only when your own hand is solid which you expect may beat
his legitimate hand. Playing against this kind of opponent is easy; if you can't
beat a legitimate hand, you will fold.
To make this opponent less likely to bluff against you is more difficult, since if he wants to bluff against you, he will almost surely succeed. If you are appearing as a player who calls his bets all the time, even though the opposite is true - you can make him bluff. You should bet aggressively against this player early in the hand. Decide in advance what you will do if he bets or raises. Whatever you decide, call or raise, do so quickly as if this were your automatic action. If you decide to fold, take your time and then fold reluctantly even if your hand is so weak that you were never even considering calling. Make it look like you wanted to call. By portraying this image to him he will think that he can never run you out of a pot, so he may entirely give up bluffing against you, which
is exactly what you want.
The same tactics are good for backgammon. Of course, you don't have the unknown of the cards, since everything is open but your state of mind is not known. When playing against someone who is slow with the cube, you will do everything you can to make him slower to double so he will be missing some good doubles. Always plan in advance whether you are going to take or not. By thinking about your cube decision when making your play the previous roll, you can do this without him realizing it. It will look like you are thinking about your move, when you are really thinking about what you will do if you are doubled. If you have decided to accept, when he does double, snap up the cube like it is the easiest take you ever had, even if it is a difficult decision. If you have decided to pass, study the
position for a while before passing. If you think the decision is a tossup, lean towards taking. Of course if the pass is obvious then you might as well pass quickly, so he won't know what you are doing - he will believe that you have a problem when you do hesitate. The point is to make your opponent think that you will take more frequently than you will actually take, so he will double even slower.
The examples above illustrate how poker tactics can be used on the backgammon table. Though the position is known to the players, as opposed to hidden hands in poker, the same strategies are successful. The cards one holds or the positions on the backgammon board are not everything. What really matters is your opponent's thinking and his perception of you.
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