Backgammon Tactics That You Can Employ
The main theme of backgammon, like most children's board games of today, is to be the first player to finish the race by bearing off all checkers at the home board. Though many backgammon games don't end up in this situation this central idea permeates throughout the game's strategy. Winning in backgammon can otherwise be done by making your opponent surrender even before you reach the end game.
Given that premise, players can employ several tactics to achieve the basic goal or make the opponent give up early, whichever comes first during the game. The first tactic that every player can employ is to control strategic positions on the backgammon board. Such strategic positions will be invaluable to a great defense and offense.
One such strategic position on your backgammon board you should control immediately whenever opportunity allows you to is your opponent's five-point (a.k.a. the golden point). This would turn into an advanced anchor right in your opponent's inner table. Holding this position gives a lot of fascinating strategic possibilities. Common advice tends to lead one to maintain this important position for a long period of time, sometimes even until the end game or closing phases of the game.
If you don't exactly have that opportunity coming your way, a good substitute (though not as potent as the first option) is the four-point, which also offers almost all the same probabilities in a backgammon game. Given that level of importance, you can be sure that your own five- and four-points are also strategically vital to your opponent. So, an extension of this tactic is to deny your opponent of these potent positions whenever you have the chance to do so.
Another important point on your backgammon board is the seven-point, which is more valuable to you than the four-point. So you should take hold of the five-point first, then follow through with a seven-point, then consider the four-point after establishing your the said two points.
An incidental tactic to taking up positions is slotting. In backgammon, this means to place a single checker on a point, which is relatively safe from any form of attack (though some slotting tactics will incur high risks of getting hit). The idea is to take the position using one checker and then covering the blot later in your next turn. Slotting tactics are really fast methods of taking positions on the backgammon board.
One last tactic you can combine with the previous two is to build primes. You can slot or otherwise take control of strategic positions and make a row of points and make a prime. If you have the opportunity to make a six-point prime then do so and take advantage of the situation.
These three backgammon tactics can be employed. A good player will use them and combine them in the course of a game.