Customer Reviews

Backgammon for Blood: A Guide for Those Who Like to Play but Love to Win

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A long time ago, there was a bad book titled, "BACKGAMMON FOR BLOOD" written by Bruce Becker. This new book is NOT that book!

I saw a very negative review by "Scooter" who must have thought this was that old Bruce Becker book. It is well know in backgammon circles that it was a horrible book.

This NEW book, "BACKGAMMON FOR BLOOD" is written by Chris Bray and IS really really (really!) well done. This book is geared from the beginner to the intermediate player---Which is probably 99% of us. This book is so well written that using this information; someone could compete on almost any level, at least for the short term.

I reviewed, "Starting Out in Backgammon" by Paul Lambford and said it was the best beginner book out there. This newer book is even better! Chris Bray seems to lift sections out of that book (not that there's anything wrong with that).

There are many advanced strategy and principles here. Noteably, several chapters on the doubling cube. Plus, opening rolls, races, chouettes, equity, counting, back games, money play, tournament play, a little history, further reading, web sites, computer programs, ect...

Beginner's book or not, it helped my game. For example, he teaches how to use a routine every roll. It's much like how a golfer would use a routine. Briefly: Look at the board before rolling. Think about the doubling cube. What is the game plan, attack, stall, build a blockade, build an inner board? Roll the dice. Then based on the roll, do you use the plan or change plans? What are all the move candidates and then which is the best one that matches your plan?

Technically the book is well made, a durable paperback with a thick cover that can be used to bookmark. Text is the right readable size. Black and Red makes the diagrams very legible. I think ever backgammon book I've read has had some grammar or spelling errors or mismatched diagrams. I've read this book 3 times and didn't notice any of those small annoyances. It even has a 4 page index. Great job by the Publisher to make a small high quality paperback book.

Negatives? Well, besides the poor title choice, it does leave you wanting more. Only so much can be crammed in. If you are a beginner, this is your first book. If you are advanced, I expect you will find this refresher will make your game choices clearer.

Also, I've seen a review saying that it's not formatted well to the Kindle. The printed book uses black and red ink, and the Kindle can't do red. As a Kindle owner, I would very much like to have this.

Good luck on your game and remember to have fun!

This little book almost has it all, from the basics for beginners to the modern advanced concepts (especially related to doubling) for advanced players. Much of the advanced discussion is found elsewhere only in advanced (and pricey) books. All interspersed with personal anecdotes and historical development to make it all come to life. So much in one book makes it a great value and a book I would recommend to players at any level.

This is the best book that I have read on backgammon for several years. It is an excellent introduction for beginners and a great aide for intermediate and advanced players. It is far better than the book with a similar name from the 1970's.

Based on the reviews I have read, the print version of this book is definitely going on my wish list. But if you are considering buying this on the Kindle, PLEASE download the sample first and look at the illustrations. The distinction between the red and black checkers is almost nonexistent in the grey scale needed on the Kindle. Not worth saving a few dollars. An instruction book like this that is so dependent on the illustrations should not even be offered on the Kindle IMHO.

2010 update.
I just wanted everyone to know that I have purchased the paperback version of this book and find it to be very good. I have changed my rating to 5 stars since I don't want to reflect poorly on the book, but have kept my original title to alert people to this limitation.

I am enjoying every word of this book, great advice, very professional and well written.
However when it comes to Amazon's production of the Kindle version of this book, I have to give it two thumbs down.
The drawing of the backgammon boards, a key part of the book, are designed for a color media (pieces are black and red).
In the black and white Kindle device they look identical.
Even in the iPhone, which is a color device, the Kindle software displays the board in black and white.
The only Kindle version that works for me for this book is on the Kindle PC, in which the boards are displayed in color, as it should be.
Amazon could improve the experience on the Kindle device by retouching the board drawings to display black and white pieces, instead of the original red and black...

I've been playing a long time and had never studied backgammon strategy. This book is a great primer for learning more about the game. I found the opening moves section particularly helpful in developing both an offense and a defense. A little hard to understand at first, but stay with and the descriptions get easier and easier.

This books is great for a beginner or intermediate player. It covers the basics but also has great advice to improve your odds of winning. Great coverage of how to properly use the doubling cube.

This book has the advantage of being a modern book. As such, it includes information not contained in books written more than a few years ago. For example, it contains info on using backgammon bots, e.g. Snowie, eXtreme Gammon, and GnuBG. These are programs that play at World Class levels and are great for learning how to play really well. Plus, GnuBG is free, so get it if you don't have it already (eXtreme Gammon is inexpensive and probably the best). This book also contains some info on playing online and other internet resources (there is a ton of great free stuff online). However, this type of info in the book is not real in-depth.

Actually, this book's biggest weakness is that most of the topics it covers are not really covered in-depth. For example, it covers the opening roles, but doesn't cover any of the responses (2nd roll) to the opening roles. There really aren't that many, and you wouldn't need to write something on every move, but some of the key moves should be covered and at least a list of the correct responses should have been provided (you can find this info on the web). Similarly, the basics of each type of game are provided but not covered in much depth. The bearoff is also covered but once again not thoroughly. Yet the book does cover a lot of ground -- just not deeply.

Instead of slamming Mr. Bray's book I thought it would be more useful to recommend some other books that are very highly regarded in the backgammon community. The top backgammon books are --

1. Backgammon - 2004 Edition by Paul Magriel -- Covers a range of topics from beginner to high intermediate. This is regarded as the bible of backgammon books. It was originally written in the 1970s, but the vast majority of advice in this book is still quite good (the latest edition wasn't revised much if it all). Modern bots have determined that a couple of Magriel's opening moves are not the optimal moves (although they aren't bad either), and there are a few advanced topics not covered or covered only lightly (primarily cube decisions). Yet this book is still a treasure trove of information with over 400 pages of text and diagrams. Even players who are well beyond the beginner stage will find tons of great advice in this book (I certainly did). If you could buy one book, and one book only, then this is the book to buy -- even if it is a little expensive.

2. Backgammon Boot Camp by Walter Trice -- Primarily covers intermediate to advanced topics. This book covers much of the topics that aren't dealt with in-depth in Magriel's Backgammon. This book is very good at covering the details of bearing men off and knowing when to double based on factors such as effective pip count, match equity, and other more advanced topics. This book is just an absolute wealth of information aimed at the intermediate to advanced player. All serious players of the game own this book.

3. The Backgammon Encyclopedia - Vol 1/Cube Reference Positions by Kit Woolsey -- I believe Woolsey's intention was to write a series of books, but he only wrote the first volume of this encyclopedia. However, this book is quite good. It focuses on cube decisions and is generally regarded as the best book available on this topic. Proper play of the cube is absolutely vital in backgammon. If your opponent knows how to play the cube better than you then she'll often be winning games worth 2 to 4 times more than games you are winning, and when she loses a game it will cost her less than the games you lose. Proper cube play is vital, and this is THE book covering cube play. It is too bad Woolsey didn't write more volumes to this encyclopedia (although his New Ideas in Backgammon is also quite good).

4. Bill Robertie's 501 Essential Backgammon Problems: 2nd Edition, Advanced Backgammon, Volume 1 : Positional Play & Advanced Backgammon: Technical Play, and Modern Backgammon. One of the best ways to learn how to play backgammon well is to develop a series of reference positions where you know the best play for that position. These positions are general in nature and not exact -- e.g. my opponent has a strong inner board and I have a choice of slotting a man or bringing a builder down in the backfield. Going through lots of these reference positions, and knowing the thought process behind why each play is correct, is one of the surest ways to improving your checker play and cubing decisions. These books contain over 1,000 key positions with 501 Essential problems containing the most problems but the least amount of explanation for why the play is correct. Advanced Backgammon contains about 200 problems in each book and more in-depth coverage behind the reasoning of the plays. Modern Backgammon only contains 100 problems, but it was written after the bots emerged on the scene and the reference positions it covers are ones where humans often got the best play wrong. It should be noted that Robertie got a few positions wrong (usually just by a little bit), so it is best to search the web for corrections based on bot rollouts. Nevertheless, even with a few errors, these books are enormously useful. (Paul Lamford's 100 Backgammon Puzzles, and Improve Your Backgammon are similar in nature and both worth a read.)


BTW, I read Backgammon for Blood on a Kindle and it was just fine. It would have been better if the contrast between dark and light checkers was better, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't figure out the diagrams.

This book starts a little fluffy -- I don't really need to read the rules again.
The Big Problem: the Kindle edition on my iPad shows the "red" and "black" checkers with nearly identical colors. So I cannot read a game position and understand it. I'm returning the book.

I got a lot out of the Kindle version. I'm reading it now for the second time (as recommended by the author). I read a version of the book back around 1980--this seems to be a complete rewrite.

However, the diagrams in the book are difficult to deal with. They aren't always placed near the text which discusses them, so you have to page forward and back, first to locate the diagram, and then you have to go back and forth to re-read the text. You'll probably want to write down the location of the text and the location of the diagram if they're several pages apart (and a lot of them are!)

Also, as one of the other reviewers said, it is difficult to tell the difference between the black and red (grey) checkers. But after a while I got used to it.

To read the pip counts on the diagrams you either need perfect eyesight, or you'll need reading glasses, even after zooming in.

There aren't too many backgammon books available for Kindle, and this one is probably the best in terms of the textual content. But if you are really interested in the game, you may want to get the paper version, or one of the other books on conventional paper.

I started with five stars, and took off one for the diagrams.