Backgammon for Serious Players [Paperback]

Bill Robertie (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Cardoza; 2nd edition (February 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158042077X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580420778
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Robertie
(Poker, Backgammon, Chess)

When Bill Robertie started playing chess as a boy, he could have had no idea that his single-minded focus on that game would eventually lead to significant world-wide achievements in 3 games - chess, backgammon and poker.

As a young man, Robertie played chess for Arlington High School (where he met fellow Metropolitan league player from Christopher Columbus High School, Dan Harrington). Robertie was the captain of his chess team for 3 years at Harvard College. He won the U.S. Speed Chess Championship and tied for First in the Golden Knights, the U.S. postal chess championship. He also gave simultaneous blind-fold exhibitions on 8 boards. A lifelong devotee of the game, Bill Robertie has written extensively on chess (Master Checkmate Strategy; Easy Endgame Strategies) and is a chess book collector with a complete set of "Chess Life" going back to 1932, missing only 1991 and 1992, for which he is actively searching.

In 1976, Robertie switched to backgammon, where his years of studying and playing chess served him especially well. Robertie very quickly became a world-class backgammon player - winning multiple tournaments including the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship twice, the Boston Black & White tournament, the Bahamas Pro-Am and the Istanbul World Cup. He is the author of 10 classic, best-selling backgammon books including Modern Backgammon, Advanced Backgammon V1, Advanced Backgammon V2 and 501 Essential Backgammon Problems.

In 2003, Robertie's remarkable game career took another important turn when he & Dan Harrington (now a poker player and World Series of Poker champion) co-authored their first poker book, Harrington on Hold'em/Strategic Play (published by Mason Malmuth's 2+2 Publishing). The first poker book that was written clearly so that players could easily get a sense of the true nuances of the game, Harrington on Hold'em/Strategic Play quickly became an instant classic, changing poker playing overnight and becoming a must-read for serious students of the game. They followed it up with Harrington on Hold'em/The Endgame, Harrington on Hold'em/The Workbook, Harrington on Cash Games V1 and Harrington on Cash Games V2, with other "Harrington" series books in the works.

Today, Bill Robertie still writes extensively on backgammon and poker. He moderates the Backgammon Forum at http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com. He also travels to backgammon and poker tournaments world-wide, and offers backgammon coaching (in person in Boston and New York City and via phone and special in-person arrangements world-wide). Details at thegammonpress.com.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Increased my rating on FIBS by 100, May 13, 2003

By 

mojo (Mandeville, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Backgammon For Serious Players (Paperback)

I had been stuck below 1500 on FIBS internet backgammon server for over a year. After studying this book for about a month, my rating increased by 100 points. I have since read Bill Robertie's other books, and I am now at 1650 on FIBS. The basic tips highlighted in this book are worth the cost of this book alone. To get the most out of this book, you need to use a backgammon board and play along with the diagrams, and compare what you would usually do compared to what an expert would do in the same situation. Great for beginners and intermediates!

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very instructional, but terrible editing, March 22, 1999

By 

Reuben Sivan (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Backgammon For Serious Players (Paperback)

I found the book very instructional for an intermediate player. On the negative side, I was annoyed by the incredibly large amount of typos, from the "about the author" page througout the book, there is a typo or a diagram error almost on every 2-3 pages.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but not Robertie's best, December 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Backgammon For Serious Players (Paperback)

I'm glad I read it, but it's not Robertie's best work. The author chose good games for analysis, each interesting in a different way and all illustrating common problems. There are typos everywhere, though, both in the text and the diagrams.