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Bill Robertie 1997 186pp
Cardoza ISBN:094068568x
This book picks up where Backgammon for Winners
leaves off. Winners is a good book for the novice but his one is where its at if
you want to move up to the intermediate level. He starts off by telling you
about the major tournaments which is interesting I suppose but lets get on with
it already. A bit about backgammon notation and we're finally ready to
go!
Robertie then discusses 5 separate games which takes up the bulk of
the 186 pages. In these 5 illustrative games many of the secrets of better
backgammon are revealed with comments about specific situations. I found the
insights in this section extemely valuable in improving my play beyond the
beginner level. Although there are several editorial errors (incorrect diagrams
and repeated sections) as is the case with several of Robertie's works, it still
dishes out several gems of information, tips and hint to make you a better
player and is well worth the money for someone who is tired of getting slapped
around over the board. In fact, there were so many concepts scattered througout
the book central to playing better backgammon that I decided to devote a
strategy page to help players out which you can find here. I thought it was an
excellent book and one of my top picks for the beginning player.
| Level: Beginner |
Ease of read: 8 |
Quality of material: 9 |
Overall: 8.5 |
Price: check amazon |
Martin Short, 3/7/02
This is the sequel to Backgammon For Winners (an
excellent book for novices). Presumably Robertie wrote this book for the
intermediate player. This books falls short of my "excellent" rating and is just
"good" for the following reason: The book is heavy on tactics but light on
strategy. An intermediate book should move into the realm of strategic and
thematic play, and although this type of play is implied, it is not explicit
enough for a conceptual understanding by an intermediate player.
The book
consists of 5 annotated games by well known players. Game 1 is a holding game,
Game 2 illustrates match score dependent cube handling, Game 3 is a back game,
Game 4 is an ace-point game, and Game 5 is so esoteric that it defies
description and the value of its inclusion is minimal. I did a Snowie 3 ply
large search space analysis of this game. Snowie had no clue what Robertie (a
player in the game) was trying to accomplish, and thought he was playing like a
novice.
All in all, this is just another "good" backgammon book, but
certainly not a classic.
John Rickel (Steelyerpts at GamesGrid), January
16, 2002
I didn't know anything about backgammon: notation, strategy, etc. I read this
book and found it was easy to follow the games and his annotations. Then I
started beating people who previously would easily beat me. 'Nuff
said.
zeroplus from NYC, NY United States, February 10, 2001
Don't wait to find here great secrets or crunch positions to study, in this
this book, Bill Robertie reviews 5 whole games, between top flight players.
There are good tricks on then, as he chose particular matches with diferent
points of strategy.You will find basic rules of the modern way to play
backgammon, by reading Robertie's reviews, but if you already mastered basic
strategies and want something more instigating, look for Kit Woolsey's New Ideas
in Backgammon.
ANDRE LUIS QUADROS AMOEDO from Salvador, Bahia Brazil,
November 28, 2000
This one was my first book in my backgammon studies and it becames my turning
point into a serious player in the netgammon site.
danilofernandes from
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, July 13, 2000
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.
A reader from Seattle area, December 3, 1999
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
rsivan@multiport.com from Newton, MA, USA,
March 22, 1999
A good read, for players up to intermediate level, especially if you liked
Robertie's Backgammon for Winners (which should be read before this one by
beginners). The five sample games give some good insight on tactics to be used
in modern backgammon. The author explains why moves are better than others,
gives alternative plays and the general principles behind them. Some interesting
comments are made on how to play the cube in the situation deriving from the
sample games, but the scope of the book does not allow him to go into much
detail. Getting good at backgammon requires to study as many matches as possible
and this book will give some material to start with. It is recommended to read
the book several times as it brings a new understand each time. Some occasional
mistakes in the diagrams and notations might make the reading a bit difficult
for the beginner at times if he's not able to spot them (correcting them is a
good exercise in itself).
C. Robinson from Europe, August 11, 1998
Other book reviews welcome! Email them to DocMartin@Gammoned.com
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