5 Opening Moves That Will Improve Your Backgammon Cash Winnings

In cash backgammon, a small mistake early in the game can get expensive fast.

One loose checker gets hit. A missed point gives your opponent an escape route. A weak position turns into a difficult cube decision, and suddenly a decision you made on the first roll is costing you several points.

The good news?

Opening moves are one of the easiest parts of your game to improve.

There are only 15 possible non-double opening rolls in backgammon, and several of them have a clear best play. Learn these moves until they become automatic and you can stop giving away unnecessary equity before the game has really started.

Here are five opening rolls every cash backgammon player should know.

Quick notation note: If you see 8/5, that means moving a checker from your 8-point to your 5-point.

1. Roll 3-1: Make Your 5-Point

Best play: 8/5, 6/5

If you only memorize one opening move, start with this one.

A 3-1 lets you immediately make your 5-point, one of the most valuable points on the entire board.

Why is it so useful?

Making your 5-point:

• Starts building a prime inside your home board

• Gives your checkers a safe landing spot

• Removes an entry number if your opponent gets hit

• Prevents your opponent from anchoring on one of the strongest points in your board

That last part is especially important.

If your opponent establishes an anchor on your 5-point, attacking them and building a strong prime becomes much harder. Making the point yourself gives you more attacking options while reducing theirs.

Cash-game takeaway: Do not judge an opening move only by how many pips you move. Backgammon is not simply a race. Position, timing, contact, gammons, and the doubling cube all matter. A strong home-board point can be much more valuable than moving a checker a few extra spaces.

2. Roll 4-2: Make Your 4-Point

Best play: 8/4, 6/4

The 4-2 follows a similar idea to the 3-1.

The dice are giving you the chance to safely make a strong home-board point, so take it.

Making your 4-point reduces the numbers your opponent can use to enter from the bar and gives you another strong base for attacking blots later in the game.

It also takes a checker off your crowded 6-point and puts it somewhere useful.

A newer player might be tempted to choose a move that travels farther around the board, but that can be a costly habit.

Good checker play is not about moving as far as possible every turn. It is about improving your overall position.

With 4-2, making the 4-point does exactly that.

Cash-game takeaway: A stronger board gives you more freedom. When your home board is stronger than your opponent's, you can often hit more aggressively because getting hit back is less dangerous for you. That advantage can eventually affect both checker play and cube decisions.

3. Roll 6-1: Make Your Bar-Point

Best play: 13/7, 8/7

Rolling a 6-1 lets you make your bar-point.

That gives you three consecutive made points: your 8-point, 7-point, and 6-point.

Now you are starting to build a real wall in front of your opponent's back checkers.

The bar-point is particularly useful because it sits six pips in front of those runners. By owning it, you take away their easy escape with a 6.

It also creates a connected structure that can become even stronger if future rolls allow you to bring builders down and extend the prime toward your home board.

The bar-point is not quite as powerful as your 5-point or 4-point because it is outside your home board and does not block entry from the bar.

Still, the combination of safety, flexibility, and blocking power makes 6-1 one of the strongest opening rolls you can get.

Cash-game takeaway: Connected points are usually more powerful than scattered ones. Strong players are not just trying to make points. They are trying to build points that work together.

4. Roll 6-5: Play the Lover's Leap

Best play: 24/13

A 6-5 is the largest opening roll possible, and it comes with one of the most famous moves in backgammon: the Lover's Leap.

Move one of your back checkers all the way from the 24-point to your midpoint.

Unlike several of the earlier examples, this is a situation where running is exactly what you want to do.

You safely escape one of your two back checkers and land it on an already protected point. Instead of having two runners trapped inside your opponent's home board, you now only have one.

That is a major improvement.

You might notice that this leaves six checkers sitting on your midpoint, but that is not a big problem. Those checkers can later come down as builders, control the outfield, or attack your opponent's escaping checkers.

Cash-game takeaway: When the dice give you a large, safe escape, use it. Once you have gained a racing advantage, you do not need to force unnecessary contact just because gammons are worth more. Look for ways to protect your lead while freeing your remaining back checker.

5. Roll 5-3: Make Your 3-Point

Best play: 8/3, 6/3

With a 5-3, the modern opening play is to make your 3-point.

Older backgammon strategy sometimes favored bringing two builders down from the midpoint instead, but computer analysis has shown the made 3-point to be the stronger opening play.

Your 3-point is not quite as valuable as the 5-point or 4-point because it is deeper in your board and leaves gaps in front of it.

But it still gives you something valuable immediately.

You:

• Make another home-board point

• Remove a checker from your crowded 6-point

• Block an entry number if your opponent is hit

• Move one step closer to building a closed board

The bigger lesson is that a point does not have to be perfect to be useful.

A made point stays valuable. Two loose builders might eventually turn into something useful, but they might also get hit or never produce the point you wanted.

Cash-game takeaway: When given the choice between a guaranteed positional asset and a possibility that requires another good roll, the guaranteed asset can often be stronger.

The Pattern Behind These Five Opening Moves

You do not need to memorize these as five completely separate rules.

There are a few ideas connecting almost all of them.

Make strong points when you can

With 3-1, 4-2, 6-1, and 5-3, your best move immediately creates a new point.

Made points are safe, useful, and permanent until you choose to break them.

Build connected structures

A single point is helpful.

Two, three, or four points working together can become a prime that traps your opponent's checkers and makes large rolls difficult to play.

Put stacked checkers to work

At the start of the game, you have several heavily stacked points.

Good opening moves begin developing those extra checkers into useful positions around the board.

Run when the escape is both big and safe

The 6-5 is special because you can move a back checker 11 pips and land safely on your midpoint.

That is very different from running a checker into the outfield and leaving it exposed.

Look at the whole board, not just the race

One of the biggest mistakes newer players make is assuming the move that travels the farthest must be the best move.

Backgammon rewards structure, flexibility, blocking power, timing, and racing ability.

The best move is the one that improves your entire position.

How Better Opening Moves Can Help Your Cash Results

Memorizing five opening moves will not remove luck from backgammon, and even perfect checker play cannot guarantee a winning session.

What it can do is remove several avoidable mistakes from your game.

And in cash backgammon, small improvements add up.

Saving a tiny amount of equity in one game might not feel important. Saving that same equity across hundreds or thousands of decisions is where better play starts making a meaningful difference.

Strong openings also make your next decisions easier because you are starting from a healthier position.

Here is the quick version to memorize:

Once those five moves become automatic, start learning the other ten opening rolls.

Then move on to something even more important: how to respond to your opponent's opening move.

The first roll can give you a head start. Knowing what to do next is where opening knowledge starts turning into a lasting edge.

Want to Keep Improving Your Backgammon Game?

The best way to make these opening moves stick is to use them in real games.

The more you play, the faster you will start recognizing strong openings, spotting patterns, and understanding how one early decision affects the rest of the game.

Put these five moves to work in your next match and start building the habits that make you a stronger player over time.