Backgammon: Pure Strategy

This is a book draft. There is no attempt at editing, layout, or conceptual flow. It's truly a shame because the thought process behind the content has the potential to make a wonderful book. It's clear Marc understands backgammon well and has the ability to break the game down to offer value to students; however, this is not a product ready to be published.I enjoyed Marc's first book and had high hopes for this one. I loved Marc's idea in this one to highlight important concepts in various game types. I've not seen a good conceptual book on strategy laid out conceptually. What's Your Gameplan by Hickey and Storer communicated these well in their book, but it was in pieces scattered throughout 122 positions. Marc's new book was an opportunity to create this, and a couple more months of effort could have done this in amazing fashion.As it stands, this book has:100 pages discussing backgammon concepts in his previous book.130 pages that each display a single backgammon position with a pip count and match score.130 pages that contain a paragraph or two discussing the position.There are 40 pages of new content discussing the weight of concepts based on position types. This material had remarkable potential. I'd still purchase the book for this content. However, the content is riddled with dozens of the simplest typos, grammatical mistakes, and inconsistent terminology. I can get past that to get the conceptual value, but the errors are so glaring and numerous that it's borderline insulting to a paying customer.Marc has introduced his Value Equation to the backgammon community in these two books. He again takes 40 pages in this book to go over the idea. Instead of 260 pages of 130 quizzes with brief commentary, I would have LOVED to see even just 20 quizzes using his Value Equation to analyze the positions and the potential moves. That would have been amazing content with the potential to be a classic book in backgammon literature.

Great book. It makes you really think about which of the four game plans you are in. Making the right play depends on which game plan you are in or which game plan is best after the roll. My only complaint is the value equation. A great idea with no explanation how the author arrives at the values. He states in the introduction that the values he assigns are based on his knowledge. It doesnt do the reader any good if there is no explanation of how to arrive at the values. But overall I thought I was well worth it. It improved my game and I am going through the book a second time.

the book is not bound very well and started falling apart, but I enjoyed the ideas.

Granted, the author isn't a native English speaker, but this book would've benefitted from another look over before publication. There are abundant grammar and spelling errors, to the point of being distracting. The content, however, is excellent. Marc attempts to forge a fresh nomenclature of backgammon concepts for humans to use, to teach us to mimic the thinking of neural nets. Some of it is well-trodden territory; some concepts are new.More than half of the book is filled with instructive problems. Following Olsen's suggestion to write down your top 3 plays, with win and gammon chances, can be very beneficial to one's game. But, this book would be easier to reference if each problem had a problem number.All in all, it is a valuable addition to the backgammon catalogue.

It should be noted that there is a 2020 second edition of this book, of which I received when I ordered that addresses many of the spelling/grammar issues as well as the overly technical diagrams. If you’re put off by some of the negative reviews, you may be very surprised to see them addressed in this new edition! Thanks for the update, Marc! Skaal!

This was a very helpful book and well worth the asking price to me. It’s perspective on the game clarified different strategic and tactical concepts I was having difficulty with. I highly recommend the book. If you want to find out just how good my level of play is after studying this book is just lookup flashpoint on FIBS and find out.

This is not your first or second backgammon book. It is thought provoking and you will learn a lot from it. I really liked the Value Equation. There are 2 great quizzes, on Checker Play and Doubling.This is an advanced book that will make you a better player. I thoroughly recommend it.

The biggest problem I have with backgammon is learning when to apply the knowledge I have already accumulated. There's too many variables. But this book helps you to literally break the game apart and puts it back together. I really love this methodological approach to the game.

First, this is technically great. Every page has a lesson. So why only 3 stars?First, Marc has some huge concepts floating round in his head, but sometimes he isn't able to effectively communicate them, mainly due to language barriers, which is the second and more annoying problemThis is that Marc clearly does not employ an editor whose native language is English. The text is riddled with typos, spelling mistakes, wrong words, clumsy grammar, and I'm afraid at this price point the reader should not have to put up with that.So next time hire a native speaking editor or even just proofreader Marc!

Lovely book. Good well balanced original thinking by a master player.Really enjoying it ; I am half way through.Forget the price and buy it. Improve your game and your investment will pay off !I guess I should add that the Author is not a Native English speaker.. no matter, if you think like a Danish !Though it might put some off, to me the slightly quirky English adds charm, charisma and authenticity.It's very clear though... and it's very hard to get confused by the rare ambiguity. I really love this book just as it is !

This is an outstanding book for serious Backgammon players. I can't recommend it highly enough for serious players but it is not a book for beginners. Computers have changed the way Backgammon is played and this book will help you take advantage of the new understanding that comes with neural network computing. i thought it was quite a lot to pay for a backgammon book but I'm delighted with it. In fact its so good that I almost hope not too many other people are reading it.

This is a great book on how the computer program xg approaches backgammon. Marc does an excellent job in trying to explain how xg works and how it thinks in different phases of the game. The book is a must for all serious players.

Very good content, amazingly low editing quality.