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Gammonline is great and I'm having alot of fun with it. I'vealot to learn and this seems like the place for it.I have a question about small doubles in the opening. Should I be hitting or making points with them? For instance if my opponent starts with a 4-1 , slotting the 5 and 9 and I roll 1-1. Should I be hitting on the 5 or making my own 5 and 7. To take this a different way , say I open 6-1 making the bar and then 4-1 slot followed by 1-1 for me. If my opponent opens 5-4 by playing to the 8-9 , should I hit with 2-2 or make some points. My gut tells me to hit in all cases , which I do , but it seems like a waste of productive rolls. I feel like I have the little angel and devil on my shoulders in these types of situations. :)
Chris MacDonald
In general, it is better to hit a slotted blot in the early stages than itis to make a point of your own. For example, if your opponent slots his fivepoint and you roll 3-1, hitting is considerably superior to making your ownfive point. You gain in the race, prevent him from making a key point, puthim on the bar, rob him of half of his roll, and start a good advanced anchor.That's a lot of nice things to say about the hit.
On the other hand, there is the principle that it is usually better to makea play which does two good things than a play which does one good thing. Theearly little doubles make two valuable points, so in most cases that issuperior to hitting. As the game progresses priorities will change dependingon the position, and either hitting or point-making may become more important.As is usually the case in backgammon, there aren't any hard and fast rules.Each position has to be analyzed on its own merits. Guidelines are good,but they won't give us a final answer.
Kit Woolsey