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Backgammon can be mastered by studying the various strategies involved in the game. The most popular games and strategies are discussed below.

Running Game
The objective of the running game is to move all the checkers a.k.a men into a player’s home board and bear them off the board. The player has to basically move around the board as fast as he can, just like running a race. Once a player has moved the men into his board (home) he can start bearing off. A running game can be started when the player has lesser number of men compared to his opponent. Running game involves getting a checker back to the bar, which means, to accomplish that, the player has to move the checkers to points he controls. The idea of initiating a running game is suicidal if the opponent has got lesser number of checkers in his side. Poor strategy, high risk and little chances of success it calls for.

Holding Game
Even though more of a style of playing backgammon rather than a strategy, the holding Game strategy is extremely useful to any player, especially when the player is trailing in the pipcount race. This strategy is based on the ideal of keeping a point in your control that is located highly in your opponent’s board, usually a point in his inner board or the bar point. This offers the player a positional advantage over his opponent. The best holding game anchors are the 20 point or the bar points because you can hit your opponent with maximum probability as he brings his checkers closer to home, while points further back aren’t that useful. Very important is also the ability to understand the exact times to offer the doubling cube and to accept or drop a double when playing or defending a holding game. The distribution if the opponent’s checkers is also another key element that must be taken into consideration. If he has only the 8 and 13 points made (as in the starting position), he will have to leave a shot as he brings his checkers around. If he has made additional points in his outer board, your hitting chances come down greatly.

Priming Game
This strategy involves the use of prime numbers. It is similar to a holding game and encourages you to build on primes. In this way you tend to block the opponent’s pieces from moving forward. If you are able to maintain the prime number then the piece will remain blocked. You should ideally have six points in one row. These pieces will be trapped under the prime number. This will make your opponent struggle to move about freely. The ultimate challenge is when the opponent to starts piling up his set of primes. Sometimes you both just might be hanging mid way in the game and eventually end up in a draw.

This game is one that has multiple strategies. The first is the most common one that is followed. It is easier to comprehend than the rest of the strategies. So go for it!