“S” Backgammon Terms

A prime with no gaps; a full prime.  Compare: Broken Prime.

An extra checker that can be used for hitting or making a point without leaving behind a blot.

A bearoff position in which you expect to take at least two checkers off every roll, typically when all of your checkers are crowded onto the three lowest points of your home board.

To separate two checkers which are together on a point (1) (usually the opponent's one-point) and leave them as blots.  See: Major Split and Minor Split.

[Coined by Chuck Bower.]  A play that splits (at the back) and slots (at the front) at the same time. Paul Magriel recommended against splitting and slotting because it leaves you weak in two areas of the board, but there are exceptions.

To take advantage of the opponent's requirement to make a move. You leave him a position in which the only move he can make hurts his position. Often this means he is forced to break a valuable defensive point (2) earlier than he would like.

Four or more checkers piled on a point (1).  See: Candlesticks.

An optional rule where rolls of doubles are played like any other roll; that is, each number is played once, not twice.  See: Irish.

The amount wagered by the participants in a game of backgammon (1). The current stake is the initial stake multiplied by the value of the doubling cube.

Money play.

A measure of a rollout's variance or random error. A rollout will be within one standard deviation of its convergence value 66% of the time, within two standard deviations 95% of the time, and within three standard deviations 99.7% of the time.  See also: Joint Standard Deviation.

To move a checker to a point (1) you wish to make with the hope of covering that checker on your next turn.

The arrangement of checkers at the start of a game. Each player has 2 checkers on the opponent's one-point, 5 checkers on the mid-point, 3 checkers on the eight-point, and 5 checkers on the six-point.

Remain in the opponent's home board.

Fail to enter from the bar.

Fail to enter from the bar.

[What happens when a player reaches the "boiling point."]  To play wildly, out of annoyance or impatience at one's bad luck. To lose one's emotional stability in a gambling context; in particular, to take bigger and bigger risks in an effort to recoup earlier losses.

One who steams.

Checker.

A progressive jackpot that allows players to enter at any level and cash out when they want. When you are ready to play, you sign up for a stop pot at some level. As soon as a second player is ready to play at that level, you play your match. Stop pots minimize the impact on the rest of the tournament because matches can be played whenever two players are available and the winner can cash out or continue playing depending on his obligations elsewhere.