It's Your Turn! What to do During the First Move
The fact is there are only 15 combinations you and your friend can make when determining who moves first when you play backgammon. This is so since both you and your friend roll the dice again in case you get a tie. Here's a little help with what you can do with the first move of a game of backgammon.
The 15 combinations for the first move in backgammon have been put into three categories. These are running plays, split plays, and point making plays. Each of these categories for the first move in backgammon has candidate best moves. This means that for each combination you get for the first move, you may have a clear singular option or perhaps two options to choose from to make a really good move.
Let's deal with point-making plays first. These would let you make a blocking point right at the first move of the game. The first and favorite among these is a Three-One combination. The correct move for the Three-One combination is to do an eight/five six/five as a first move.
Next combination is Four-Two. The correct way to play this dice combination is to do an eight/four six/four in the first move. You make the four-point on your home board at your first move in a backgammon game.
The correct play for a Six-One combination is thirteen/seven eight/seven. While the Five-Three combination is correctly played as eight/three six/three for the first move.
The second category is called the running play. Combinations that make running plays are Six-Five and Six-Four. With these combinations you can run one back checker to safety. To do this as a first move you play 24/14 for the Six-Four and 24/13 for the Six-Five combination.
The last category is called split play. These don't give you the luxury of making a blocking point or having a runner land on safe ground. Split plays let you make an aggressive first move. You also get to move checkers on both sides of the board.
A Six-Three combination should be played as 24/18 13/10. The Six-Two combination is almost the same and is played as 24/18 13/11. The other combinations work the same way as a first move. The Five-One combination is played as 13/8 24/23 while a Four-One is played as 13/9 24/23. Two-One should be played as 13/11 24/23 while Five-Four is played as 13/8 24/20.
The Five-Two combination is played as 13/8 24/22. Your two choices for Four-Three are 13/9 24/21 or 24/20 13/10. Three-Two is played either as 24/21 13/11 or 13/10 13/11.
It will take some time and practice before you get down all the plays for the first move. After having done so, you've already taken a major step in the game of backgammon.