There is Nothing Like Live Backgammon Tournament

Many online players fear that they will not be able to play for real. There are some minor rule differences between the two, but those differences are not hard to learn. Also, at every tournament, the director, or one of the experienced players is more than willing to help a New player understand the rules and differences and give you a short tutorial before your first match.

Even if you are a really good player, you probably should enter the Novice or lowest division in any live event, just to get the experience before moving up. Backgammon players are very friendly people and always happy to help new people.

There are two major differences between online backgammon and live backgammon. For starters, there is no automatic pip counter, so one should do the pipe counting by himself. Most players keep an race estimate in their head as they go along, and stop makes an accurate pip count only during critical moves. At first, you will find counting pips to be laborious, but after learning some shortcuts and some practice, it is not so difficult at all.

Another difference between online backgammon and live backgammon is the illegal moves. On a computer, all the moves are legal, but over the board, you or your opponent may accidentally make plays that are not legal. You might move a checker too many or too few pips, or you might take too many or too few checkers off on a bear off, or you might think you did not come in from the bar when in fact you did. You have to simply be very careful and watchful of all moves when you play live.

So if it is so difficult to play live, why bother and not keep playing backgammon only online.? First, and most important, it is really fun. Live play offers great competition and you get to see, first hand, how different people play. At most backgammon tournaments you will see some really top players, and for no charge, you get to watch and learn from them. You will find that the top players are almost all happy to offer advice and discuss specific plays if you have a question (but not in the middle of their match, of course).

There is nothing like the excitement of playing in a live tournament and winning a match or tournament. There are friendly people around and prizes realy make it worth it.

It's a great experience and a fun way to advance your game. Join your local backgammon club and take part in it's tournaments.