Backgammon opening moves

Fifteen possible first rolls, and what strong players do with them.

The opening roll is the most studied position in backgammon. Because doubles cannot open — each player rolls one die and ties are re-rolled — there are exactly fifteen first rolls, and every one of them has been analysed to death by generations of players and, since the 1990s, by computers stronger than any of them.

The three things an opening play is trying to do

Almost every opening play is chasing one of three goals, and the arguments are about which one a particular roll serves best.

Make a point. A new made point blocks your opponent and gives your own checkers somewhere safe to land. The closer to your bar point, the more valuable.
Run a back checker. Your two checkers on the 24-point are the ones most likely to get trapped. Moving them toward safety early avoids that.
Split the back checkers. Moving one of them a short distance creates two threats — an anchor next turn, or a hit — at the cost of leaving a blot.

The rolls everyone agrees about

Four opening rolls make a valuable point immediately, and there is no serious debate about any of them.

Roll	Play	Why
3-1	8/5 6/5	Makes the 5-point — the golden point, and the strongest single point on the board. Widely considered the best opening roll.
4-2	8/4 6/4	Makes the 4-point, the next most valuable, and starts a home-board block.
6-1	13/7 8/7	Makes the bar point, which together with the 8-point begins a serious prime.
5-3	8/3 6/3	Makes the 3-point. Less valuable than the 4- or 5-point, but still a point made with no blot left behind.

If you remember nothing else from this page: with 3-1, 4-2, 6-1 or 5-3, make the point.

The running roll

Roll	Play	Why
6-5	24/18 18/13	Known as Lover's Leap. It runs one back checker the whole way to the safety of the midpoint, leaving nothing behind.

The rolls that are genuinely arguable

The remaining ten rolls make no point and cannot run a checker to safety, so they choose between splitting the back checkers and bringing builders down from the midpoint. Both plans are respectable, modern rollouts often separate them by hundredths of a point, and fashions have shifted over the decades. The plays below are the common choices rather than proven answers.

Roll	Commonly played	The alternative
6-4	24/18 13/9	8/2 6/2 makes the 2-point — safe, but a deep and less useful point.
6-3	24/18 13/10	Running to the 18-point while bringing a builder down.
6-2	24/18 13/11	13/5 runs a single checker to the 5-point instead, playing for the golden point.
5-4	24/20 13/8	Splitting to the 20-point aims at the best anchor in the game.
5-2	13/8 13/11	24/22 13/8 splits instead of stacking builders.
5-1	24/23 13/8	13/8 13/12 avoids leaving the extra blot.
4-3	24/20 13/10	13/10 13/9 brings two builders down instead of splitting.
4-1	24/23 13/9	13/9 6/5 slots the golden point — sharper and riskier.
3-2	24/21 13/11	13/11 13/10 keeps the back checkers together.
2-1	24/23 13/11	13/11 6/5 slots the 5-point, the classic aggressive choice.

Why the openings matter more than they look

An opening error costs a fraction of a point — small next to a missed hit or a bad cube decision later. What makes them worth learning is frequency. You will face these fifteen positions in every game you ever play, and knowing them removes the one part of backgammon you can simply memorise, freeing your attention for the parts you cannot.

The replies matter more than the openings. Play a game and see what happens after move one.

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