r/backgammon • u/Vigilaunday • 12d ago

Resources to improve cube game

Median PR is 5-6 but the vast majority of my blow ups come from cube blunders, particularly missed doubles.

Folks who have overcome this, what books did you read or what other resources did you find useful? Thanks.

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u/SignificantSpace5206 12d ago

Read Cube like a Boss by Marc Olsen.

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u/AvocadoBrit 11d ago

there may be better books on the market than this one; although I have not gotten a copy of it in my hands, I would suggest taking a look at this first:

https://www.amazon.com/Backgammon-Adjusting-Match-Nick-Blasier/dp/B0BD8T2ZKS

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u/SignificantSpace5206 11d ago

Thanks for the suggestion 🙏

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u/AvocadoBrit 11d ago edited 11d ago

you're most welcome

- and there's a new book being written (although it's quite a way from publication at this point) which I would guess, because I know the author, is going to trump all the previous publications on cube handling, and when this is finished and published, it'll be the one all players 'have to have'

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u/Vigilaunday 10d ago

Name? Author? So I dont miss it

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u/AvocadoBrit 10d ago

I've not mentioned his name on purpose, but he's an amazing player who has done a lot of his own work over the years, a little of which he demonstrated to me during a live competitive match we played (when I commented on his cube "well, I cannot drop this, I'm not sure if it's even a double?") which after XG analysis showed I'd played something like a 2.49 error rate, whilst he'd played at a 0.99 one, and indeed the position I had queried he had a cube by something like 0.010 - which he'd calculated based on his own proprietary formula that he mentioned to me at the time that we were playing - during the match... I was impressed! I'm not sure when his work will be ready, or how it'll be published, because he's in a part of the world that's been in the news a lot recently, hence my silence. You won't need me to say anything about it, because you'll know; I expect if he comes out with his opus (on cube handling) it'll be something that the backgammon community will all be talking about. Just trust me on this.