Online Backgammon Tournaments

Backgammon tournaments are generally comprised of several single elimination matches and just like a tennis competition; two players will compete against one another in a series of individual games to determine the winner. Only the winner of this series of games can proceed to the next round of the tournament.

Those who fail to make it to the next round will be able to take part in a ‘plate’, which is basically a consolation match. If you participate in a much larger backgammon tournament, such as the World Championship Backgammon, there will also be a second consolation match and perhaps even a Last Chance event.

These events run on a points system, but the Consolation and the Last Chance matches will NOT be played to as many points as the main event generally is. The winner of the match will be the player who earns the specific number of points within the shortest amount of time and these points can be earned in the normal way.

For example, winning a single game will earn you 1 point, gammon will earn you 2 points and backgammon will earn you 3 points. The winner of the game will not only receive the value of the game in points, but this amount will also be multiplied by the value on the doubling cube.

Therefore if the player wins a gammon while the cube is displaying a 4, that player will win with a total of 8 points. If the two competitors were playing just a 7-point match, then the event would be completed in just a single game.

An odd number of points are generally played for in an average match and you will find that one of the things always used is the Crawford Rule. The condition of this rule means that if either of the two players who end up at ‘match point’ (one point away from winning the game), neither of the players can offer a double in the next game. This particular game which doesn’t involve any ‘doubling’ is always known as the Crawford game.

If the game has still yet to be decided after the completion of the Crawford game, the doubling cube can then be used again and whichever player happens to be behind on points should always take the opportunity to double as soon as they get the chance to do so.

You will not receive any kind of additional bonus for finishing the game with more points than is needed to win. If you play in a match that requires a certain amount of points, the first player to reach that value will be the winner and therefore it makes no difference to the game whether the winner finishes with more than that amount needed. It also doesn’t matter how many points your opponent finished with. The main objective is to win the match and by how far you win is basically irrelevant.