how to up y our rateing in backgammon?

One Comment

1. bonehead says:

   May 10, 2010 at 11:35 am

   You will only have a ‘provisional’ rating until your 20th game.
   Then you get a rating with a coloured square next to it.

   Do you just want to increase your rating, or also improve your play?

   Whichever you desire, your rating will always increase, as long as you score more than 50%.
   Now is the best time to increase your rating, because provisional players have a low ‘experience’ . Your ‘experience’ is the sum total of all match points played(or simply the number of games played if you only play 1 point matches).

   Important, because having a low ‘experience’ (of 400 or less) is a key factor in the calculations for rating points won or lost in a game: an ‘experience’ of 0 will multiply gains/losses by a factor of 5, compared to someone with ‘experience’ of 400 or more.

   While your experience is less than 400, and assuming you score more than 50%, you can maximise your rating point gains by playing only 1 point matches: these will gain you between 10 (against an equally rated opponent) and 2 (against a 3500 rated opponent) rating points per game, whilst at the same time keeping your experience low.

   Once your ‘experience’ reaches 400, it is a different story. Then it is best to play 101 point matches (where you only play 1 game and double consecutively until the cube reaches 128) against opponents whose ratings are within 200 points of yours.
   These can earn between 20 and 3 rating points per game, depending on the rating difference.

   If your opponent is rated more than 200 points higher or lower than you, it is best to play 2 point games, and ‘doubling’ on your first move.
   These only earn a maximum of 3 points.