Backgammon: Pay Now or Later? (Lesson 49)

In this video, we look at one of the most challenging decisions you're likely to face over the board: the pay now, pay later scenario. I will help you identify some of the key indicators in these situations, to guide you towards making the right play.

Key questions to ask yourself:
1) Is my opponent's position going to become more or less threatening?
2) How flexible/inflexible is my opponent's position? Does he have stripped points he will be forced to clear/break? (Timing and Flexibility are important concepts to consider)
3) How many shots am I leaving?
4) Does my opponent have any bad rolls?
5) How strong is my opponent's home board?
6) Should I wait to see if things improve? (I may roll a double)

[allo]

This is the best pay-now pay-later resource I’ve found yet

[wolfganglohfink]

Again a very great lesson. Thanks and keep doing!!👏👍

[tgwnn]

(before watching:) This is the #1 hardest part of the game for me. Looking forward to this lesson

[barneymaundertaylor]

Very nice thankyou. Having just blundered this morning by paying now OTB, I can see that I failed to consider whether things were going to get better or worse by staying, and must also consider the number of remaining spares each player has. Thank you!