Backgammon Vs. Poker
Backgammon - the Next Poker
Do you enjoy the fast paced action of heads-up poker? Are you drawn to
poker by its element of skill? If you answered yes to both or either
of these two questions, playing online backgammon should definitely be
on your list of things try. After all, many of the best poker players
in the world are also avid backgammon players.
If you are a decent poker player you fold about eight out of ten hands
before the flop and spend a majority of your time not being directly
involved in the game. Backgammon, on the other hand, is more action
packed since it is a head-to-head game. Every other move you will roll
the dice and move your checkers in direct response to what your
opponent does in his turn.
Backgammon has a larger element of skill than poker does. The reason
for this is that backgammon is a game of open information while poker
is a game of incomplete information. When you are playing poker you
can never know for sure if you should see the flop because you do not
know what cards your opponents are holding. In backgammon you can
always base your decision on mathematical probabilities – all the
information you need is in front of you on the board.
Tying in to the element of skill is the fact that you do not have to
worry about being bluffed out in backgammon. Instead you win and lose
according to your qualities as a player. Many players who dabble in
both backgammon and poker see this as backgammon's most appealing
quality.
But of course there are plenty of similarities between backgammon and
poker too. For example, gambling is the norm in both games. Also, just
like in poker tournaments are perhaps the most exciting form of
backgammon.
In a backgammon tournament each match is played to a certain number of
points and the first player to reach that number wins the match.
Players advanced through the tournament until there are only two
players match and then the final is played to decide the winner of the
tournament.
Usually after your first loss you get a second chance to win cash
prizes through being entered in a consolation tournament.
Poker Stars Playing Backgammon
Perhaps the similarities between the two games are why so many poker
stars double as backgammon players. Dan Harrington, Phil "The
Unabomber" Laak, Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Tom McEvoy, and Bob Ciaffone
are just a couple of examples of poker stars with a big backgammon
interest.
Backgammon was the game of the 1970s with people playing backgammon in
discos and restaurants. Naturally backgammon was also very big with
celebrities, just like poker is today. And all though backgammon has
yet to regain the popularity it enjoyed in the 1970s there are several
Hollywood stars that play backgammon, for example Tobey Maguire,
Nicole Kidman, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Growth of Online Backgammon
Backgammon was slow to enter the online market but recently the game
has shown a growth that matches that of online poker a couple of years
ago. Many online gaming experts predict that online backgammon will be
almost as big as online poker at the end of the decade.
Another fact that points to a coming backgammon boom is that a lot
more people in the backgammon crazy Middle East is getting access to
broadband Internet.
U.S. citizens interested in backgammon should be happy to know that
the game's strong element of skill allows it to avoid regulatory
pressures that have held back the growth of online poker in North
America. Gambling companies in the U.S. should have no problem
promoting their sites and processing payments because backgammon falls
on the right side of the chance-luck divide.
Poker has gotten a lot of media attention for its high-profile events
such as the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. Backgammon has
a couple of similar events, for example, the World Cup, the World
Championship, and the Pro-Am Doubles. And this summer will see the
first televised $1,000,000 backgammon championship. |
