How Wastage Affects the Pip Count in a Race
More often than not most backgammon games, especially when odds are pretty even, turn into a race. We'll consider the pip count and wastage as items players must check out to make sure they have a good lead in a race.
First of all, we may need to sharpen our pip count skills. The pip count seems to come in first because it is the most obvious determining factor we will observe. But don't fret when you seem to be quite behind in the pip count. But in case a player is really behind in the pip count, better think about the next element in the race.
The next thing we need to look out for in a pure race is to check for wastage. By wastage we are talking about "unmaximized" results on the dice rolls when we make unnecessary moves. Or when we don't move the right checker first given the dice roll that comes up.
The very first factor that brings about wastage is a crossover. This may not be the biggest factor that brings about wastage but it does affect a player's game when it comes to the final stages of the race. If you have a checker on the outfield, that checker's crossover should become a priority so as not to become a huge factor at the closing moves of our race.
A gap is another factor that adds wastage in a race. These would be gaps in our home board when we have brought all our checkers in. The presence of a gap on the home board is a real impediment to the race, and eventually when we're bearing off.
When we roll a dice and the results corresponds to the checker positioned where the gap is, we would be obliged to move that checker to the lower number instead of bearing off an important checker. That would hurt our game especially when we're behind in the race.
One bad maneuver all players must avoid is making building stacks. This means that we have not made an even distribution of our checkers. The first result we come up with when building high stacks are gaps.
What if we build a high stack on the 1 or 2 point or both, does that count as wastage when we're in a race? The quick answer is a yes. Given this situation it'll be easy to use all the moves whatever turns up on the dice. But it'll still take a lot of dice rolls to get all checkers moving. It is still good advice to avoid high stacks whatever their position is on the board.
Considering the pip count and wastage due to crossovers, gaps, and high stacks makes a better player when a game comes down to a pure race.