If you’re a New York City lawyer, people don’t necessarily think you can write a bestseller. If you’re a movie producer and summer theater operator, people don’t expect you to be a backgammon master, too.

Bruce Becker is all of those things.

Bruce Becker is the author of the book Backgammon for Blood!, which became an instant hit among long-time lovers of the game and newbies, live and online players alike. The book is his first attempt at writing and was published in 1974 by E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc.

Backgammon for Blood! was mainly written to help serious players improve their backgammon skills. By serious, we mean the backgammon players who play for money. But many beginners also expressed their thanks to Bruce Becker, as his simple and uncomplicated writing made them quickly move up the backgammon ladder.

Bruce Becker backgammon is one where the player’s primarily goal is to win – and win big. Bruce Becker, in his book, explains that backgammon is a gambling game of unparalleled excitement and thus, it should always be played with money.

As interesting as his many professions are, so is Bruce Becker’s Backgammon for Blood!. He writes as if he is speaking to you in person, so you won’t be bored or distracted, and you can better digest the many techniques and strategies he generously shares. He gives careful yet uncomplicated discussions on opening moves, retaliations, overall strategy, the back game, bearing off, and the luck factor. He gives pieces of advice that are easy to apply and which you, whether you’ve been playing for a while now or are still relatively new at backgammon, can use to enhance your game.

In his book, Bruce Becker also touches on more serious backgammon topics, such as engaging in and surviving tournament play and its many hazards, how to effectively use the doubling cube (which some players regard as their weakness), and chouette, which is a kind of backgammon that needs more than two players. All throughout the book, his constantly reminds the readers, assumedly backgammon fanatics, that they are playing to win big bucks.

And paying proper respect to the roots of the game, Bruce Becker shares a brief history of backgammon. He also includes the rules of and variations in the game.

It is only fair to note, however, that some backgammon players these days do not recommend his book. Since it was written in the early ‘70s, when backgammon first became a craze, some consider Bruce Becker’s style as already outdated. Backgammon has been thoroughly studied and analyzed over the years that there are now newly formulated strategies that work better than the ones Bruce Becker suggests in Backgammon for Blood!. There are now more guides and manuals (that focus on the logical, rational side of the game) available in the market, also written by backgammon players for backgammon players.

Still, many modern backgammon players regard Bruce Becker backgammon a standard in serious backgammon playing and Backgammon for Blood! a classic. Many find Bruce Becker’s enthusiastic and passionate writing infectious, and this makes them develop a novel kind of love for the game.

If you want to get your very own copy of Backgammon for Blood!, visit a virtual library or an online bookstore.