Here are a couple of charts that you may find interesting.

The first one shows you what your chances are of entering both one man and two men from the bar. A couple of points are worth noting:

• With just one of you men on the bar, even if your opponent has a full four points closed, you still have better than a 50-50 chance of entering. Only when he has just one point open, (a full five points closed) do the odds favor you not entering.

• With two of your men on the bar, the situation is drastically different. Here you need a full five points open before you have a better than 50-50 chance of entering both your men. Even with four points open, your odds of entering both men are less than half - just 44%. (This is why it is often correct to send a second checker to the bar, if you get an opportunity to do so.)

For example, if your opponent's man is 24 points away, only a roll of double sixes will hit this man... 1 chance out of 36 or about 3%. If a man is 12 points away, there are just three rolls that will hit it. (3-3, 4-4, or 6-6 would do the trick.)

Note the big drop-off after your opponent's man is six points away. You have the greatest chance of hitting a blot if your checker is six points away... 47%, almost a 50 - 50 chance. (The 17 rolls that hit are 1-5, 1-6, 2-2, 2-4, 2-6, 3-3, 3-6, 4-2, 4-6, 5-1, 5-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6.) However, if this blot is just one further point away, the chances drop to just 17% since now only six rolls of the dice will hit. (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1)