Position 402

 How should White play 65 here:

You are very early in the game, and have to decide how to play the 65. A lot of players would just play 24/13:

The good news is that you are ahead in the race by 9 pips after the roll. The bad news is you have over stacked your 13 point. Generally, you want to unstack points rather than over-stack them. In the opening position of Backgammon, you start with 2/3 of your checkers on the 13 and 6 points. One of the tasks you want to do in the opening is to unstack these 2 points.

You have the much stronger board, so you can make a bold play. 24/13 is not a bold play so you consider 13/8 13/7:

This move threatens to make a 5 prime, and put your opponent in serious trouble. The problem is the 14 rolls that hit you. 14 rolls is 39% of the time.

You have the stronger board, so you want to use it to put pressure on Black. Consider 24/18 13/8:

With your strong board you would welcome an exchange of hits. Even if Black rolled 41 here and played 11/7* 8/7:

You will still have the stronger board, and any entering 4, will put Black on the bar.

24/18 13/8 is the move that puts your opponent under the most pressure and wins the most games, although 13/8 13/7 wins the most Gammons.