In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 chief strategies employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between tactics instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable strategy at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anywhere within your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. i.e., if your opponent tosses an early two and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your challenger is now in big-time dire straits taking into account that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have two or more anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point occupied by at a minimum two of your checkers.) It should be employed when you are significantly behind as this strategy greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest areas for anchor spots are towards your opponent’s smaller points and also on adjoining points or with one point separating them. Timing is essential for an effectual backgame: after all, there’s no point having 2 nice anchors and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break apart this straight away, while your competitor is getting their checkers home, seeing that you do not have any other spare checkers to move! In this case, it is better to have checkers on the bar so that you might preserve your position up till your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a great idea to attempt and get your opponent to get them in this situation!