Counting systems are very advantageous in backgammon because games often break down into races where no further contact is possible or very unlikely. So in these situations then you need to know if you are ahead in the race and by how much. The reason why you need to know this is that if you are playing for money and using the doubling cube then you will be able to manufacture your opponents into taking and accepting unprofitable doubles.
Let us look at a few odds and align them with some backgammon counts. Let us say that you are 70 away from getting all of your counters off the board and you are 23 pips ahead of your opponent. In this instance you are more than a 6/1 favourite and you can safely double as your equity is very high. Very good players will simply drop in a cash game situation (a match situation may be different). However players who are not advanced and are not counting may not be aware of how far behind they are and will accept the double.
Novice players tend to look at positions and then take a visual estimate. They may know that they are behind but not by how much. Here if you accepted a double in this situation then your chances would be little more than 10% and that is presuming that you made the right checker decisions. In fact if you knew that your opponent did not count and was likely to accept doubles in hugely negative equity situations like these then it would be in your interests to guide the game into endgame situations.
However just having a lead does not always mean that you should double! Imagine a scenario where you count is exactly 100 which is identical to your opponents. You have the advantage of throw and so should you double? Clearly here the answer is no as your advantage is very tiny and so tiny that it is almost even money. However if you double then your opponent will certainly accept and then you will be almost even money whilst not having control of the cube! If the game moves in your favour then the stakes cannot be raised again unless your opponent raises them and they are not going to do that unless the game swings in their favour.
