Play a lot, with a lot of different players, to see the different "styles" of the game.

Over time you will start to see some sort of "bits of strategy" (or perhaps "bits of tactics" is a better phrase), for example:

In general, protecting one's stones is better than leaving them open to attack, but there are exceptions here also.

A stone that is in your opponent's home area, if bonked, will go back to your opponent's home area, so not much is lost; a stone in YOUR home area, if bonked, has to go all the way around the board again, so if you have to choose between leaving one open to attack over the other, it's usually better to leave the one (in your opponent's home area) rather than the other (in your own).

As Spaw alluded to, some rolls are more likely than others; keep this in mind when you decide which points to block, and where to leave stones vulnerable to attack.

These are the sorts of generalities you will pick up as you play more and more games.

Some very basic basics: If you roll 5/6 early in the game, and your opponent's bar point is not blocked, you can make "Lover's Leap" and move one stone from your opponent's 1-point to your opponent's 12-point.

Further, if you roll 1/3, 2/4, 3/5, or 4/6 early in the game, you can take one stone from each of your 5 and 7 points, and cover another point in your inner table.

That's enough for now; good luck, have fun, and don't stress TOO much if you lose. It takes a little bit of experience to really understand how best to utilize any given roll in any given situation. And even then, your opponent can "get lucky" and zonk you!

Have fun!

Alex