You should be very wary of taking doubles when you may lose a gammon. For exactly the same reason you should be quick to give doubles in such situations. Doubling still carries the same dangers for you. If you double Black now you cannot double him out of the game later, and so on. But the point is that you have a great deal more to gain than in the situations where a gammon was not likely. Look at the situation in diagram. It is early in the game. You have an advantage, but the game could certainly swing Black's way. Yet you have a clear-cut double. Look at it from Black's point of view. He may very quickly find himself behind a five point block, with small chance of saving the game, and a big danger of a gammon. He should take the double but he won't enjoy it. If you cautiously wait a turn in this type of position, Black may well not be able to accept it next time, so that you will have won only one point instead of having a good chance of winning four.