The Craps Blog

Falling behind!

Yowza, things are getting busy.  I am on the road on the east coast. Saving up a bunch of stuff to blog though. Check in tonight!

Thought for the day.  If at best (for the player) the house has a 1.41414.. % edge why in the world would anyone play craps? 

Answer.    Fun?  Comps?  more later.

1.414141...

That is what the house advantage is if you play the Pass line.  I have seen it calculated many times but never spelled out in a way that made sense. Until, that is I found this web site. It contains a monthly column by Don Catlin who is a mathematician that helps Casinos calculate odds. His column is syndicated by Frank Scoblete author of Forever Craps and a gambling information empire. 

Nice to see it finally spelled out.  Pass Line bets = House edge of 1.414141 percent.

Crap Circles

I just had to create a post on this. Circle diagrams are a favorite annoyance for me. Seems like everyone can create one.  Hey even Disney made a feature length cartoon about the "circle of life"!

This Harvard Review article is worth reading if you find circle diagrams annoying too.   Of course you can see the connection to my craps blog, he called them Crap Circles!  :-)

Besides it is Sunday night. Tomorrow I am publishing My All Time Greatest Run at The Craps Table! And how it led to me owning the Lucky $5 Chip From The Tropicana.

DD

Death of a blog

I am a much more experienced blogger than I am a craps shooter.  So I was amused at the death of OddJack.com   a gambling blog that is part of the Gawker Media empire of blogs.  Success is a relative thing obviously. I am as pleased as if I just rolled sevens on the come out by the 40 visitors a day I get to this craps blog. I would bet that OddJack.com got thousands of hits a day. But that is nothing compared to the other Gawker Media blogs so they killed it.

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Blogging obviously takes patience.  Just like learning any new skill.  I hope to be at this blog for years as I pick of rhythmic rolling techniques and become an accomplished craps shooter. No, I will not get rich shooting craps but I will have lots more fun at the craps table if I can get above 20 rolls when it is my turn to shoot!

DD

Luck? I don't believe in luck.

I have one of those beautiful wives that just turns heads wherever she goes. At least I can attest that she turns *my* head!  :-)

We  have noticed an odd series of coincidences.  If I am ever doing well at the craps table and she walks up to check on how I am doing I immediately start to lose. It is just weird. This really puts a crimp in our gambling when we are at the casino.  I like to play craps and I lose miserably at blackjack and roulette so we do not see much of each other at the tables.

So, that is one thing but this next is just too weird.  I was playing during the best roll I had ever seen. The guy at the end of the table just kept rolling and rolling. This really raucous, but fun, guy was just across the corner from me. He was betting hard ways, Horns, the wild stuff. He was getting rich as I was just making money. So I was just making conversation when I said "wow this must be this guys 26th roll!"  You can guess what happened.  He rolled a seven. Seven out. Ouch. The crazy guy next to me yelled "You son of a bitch! I knew I should have called off my bets as soon as you said that!"   He cashed out and left in a huff. I cashed out and slunk away. How was I to know that was taboo?  Everyone is always yelling stuff at the craps table.

So live and learn. Don't jinx the roller by mentioning his roll. Never say the word "seven".  Keep your hands outside the table. Don't give money directly to the dealers, put it on the table in the Come area. So much to learn...

As for my beautiful wife, we are just going to have to overcome that nagging suspicion that she jinxes me! 

Rythmic Rolling 101

OK, I finished reading Sharpshooter's book on dice control.    A great book written in my favorite style - story telling.  It also has a forward written by Frank Scoblete that is worth the price of the book alone.

Although Sharpshooter makes it obvious that just like baseball or any competitive sport it takes lots of practice to learn to throw the dice.  The whole argument for dice control is that if you can reduce the number of sevens rolled below the expected of 1:6 to say 1:7 you can get an advantage over the house. Basically it means you can get longer rolls going which translates into wins!  The sport I would compare dice throwing to would be darts.  I was in London recently (no no craps playing, next time!) and watching the World Dart Championships on TV.  It was amazing to see these guys step up to the line and let loose and consistenly put the dart in the double 20.  I couldn not help thinking what good shooters they would make!

So here are the key points I took away from Sharpshooter's book.  First, the set.  He uses the "Hard Way Set".  This means put the dice together with doubles showing on top and the 1's and 6's on the ends.  Check it out. If you could actually throw the dice in this position and keep them from doing anything but rolling forward you would always be rolling points.  So that's the idea.

Then there is the throw. You lightly toss them down the table so they fall dead after bouncing off the back wall.

I am itching to try these techniques out. There is lots more material in this book about different sets of the dice, how to practice, good betting strategy, etc.   

Time to stop reading and start shooting!

DD

New Books

My copies of two new books on craps came in the mail while I was on the road this week. First off

this   craps book is the best I have seen  yet. It is called forever Craps!   Frank Scoblete lays out his entire method while entertaining you with his story of The Captain, his legendary friend who figured out the 5-Count. What is the 5-Count?  It is The Captain's and Scoblete's technique for limiting your losses at the casino. The idea is that there are some shooters who are just better than others. If you wait until the completely random shooters have sevened out after 5 throws you have a better chance of playing through a long turn at the dice (a roll) and making a bunch of money.  That is, if someone really can get fewer 7's per roll than the expected 6 out of 36 you can beat the house!

Don't forget that in craps the house always has the edge. By playing the Pass/Come with odds you can get that edge way down but never as good as even. When you think of even odds think of flipping a coin.  Now if one out of 10 times you could improve your odds of getting heads or tails you could toss a coin and make some money. That is the idea behind the 5-count.  Find the players that can avoid sevens and you could be in for an exciting evening.   Read the book.

Speaking of dice control I also bought

Get The Edge At Craps: How To Control The Dice! by "Sharpshooter".  I think this guy is an engineer so I am going to see what I think of his methodology and post my thoughts here. Of course. -Dennis

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12 The Hard Way

 

So, once I was on a roll at a craps table at my favorite casino, the Tropicana. The dealers there are great. I think I discovered the place after reading an article online that said the dealers at the Tropicana are the friendliest. This was before the days of blogging so it must have been someone’s article I read, not a post. Anyway, I found it to be true.

 

 I was not technically on a roll but I was betting on a shooter who was. The shooter’s buddy loudly proclaimed that this was a “craps virgin” making his first come out roll. I have learned to pull all bets when a newbie is playing. They consistently crap out immediately after making a point. (So, I should bet against them, or play the Don’t Pass line? Someday.) Well, I was already up so I decided to see what this guy could do.

 

 Maybe he was a shill. His rolls did not make it to the end of the table. They bounced all over everybody’s bets. But they just kept coming. I was on the point, and several numbers with double odds and making money just about every time he rolled. But the pesky 12 kept coming up, winning me nothing. So, what the heck I tossed the stickman two white chips ($2) and told him to play “12 the hard way”. The dealer right across from me commented “better to play 12 the easy way, better odds”. I told him thanks and so instructed the stickman. The game continued for a while, I never won on that 12 (30X payout!). But I won over-all for the night and went home happy.

 

Two nights later I was mulling the game over in my head and it hit me. There is only ONE way to roll a 12! Duh! In recalling the dealer’s expression I could see that they did not even get a yuck out of pulling my leg. They must pull that one on newbies like me so often that it is not even funny anymore. But boy did I squirm when I figured it out. 

PCFO

"It is always best to bet the Pass/Come with full odds or as much in odds as you can afford*"

That is the only rule of craps you need to follow.  And, it is complete gibberish to anyone who is new to craps, as I was a short time ago. I am still learning.  But this is the best system, or as *King Scoblete is fond of saying, you have the best chance of losing the least with this system.  Craps may well have the best odds in the casino but the house still has the edge.

I remember a dinner conversation with a business owner/entrpreneur in Atlanta. I had said craps is too intimidating to me. He used a napkin to quickly explain:  You put a bet on the Pass Line. If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11 you double your money (nice, 8 out of 36 rolls). If the "point" is made it means the shooter rolled a 4,5,6,8,9,10 and a white hockey puck is put on that number. You immediately lay "odds" on the point. This means you stack up some more chips behind your Pass bet. And you place the equivelant of a Pass bet out in the COME area of the table. If a 4,5,6,8,9,10 is rolled the dealer puts your COME bet on that number and you immediately hand more chips to the dealer who adds them to your bet on that number but at slightly better odds.

That is the system. Lots of nuance to it. But getting the hang of the sequence is the trick. The cool thing is that the dealers immediately recognize what you are doing (it is the only sane system after all). They will help you through the game and remind you if you forget something. 

I have stood at the craps table with every number covered earning $8-20 a roll while everyone around me chases after 12's and hard ways. It is a good feeling to fill up that tray in front of you with chips!

Just remember PCFO: Pass/Come Full Odds.

-Dennis Detroit