"Dice Control
-- How to Create your own Advantage at Casino Craps."
By Jerry Patterson
Is it possible to get an edge over the casino
- an actual measurable statistical advantage? That's what this
report is all about. Let's start with craps and dice control (Ref:
Casino Gambling, Chapters 10 & 11). Using Dice Control and/or
betting on another shooter with Dice Control skills, the advantage
is achievable and measurable.
Get out a pair of dice and hold them in your
hands. Do that now and then come back here and continue reading
(if you don't have a pair, I suggest picking one up from the drugstore
or casino next time you go). Put the two fives on top with the
1s pointing to the left. Now look on the inside faces - open up
the two fives. What do you see? A six on the left die and a one
on the right die - the seven.
Now look at the two outside faces - the left
face and the right face. You see the other 1 and the other six
- another seven. In setting the dice in this way, we are putting
two of the sevens out of the way - one on the inside and one on
the outside. I know, I know, they may not stay there as the dice
fly through the air, but as you learn to control the dice and
keep them more or less together through their orbit, the chances
of these two sevens coming up are minimized. Not eliminated, minimized.
In Chapter 11 of Casino Gambling we developed
the calculations for deriving the player advantage. And we showed
that just one controlled throw out of every 43 rolls of the dice
would eliminate the house edge and yield a break-even game. So,
it's not that difficult to attain an advantage. The set I showed
you above we call the hard way set because the pairs show on all
four sides: 5,5; 4,4; 3,3; and 2,2. This is a good set to use
when you get some experience in executing the controlled throw,
but not when you are first starting out as a rhythm roller. Use
the Quick Set shown on page 130.
Here is what to remember about the Quick Set:
the dealer will never push the dice back to you with a seven on
top - this is considered extremely impolite and is just never
done. But the dice may come back to you with a seven on the side.
Notice this when the stick man pushes the dice back to you prior
to your throw. If you see the seven on the side, simply rotate
either die a quarter turn to take off the seven. That's all. Try
it now with your two die - set a one and six on the side with
a 3 and 2 on top. Rotate the right die a quarter turn to take
off the seven. What do you see? You should see a 3, 1 on top and
a 1, 2 facing you - the seven is gone and the chances of throwing
a losing seven thereby minimized.
To summarize, the first lesson in advantage craps
is setting the dice. Or at least understanding how the set affects
the outcome. Do you need to set the dice to gain an advantage?
No you don't. But setting will achieve the highest advantage possible.
Finding and exploiting other rhythm rollers
Spekul8r@earthlink.net wrote about his experience
of using the data in Casino Gambling to find another rhythm roller.
He turned a 20-unit buy-in into 340 units in 36 minutes. How did
he do it? By using the techniques described in Casino Gambling
and scouting for other rhythm rollers.
Here are the questions to ask yourself as you
observe other shooters at the craps table: Question 1: Does the
shooter set the dice? Question 2: Does the shooter shake the dice
in his hand before throwing? Question 3: Does the shooter throw
the dice the same way each time; i.e., is his form the same, or
nearly the same, on each throw? Notice the rhythm of the throw.
For Question 1, you would like to see the set,
but this isn't mandatory. For Question 2, if the shooter shakes
the dice, his throw will probably be random; watch his form carefully
and you will know. For Question 3, if the shooter throws the dice
with no apparent form, it is obviously a random throw.
You want to see the same release, and you want
to see some elevation on the launch (not too much, visualize about
45 degrees and you will have it).
After the launch as the dice come down out of
orbit, you want to see the dice landing approximately the same
distance before the back wall each time. If the dice are skipping
down the table or if the shooter is "feeding the chickens"
as we call it, you are looking at a random throw (visualize a
farmer's wife with a box of feed in her left hand and her right
hand reaching in and scattering feed in a repetitive movement
- that's "feed the chickens" - a random throw). Make
it a habit of studying the other shooters and you will find one
which delivers an advantage.
One more point, even if you get the right answers
to these three questions, you may not get an advantage hand; i.e.
a hand of greater than six rolls.
One reason is that the shooter may not be setting
and inadvertently picked up the dice with a seven on the side
yielding a higher chance of throwing the seven.
Another reason may be a random outcome of a controlled
throw. The dice will bounce after landing. The key words here
are **altering the natural outcome of the dice.** This will not
happen on every roll, not even for a skilled rhythm roller like
me or my teammates. But you will find shooters like Mike did that
will hold the dice for 36 minutes and deliver some fantastic profits
on a long hand.
To end this lesson, let me ask you a question.
Would you rather put your money, or increase your bet on a shooter
who throws at random, or one with at least a modicum of control?
Every crap shooter wants the long hand. This is what it's all
about. You have a better chance of realizing this goal with a
controlled thrower. So evaluate the other shooters. Increase your
bet if you see control; decrease your bet if you see random. In
your next casino session, make it a point of studying the other
shooters. Bet with those that show some control. Lay off or make
a table minimum bet only on those that "feed the chickens."
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