When I was a very young boy, I was shooting crap for pennies with the other youngsters. Suddenly a cop turned the corner and we were caught. Everyone else made a run for it. I stood there and pleaded with the policeman, “Just let me see if I can make the four.”
Dice games hold a tremendous fascination for the average person and no less for me. It is the game that attracts the most people and the most money in the gambling casino. It is a strong-willed gambler who can resist shooting a few bucks when he passes a crap table. That’s why casinos in resort hotels are always ringed by the lobby, restaurants, show rooms and cigarette stands. The hotel wants the traffic through the casino. People cannot resist the pull of the table.
A friend of mine told me, “I just had a shine and it cost me $900. I had to pass through the casino in order to get to the barber shop.” And how true that is.
Winning Percentage at Craps
It is my job to tell you how you can sneak out of the sucker category and show a winning percentage of free casino game at craps. That I will do.
If you are a veteran of the tables, you’ll recall the constant chant of the stick-man as “Bard way, field. Play the fields even, eleven. Craps.” And the like. But you never hear him implore, “Take the odds on your number!” Doesn’t that make you suspicious? The House wants you to bet on the field and the propositions. Well, the reason is that the held pays the House 5 5/9%. The Hard Way 6 or 8 pays the house 9 1/11% and the Hard Way 10 or 4 pays the House 11 1/9%.
But if your number is 5 and you take the odds, how much does the House make? Nothing. That’s right, nothing. The odds are 3 to 2 against you and that is exactly what the odds pay you, 3 to 2. Of course on your original bet (on the pass line where your point is 5, you are now only being paid even money if you make it.)
Then why do people play the Field and the Seven’s and the Hard Ways instead of taking the odds? Because they’re ignorant, stupid. Because they think they’re just playing for the sport of it, when really they’re dropping cold, cold cash.
The Shooter
The player who rolls the dice is known as the shooter. Players who bet on him to win are betting right or do; those who bet on him to lose are betting wrong or don’t. The shooter wins if his first roll is seven or eleven (a natural) and loses if his first roll is twelve, three, or two (a crap). If his first roll is any other number, that number becomes the point, and the shooter continues to roll the dice until he either wins by rolling that number again (makes his point) or loses by rolling a seven (sevens out).
Craps is the outstanding example of a game in which the only element of skill is knowledge of the odds and management of money. (I assume that the dice are perfect and that the roll is honest.)
In calculating the odds, the basic idea is that each die may land with any one of its six faces uppermost and that for each die all six possibilities are equally likely. Yes, there are shills in every casino. There is nothing dishonest about having shills. Many players feel uncomfortable when they play alone. They won’t go to a table if it is empty. So bosses hire shills who move around from table to table drawing the other players, betting small amounts, and being as unobtrusive as possible.
