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Slaughtering
A Sacred Cow If
you havent realized it by now, I am not the most conventional of craps
player
nor am I the most conventional of thinkers. Youll
hardly EVER see me play the Pass or Dont Pass Line in a casino. The only time that Ill have money on either
Line is if I am shooting the dice. Yep, it
might go against conventional wisdom, but I like to keep my money as MY money, instead of
giving it to the casino without a real dogged fight. So
what are sacred cows, and why am I slaughtering one today? Sacred
cows relate to certain religions where some folks believe in reincarnation. In India for example, the Brahman cattle freely
roam the streets of every city and town. The
cows have the right-of-way in traffic, and just about every other place they go. They arent used for meat because the Hindu
religions believe the cows may be the reincarnation of close relatives, or at least other
former humans. Hey, we cant be eating
the reincarnation of Mom, Grandpa or Uncle Gupta now can we! Today
I want to talk about a sacred cow of the dice-setting craps community kind. It
is game-speed and why we hold it so sacred. Normally,
at the craps table, this is how many rolls-per-hour you can expect:
Ø
1
to 3 players ~180 to 240 rolls per hour
Ø
3
to 5 players ~150 to 200 rolls per hour
Ø
5
to 8 players ~90
to 180 rolls per hour
Ø
8
to 12 players ~70 to 120 rolls per hour
Ø
10
to 14 players ~50
to 90 rolls per hour
Ø
12
to 24 players ~30
to 60 rolls per hour Yes,
there ARE 24-player tables, and NO, I do not normally play at them. Of
course there is a lot of range in those numbers. If
you have one player with just a Pass Line bet; then you could even see up to 300 rolls in
one hour. Conversely, some low-minimum
twelve-foot 25-cent and $1 tables with a full-house of players may only see 25 to 30 rolls
per hour. Likewise,
in certain markets like Detroit, it isnt unusual to see a full-table with only one
person (the shooter) betting on the Pass or Dont Pass Line, while the Prop bets are
so loaded down that you cant see any green felt at all in the center of the table. In a market where one typical full craps table
will have anywhere from twenty to one-hundred & sixty (yes 160!) individual
Prop and Hop bets booked on every single roll of the dice,
is it any wonder why the game is SO freakin slow?! The
reason I chose game-speed as a target is
because it is usually the players and the type of bets that they make that generally
determine the speed of the game. Of
course, some casinos may have a crew of green break-in (new) dealers that are
slow, but for the most part, game speed is determined by the players. Game
speed is something most players are conscious of AFTER their own bets have been booked by
the dealer. It seems that once we get our own
money down on the layout in the proper spot, we become painfully aware of just how slow
the game can sometimes be. We become
sensitive to the time-factor while the dealers are still booking everyone elses
bets. You
can see the frustration grow on peoples faces as the long, arduous task of booking
all of those bets are completed. How many
times have you seen the stickman TRY to send the dice out to the shooter, only to have to
bring them back to the center of the table as a rash of MORE new bets straggle in? You
hear a lot of dice-setters talk about getting into a rhythm when they shoot. We all talk about getting into a zone
when our game is really grooved-in and our Precision-Shooting is as close to perfect as we
can make it. We have learned that if the dice
are returned to us by the stickman in a timely manner; it is easier to stay in that
groove. If
the dice move quickly, we are usually able to stay in the zone longer. Now,
weve also hopefully seen our share of hot rolls either by ourselves or by someone
elses good skills or lucky tossing. We
know that the game slows down as each bet is paid off, pressed or parlayed, and new bets
and new money come into the table. Do
you ever hear the murmurs or even shouts by other players to move the dice? Perhaps
youve been guilty of that yourself. Most
players blame it on the dealers. They say
that the dealers are slowing down the game to change the pace or luck of the
shooter, or that the house likes to see shooters get out of their rhythm. Some of that is true, but lets take a closer
look at some not-so-USUAL suspects. Lets
look at it, and realize that it isnt usually the dealers who are slowing down the
game
rather it is all of the players who are placing ever-more-difficult-to-book
bets. Want
a sample of what I am talking about? Ive
read with more than a little amusement how a number of players typically bet. There
seems to be a disturbing trend towards Hop bets, and other center-of-the-table Proposition
bets on almost every roll of the dice. I can
only hope that all those Hopping bets are profitable for the bettor, because they usually
have an aggravating way of chiseling otherwise healthy bankrolls into mere shadows of
their former glory. Im sure my concern
is ill-founded, and that I am wrong on this one concept
at least I HOPE I am wrong. Heres an example: One
message board poster wrote: My
typical bet is a $5 Horn-High Yo, with another dollar each on the 3 and 11, plus Ill
Hop the Hard-8, the Hard-4, and I always hop the 3-4 and the 5-2 Sevens for a buck each. At the same time, Ill have them set up a $5
Buffalo ($1
Any Seven and $1 each on all the Hardways-all bets working). Most of my buddies bet the same way too. If I expect that a Horn-number might show up,
Ill put up a $10 'Mickey & Minnie' bet" (thats a $5
Horn-high 2, and $5 Horn-high 12. Its
called 'Mickey & Minnie' because the two $5 'nickels' form 'ears' on the Horn box and
makes it look like Mickey Mouse ears. Dont
ask me what a Goofy, Donald or Daffy bet would look like.)
The
writer went on to say, If one of my Hopping-7s hits,
I always parlay that and add the 6-1 to the two other 7-hoppers. Ill replace my Horn-High Yo, but right
before I throw, I might have the dealer convert it to a $5 World (whirl) bet instead. I
like to Hop the 9s but not on every roll." Now, picture three, or five or six or ten or twelve other people getting into that type of betting frenzy on every roll? So
Ive got to ask you; when the yelling starts because you get one roll of the dice
every 2 to 8 minutes
why is everyone blaming the dealers for disturbing the rhythm of
the game? How
many times have several players on your end of the table given bet-orders to the dealer
all at the same time? How often do some
players tell the dealer to press this or that bet while the dealer is still taking take me down/turn my bets off/same-bet/press my bet by one
unit/parlay my bet instructions from the first player in the proper
pay-out cycle? Speaking
out of turn at the dinner table might be acceptable, but at the dice-table it just slows
the game down. How
many times have several players at your end of the table thrown in new Prop bets before
the stickman has had a chance to pay-off the Prop bets that just hit? When that torrent of chips comes flying in from
six different directions, it takes time to figure out who threw what, and then accurately
put each bet in its proper place on the layout. So
Ill ask you again, just WHO is slowing down the game? There
have been countless times when Ive stood at either side of the stickman, and
theyve turned to me and said in a low conspiratorial tone, pray
for a box (place) number. Very
few players can actually get into the 'zone' on a regular basis. Imagine the power of concentration that is
required to stay in that state as ten or twelve or fourteen other players have similar
bets set up for themselves, and the minutes on the clock just tick, tick, tick on by. So
next time you start getting frustrated by the slowness of the game; take a look around at
the way you and the people around you are betting. Remember
that the dealer has two ears, two hands, two eyes, and eight or tens sets of mouths
telling him what to do. Good
Luck & Good Skill at the Tables
and in Life. Sincerely, The
Mad Professor
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