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Mad Professor's Mini-Table Craps Tour with the Vegas Ghost- Part IV
Welcome
aboard the Mini-Table Craps Tour of Las Vegas. Yours
truly, The Mad Professor, is your somewhat kind and jovial host. Our co-pilot and navigator is Mel, the Vegas
Ghost. We call him the ghost
because he has haunted most of the major Strip casinos as a gaming-executive for the past
four decades, plus he knows where most of the skeletons are buried and who put them there. Hes a valuable tour-guide and a sauve
silver-haired raconteur.
In
Part I
of this series we covered the details
and intricacies of Precision-Shooting on either a sit-down Crapshoot table, or at a
10-player stand-up mini-table.
In
Part II
Mel and I explored the
profit-potential of Casino Royales excellent $1 minimum, 10x-Odds Crapshoot table.
In
Part III
the Holiday Inn-Boardwalk tub-table
played unwitting host to our short, but lucrative session.
Now, our
journey of discovery, wonderment and beneficial Precision-Shooting takes us off the beaten
tourist path, and into the:
Wild Wild West
Gambling Hall & Hotel
Okay,
Ill admit that she aint very pretty and her cooking is down-home and hearty,
but this girl can rumba like no other cowgirl in the mini-table corral.
How To Find It
A single
mini craps-table has found a home at this small, Motel-6 type of operation. Its located on Tropicana Avenue at
Industrial Road, just west of Interstate 15 in Las Vegas.
That puts it approximately one-mile west of NewYork NewYork and the
Excalibur Hotel where they sit on the Las Vegas Boulevard Strip.
It was
formerly operated as the King 8 Hotel before Station Casinos took it over back in the
summer of 98, and converted it into what many have described as a Ponderosa
Steakhouse-styled casino. Lots of exposed
wood beams and rustic-looking direction signs, but no cows, wild horses or even mule-deer. Okay, I did see one girl who kind of resembled a
Yak, but that is a beast of burden from a different part of the world, although she did
smell a lot like Uncle Festus and Aunt Lucilles sheep farm. The Casino & Its Players
At
11,000 square feet, the WWW-Casino is half the size of the Golden Gate casino downtown
(where they have two HUGE land-barge-sized 24-player craps tables) or half the size of
Barbary Coast where they have four regular-sized craps tables. That should give you some idea of the
restricted confines of this junior-sized gambling den.
With the
diminutive size of the floor-space, a mini-tub table looks right at home.
Like I
said, Wild Wild West Gambling Hall is owned by Station Casinos of Palace Station, Boulder
Station, Sunset Station, Texas Station, Fiesta-Rancho, Santa Fe Station, Fiesta-Henderson,
Barleys, and Green Valley Resort fame. However,
it is not run like or look like any other Station Casino in their stable (except maybe for
the 25-cent craps game at Stations Jokers Wild out in Henderson, NV).
You wont
find many tourists in here. Its mostly
populated by long-distance truckers, as evidenced by the huge parking lot inhabited by big
rigs. There is also a strong contingent of local warehouse and casino-supply workers in
the linen, construction, food and maintenance business.
If you
are looking for a party, you wont find it here.
The only party in this place is happening in the pants of the drunk
who is semi-consciously slumped over a bar-top video poker machine.
On the
other hand, it isnt a complete dump either. Its
well maintained and relatively clean, you just have to realize that it isnt a
billion-dollar gaming palace. Its a
small casino in front of a 300-room low-rise motel.
Nope, no
wave-pools, shark reefs or private cabanas, but their pool-area has one claim to fame
based on some guy who mistakenly took a bite out of what he thought was a semi-submerged
Oh Henry candy bar. Ah, fame is
fleeting, and sometimes not very pleasant. What To Expect at The Table
There
were three other players at the table when Mel and I approached it. There were also two dealers on the game, although
dont be surprised if you only see one dealer attending to the table. If there are four or five players, they may have a
single dealer. If the table starts to fill
up, theyll call over another floating or relief dealer to double-up the
assistance.
If there
is no action, the table may not be open at all. If
that is the case, dont despair. Just
ask the nearest Pit Boss to open the table. It
may take 20 or 30 minutes before they shuffle crew-breaks and such, but they are pretty
cooperative about accommodating your craps-throwing wishes.
If they recognize you as a regular player, or you flash your Station
Casinos Boarding Pass Players Card when you ask, it may speed things up. Players Card
Speaking
of Players Cards, the Station Casinos Boarding Pass is not actually valid
here, but they will recognize you as a data-base player, and theyll
usually accommodate your requests. The
WWW-Casino has its own Wild Card for players. You can use it for a narrow choice of available
comps like limited-menu food at their Gamblers Grill, or comped rooms. Table Limits and Buy-In Management
The
WWW-Casino table was set for a $2 minimum and a $200 maximum bet. This is the normal range, although it sometimes
rises to as high as a $3 minimum, but the table-max always stays at $200.
Mel and
I bought in for $100 each.
Okay,
heres another mini-table tip from the Mad Professor.
When you
buy-in, you should not only keep it to small amounts like $100 or $200,
but you should do so with $20 bills, and keep the $100 bills in your
pocket or wallet.
When
they change-up cash for chips (cheques), theyll call out to the Floor Supervisor
that they are changing one-hundred if it is a $100 bill. If you use five $20 bills instead of one $100
bill, you avoid the initial interest or attention that the pit can show to
high-buy-in players.
Believe
me when I tell you that a $100 or $200 buy-in IS big money at this house. That means that you have to behave accordingly. If you want to use your Precision-Shooting skill
for the long-run; then behave yourself and manage your buy-in!
So
began our play. The dice were two shooters
away from me, but a slow-moving crew ensured that it took a bunch of time for them to
reach my spot. WWWs Dice-Setting Policy
You may have read about the No
Dice-Setting policy on this table.
Generally, you are NOT supposed to arrange or set the dice in
this casino. However, depending on the crew,
and who is working the pit, and if you are an early and consistent tipper, the stickman
MAY deliver the dice in a requested set to the shooter. Again this is toke and pit
dependant, just as it is at the Boardwalk Casino on the Strip.
Part of your job as a
Precision-Shooting is to know when the situation is right, and to MAKE IT right when the
dice come to you.
You have to understand that the
dealers WILL NOT jeopardize their jobs just to accommodate your wishes. Instead, if the coast is clear they
will permit you to covertly set the dice, but it is up to you to do it
quickly, efficiently and virtually unnoticeably.
Otherwise, expect them to say, Hey guy, play by the rules. Just pick em, and flick em,
or well have to pass the dice to someone who will. So let me walk you through the
process that works best for me.
By-Passing
the Dice-Setting Policy
Heres my winning
process:
When it is your turn to shoot, make
a bet for the guys with the ties (the dealers).
My STRONG recommendation is a Pass Line bet with full or near-full
Odds for them. You can piggy-back $1 on your
flat bet, and tell them they are riding on the Pass Line as well as being part of your
Odds.
q
Next, I want you to KINDLY and
politely ask, Can you send me the Hard-6 on the dice please? If you want a different set, then ask for it. Just dont make it too complicated.
q
DO NOT use phrases like Crossed
Sixes or Flying-Vee, or Mini-Twos. You can ask for Hard-4, or Hard-6 or Boxcars, but
that is pretty much the extent of it. Remember
you are trying to keep a low profile, not talking about your dice-setting knowledge and
prowess.
q
If the stick-man obliges with the
request, I sweep the dice closer to my shooting position. This is how I make quick and unnoticed adjustments
on the alignment of my 3-V set. I then grip
the dice and launch them. No fuss, no muss,
no bother.
q
If the dealer says something to the
effect that, We have to send them as they roll; then ask that they dont
send any 7s or Craps number to you. On
this request, they will usually have no problem in cooperating.
q
Keep in mind, that in almost every
place but the worst of grind-joints with a new break-in dealer, the stick-man
sends the dice out always making sure that a 7 or a Craps, or 11 is NOT showing on the
top.
q
That being the case, you can simply
rotate one or both dice to suit your set, but you have to do it quickly, unnoticed and
totally unobserved by the Floor-Supervisor. This
is where knowledge of what axis-sets you are looking for comes in handy.
q
The sweep-adjustment
that I do to the dice is done as I am positioning the dice to throw them. You move them towards your pick-up position, and
you move them under the cover of the palm of your hand.
This is not the time to be fumbling and putzing around.
q
Amateur-hour is for your at-home
practice rig
you are in the casino to make money, so s-m-o-o-t-h is the
watchword for this maneuver.
q
Your actions should be quick, subtle
and appear totally natural.
q
For dice-alignment
practice at home, you can randomly drop the two dice.
This is the way they appear while the stick-man has them in the middle of
the table between throws. As the dealer is
servicing the other players, you should be looking at the dice and figuring out exactly
what adjustments you are going to have make to put them in proper throwing alignment prior
to your toss.
q
For sweep-adjustment
practice at home, you can then pull the two dice closer to your shooting position, while
at the same time making adjustments to the faces or axis, on the fly. Yes, it does take a lot of practice, but remember,
we are here to make some money. If it were
easy, you wouldnt need to practice, but you do NEED to practice this move until it
is perfect.
q
If all of this seems like too much
work; then gamble to your hearts content
but youll find me engineering
as much gamble out of my game as possible.
The hours of practice may not seem like fun, but the payoff in
consistent casino profits is DEFINITELY a whole lot of bankable fun!
q
If the Floor-Supervisor is near and
is hawking the dice, or if you are unable to properly alter your
dice-alignment; then you can call change any of your bets. That is, you can call your bets off
or make adjustments in the size or placement of your bets to a point where you feel
comfortable with the amount of money that you have in play.
At the same time, it gives you the opportunity to take your hand off of the
dice to direct those bet changes; then when you put your hand back on the dice for your
throw, you may be able to make the desired axis or face-alignment correction at that time.
q
Try to avoid that last-minute
bet-changing that I just mentioned. It can be
irritating for everyone, and the Pit may tell the dealer to speed up the game. Remember, a $2 or $3 table needs LOTS of rolls to
grind out a profit. They want to keep the
dice in action as much as possible. If the
dealer-bets are hitting; then the tokes take away some of the sting, but that bet-changing
act will quickly wear thin, so use it rarely.
q
Still, it is better to practice
axis-flipping and alignment-correction well before you set foot into a dice-setting-restricted
casino. That means you have to practice at
home to increase your dice-handling skills, but the practice pays off with higher
in-casino profit probabilities. Our Session
Now that we have covered how to
by-pass the No Dice-setting policy of the Wild Wild West Gambling Hall. Lets get into our actual session.
The dice finally came to me, and I
was able to set them by following my own advice. Remember
to keep your hands clean and dry so that you arent fumbling around with them like a
klutz. Groping, scuffling and awkwardly
handling the dice is a sure give-away that you arent following the rules.
My first hand was reasonably good. I made my PL Point of 10 within fairly short
order. My pay-off for a $2+$1 flat-bet ($1
was for the dealers) with $6 in double-odds was only $15, but I added that to a reasonable
amount of winners on my $12 Place bets for the 6 and 8.
I threw two more Pass-Line winners
and a small handful of Place-bet payers. In
all, my first hand produced a net-profit of $93. Mel
actually threw a decent hand that provided a reasonable profit for the first time on this
Mini-Tub Tour. He was pleased with himself,
although I barely scraped anything out of it since I had pretty much laid-off betting on
his unpredictability back at the Holiday Inn-Boardwalk Casino.
It took a fair bit of time for the
dice to cycle around to my shooting position again. We
now had nine players at the table, and even though no one else was generating anything
other than random choppiness, it still took close to one hour for the dice to come around
again.
When I got the dice for the second
time, it was pretty much a replay of my first hand. I
threw a couple of PL-winners interspersed with a handful of steady Place-bet earnings. I came close to my previous gain with another $84
to the good.
Mels next hand started out
nicely, but he crashed and burned immediately after establishing his second Pass-Line
Point. I told him there was no way I was
going to wait around for another hour until the dice came my way again.
As we were turning to leave, one of
the Floor Supervisors asked if we wanted a meal-comp.
Knowing that our next casino destinations food-quality is
highly-suspect, I quickly said yes to his offer.
At the Gamblers Grill, I had
their ½ lb burger that I doubled-up into a one-pound carnivore special. It was perfectly cooked on a toasted bun with
crispy, hot fries and I can highly recommended it.
Mel had the Full Rack-of-Ribs special with a Boston Cream Pie
chaser. The total bill for this comp was
$8.92. Such a deal! I left a
$5 tip for our skilled, competent and very friendly waitress.
By the way, if you are a
CDL-certified truck driver, they extend a 10% discount on everything from rooms to food,
along with a free WWW T-shirt.
We crossed the parking lot to my
car. I would guess that there were close to
200 or more big-rigs parked there, along with perhaps 100 or so cars, SUVs and
pick-ups. I commented to Mel that it was a pretty busy place for such a tiny casino.
He asked how much I had won, and I
replied with the $182 net-profit figure. He
said, Well if you divide that money into the two hours or so that we spent at the
table, then it equates to about 90-bucks an hour. It
might be a small casino, but thats a fairly big hourly-wage if you ask me. I couldnt think of any way to disagree with
that logic.
Join Mel and I next time as we
continue our Mini-Tub Tour of Las Vegas. Until
then,
Good Luck & Good Skill at those
Mini-Tables
and in Life.
Sincerely, The Mad Professor
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