|
Creating More
Shooting Opportunities
Can We Agree
Even the most
rudimentary Precision-Shooting skills will consistently beat random-rolling most of
the time. While a random-roller may have an
occasional long, hot and LUCKY roll, the skilled dicesetter does it more often, more
consistently and more predictably. After
all, longer, more consistent and more profitable rolls are the whole point of
Precision-Shooting. Suggestion #8 Higher Minimum = Lower Population
If each of four craps tables in a dice pit have
different minimum-bets; then generally the cheapest one will be the most crowded,
while the more expensive one will usually be the least crowded. While there is no guarantee that the more
expensive tables will always be less populated; it is generally the rule of thumb. Whether it be the $2 table at the Gold Coast
compared to their lonely $5 one, or the $15 table at Taj Mahal compared to the $100
layout; a price difference does means a population difference. When you are
playing on known tables where you have shot SUCCESSFULLY before and where all
the other cheaper tables are crowded, then the more expensive table may be a great
choice, and not just a high-priced alternative. One caution that I
would add is that if the higher table-minimum is outside of your current comfort-level,
and it intensifies your shooting-stress and anxiety; then I would recommend against
making this unique move. Suggestion #9
Lower the Cost of an Expensive Table
This idea ties in
nicely with the above-noted suggestion. If
you get to an empty or barely occupied table that you want to play at, but it has a
bet-minimum that is higher than your current comfort-level; then you can artificially
LOWER the table-minimum. Simply place an almost-equal
bet on both the Pass-Line and the Dont Pass. If
it is a $25 table, but you are most comfortable at a $5 game, then you can bet $25 on the
Dont Pass, and $30 on the PL. In doing
so you have reduced it down to a $5 game. If
you fear the nasty 12 on the Come-Out roll, you could venture $1 on the 12-Midnight
bet as sort of an insurance hedge. Once you establish
your PL-Point, you can add Odds to a level that you are most comfortable with. While the required minimum on Place bets will
still be at least $25, you could use the same PL/DP almost-equal betting
approach through the Come and Dont Come betting areas, should that fit into your
betting plans. If the table is
totally empty, you can use the solo shooting opportunity to really groove-in your skills
in a low-cost, live-action environment. As
your confidence and your shooting-steadiness improves, you can ratchet up your bet-size by
simply scaling back or completely removing your DP and/or DC table-cheapeners. My own experience on
the more expensive $25, $50, $100 and $500 tables, is that once I am comfortable and
shooting well at a table, then the bet-minimum becomes a non-factor insofar
as relaxed-focus is concerned. On the other
hand, Ive never actually bellied up to the few $1,000-minimum tables that Ive
run across over the years. One additional note
about this method is that the Pit-hawks will only rate you for the amount of difference
between the two bets on the PL and DP. So if
youve reduced a $50 table down to a $5 one, they will only rate you at the nickel
level (if at all). They may not like the way
that you bet, but then again, its not their money. I will also restate
once again, that if the higher tables are not within your current comfort zone, then DO
NOT PLAY at them. Judge For Yourself
How often do YOU
throw decent length hands? You will know the
answer to that question if you make accurate notes after you finish each casino session. Those notes will help you keep track of the good,
the bad and the truly ugly. In addition, they
will help you determine just how much better your shooting is, measured against what
we already know about how random-rollers do.
In doing so, it underscores the value of your own shooting as opposed to
indiscriminate dice-tossers. We took an
extensive look at a sample of my own session-notes in the
Mad Professor's Shooting Bible Part I article. Making and
using Session-Notes is a good way to compare your at-home practice results with your
money-on-the-table real-world casino results.
It also helps you to judge YOUR talents against the known
random-roller standard. Suggestion #10 -
Buying Shooting Opportunities
There are a number
of highly accomplished players out there whom specifically ask the Pit Boss to RAISE the
table-minimum simply to keep more of the low-rollers OFF of the table, and to ensure that
the dice cycle around to their position quicker. This is a popular
method used by very skilled and proficient Precision-Shooters. They always seek out the higher minimum-bet tables
in any event, because they know that those layouts are usually less crowded. However, when all of the tables are busy, it
doesnt require a whole lot of arm-twisting to encourage the Pit Boss to raise the
cost-of-play at any one particular table. If they have a
favorite table, they will specify which one they want the higher-minimum to be established
at. Sometimes this can be a simple increase
from the normal $2 or $3 bumped up to a $5 or $10 level.
Of course, the higher the standard-bet in a particular casino, then the higher it
will have to be raised to gain more and more exclusivity.
At some casinos, kicking it up a notch or two will mean bumping it up to the $25,
$50 or $100 level. Even at the higher
benchmark, you may not get the solo-exclusivity that you were hoping for. The
counter-balancing purpose is that these accomplished players want to raise the
sperm-count to eliminate most of the lower-limit players at that table, but
they dont want to make it prohibitively expensive for themselves. Its a bit of
a balancing act, and one that I dont usually encourage. Why? If your shooting
isnt up to par on that particular day, the smug elitism that this type of move
engenders, can come back to kick you squarely in the ass. One more word
about this subject: This method will
NOT work at a casino where they let pre-existing players at the table
grandfather the previous lower bet. The
grandfathering of a limit means that if you were playing at the table when the
minimum was raised, you can continue to play at the lower level until you finish your
session. For the player who is trying to
buy more shooting opportunities by having the limit raised, this obviously
wont have the desired table-clearing effect that he was hoping for. Make the
Comparison for Yourself
It is important to know just how good your Precision-Shooting actually is, or how much more improvement it really needs. For a full rundown on this very important subject, you might want to first take a look at my two-part series entitled, How Good Is Your Precision Shooting? Right now,
lets use some numbers extracted from my
Dodging Bullets As A
Darksider article so that you
can compare your own efforts to that of a typical random-roller.
Ø
There is a 40% chance
that a random-roller will make his first PL-Point.
So 4-out-of-every-10 shooters are likely to make this far.
Ø
If you track your own
shooting, you should be able to tell whether you meet or exceed those numbers. Out of 10 hands that you shoot, how many times do
you make at least one Pass-Line Point winner? If you consistently make your first Point
more than 40% of the time, that should tell you something.
Ø
There is a 16% chance
that a random-roller will make his second PL-Point in a row. That means that 4-out-of-25-players will make two
of those in a row. How does your shooting
compare? If out of 25 hands, you generally
make two PL-Points more than 4 times, then your own Session-Notes are providing keen
insight into your abilities.
Ø
There is a 7% chance
that a random-roller will make his third PL-Point in a row.
So 7-out-of-100 players are likely to make it that far. How does your own shooting stand up to those
numbers? If you dont
keep track of your own in-casino Precision-Shooting results, then its hard to judge
whether some of these more-shooting-opportunities suggestions are worthwhile or a
complete waste of time. In some cases, an
aspiring shooter is surprised to see the math-verification of his efforts. On the other hand, there are those who are
reluctant to keep track and do the note-taking task, simply because in doing so, they
would have to confront their own Precision-Shooting shortcomings. Make it Easier to
Determine Your Development Let me add one more
suggestion to the above-noted Session-Note concept. Making slow, but
steady improvements is more the rule than the exception.
Occasionally you will detect and cure a vital flaw that was holding back
your progress, after which you will make lightning-fast advances in your SRR. However, it is more likely that your
development as a Precision-Shooter will be continuous, but gradual, and slow, but steady. Because of that,
you may not fully appreciate your existing dicesetting status and your current
Precision-Shooting potential compared to where you were just a few months or
even a few weeks ago. Some players have
kept track of their results from Day-One of their journey on the road to
dicesetting success. While that is a good
way of seeing just how far you have come, the overall numbers pertaining to SRR
(Sevens-to-Roll-Ratio) and Signature Numbers can be very deceiving. If you figure in the entirety of all of those
hands you have thrown over all of the months or years since you began; then you are
unfairly diluting and concealing your current skill-level. By considering your
shooting-numbers within too big of an historical range or too big of a picture, you may
not be able to see the forest for all of the trees. Or
in the alternative, the forest may be blinding and impairing your ability to find one
species of tree that you are presently interested in harvesting. Simply stated, your current skills can be
watered-down and adulterated, if not entirely hidden, due to the large size of the sample. That is because the
length of time and the huge number of rolls that your current abilities are measured
against, are not allowing your current skill-level to shine brightly enough to shed a
properly concentrated light on it. You CANNOT use the
huge picture numbers that you have rolled over the past three or four years
(or even months) UNLESS YOU HAVENT IMPROVED at all in that time-frame. If indeed you have improved, then you have to use
a sort of sliding-scale snapshot to measure where you are NOW in the process. If you dilute your current performance with the
numbers that youve compiled over months or even years, then it acts to hide and
conceal the present measure and full potential of your current skill. So let me suggest
this: Your
snapshots or time-frames of progress-measurement should be of a sufficient
length to ensure that you arent just having a few lucky or aberrant sessions, but
short enough to fairly and reasonably measure your on-going progress. Suggestion #11 - Call
Ahead
Another way to
maximize the number of times that you get to shoot the dice, is to call ahead to your
target-casino and ask for the craps pit (or the dice pit if you are on the
East Coast) and ask the Pit Clerk:
Ø
How many tables are
open?
Ø
What are the
current bet-minimums at each table?
Ø
How crowded are the
tables right now?
Ø
If and when new
tables will be opening? Answering the phone
and replying to inquiries is amongst the 731 tasks that Pit Clerks are under-paid to do,
so please be as pleasant as possible when you talk to them.
When you arrive, a kindly worded thank-you to that particular Pit Clerk is
definitely NOT out of line. They are the
least appreciated employees on the casino floor. Armed with that
information, you can tailor your playing plans to more closely correspond with the ebb and
flow of staffing levels and table-minimum adjustments that are made throughout the entire
casino-day. In Part
III of this series, well take a look at several more ways that will
put the dice into your hand, more often. Until
then, Good Skill and Good
Luck at the tables
and in Life. Sincerely, The
Mad Professor
|
|