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Dice
Setter
Precision Shooter's Newsletter
| Volume I : Issue XI |
April 2002 |
Spring is in the air. The time of
year for fresh starts and new beginnings.... Taking a cue from Mother Nature, I've
decided to make a few changes and additions. First of all, this past month saw the
addition of two new contributors. If you haven't checked out
Mike's
Musings (JustMikeF) and
MickeyD
From The Hook, take some
time and read their unique and often humorous take on craps and precision shooting.
In addition, I've decided to move The Precision Shooter's Message Board to a new
host. Yes, Again. The current board is fine, but
lacks certain features that are becoming increasingly necessary to run a useful and
friendly environment for us to share information. So starting today, the new and
improved Precision Shooter's Message Board is located here.
You'll have to register as a user, but I bet you'll find this board more user friendly in
just a short time.
When's the Last Time You Changed Your......
DICE? We all know the
key to success at dice influencing is practice. So
WHAT are you practicing with?
I hope no one answered Yahtzee dice….. at
the very least I pray you’re using real casino dice.
O.K. So you’ve got some casino
dice, maybe you got them on ebay, or ordered them from cruzino.com or Gambler’s
General Store. Whatever. And you’ve been practicing like MAD! So, I ask again, When’s
the Last Time You Changed Your Dice?
Let’s work backwards. In a casino, the dice are changed (theoretically)
at least once every shift or every 8 hours except in the case of some of the sawdust
joints who use dice until they look like this:
(actual dice from the El Cortez.......kidding! I'm only
kidding)
Again, theoretically, the dice are tossed
120 times per hour. This means, if every
shooter chose the SAME two dice for an entire shift at a craps table, the dice would have
been thrown approximately 960 times (8 x 120) before being retired. Now, back to you, the precision
shooter. How many sets of dice do you have? When were they purchased? And most importantly, how many times have you
thrown them? If you’ve thrown any set of
dice over 1000 times, you’re using improper equipment.
Take a look at those dice you’re practicing with. Are there chips on the edges or are they razor
sharp? Are the corners of the dice
immaculate, or have you dropped them on the garage floor a few times?
You may think I’m kidding but
I’m quite serious. If you are using old
dice, then you are not going to get consistent results in practice, and you’re going
to have disappointing results in the casino. Period. Certainly you don’t have to keep track of
exactly how many times you’ve thrown a set of dice in practice, but you do need to
retire your practice dice after a reasonable period of time. (I keep sets of retired dice in the car and in my
briefcase and in the drawer of the family room coffee table. If I’m bored or stuck in a traffic jam,
I’ll take out the dice and mess around with them.
It’s important to make the dice a common item in your daily, tactile world)
Personally, I LOVE throwing with brand
spanking new dice. I’m absolutely antsy
to get to the practice table when I’ve received a new shipment of dice. In fact, I wish the boxman would open a fresh foil
pack of dice every time I get the dice. Sadly,
it’s rarely the case that I get dice THAT fresh at the table.
In the meantime. Buy some new dice, buy several sticks at a time,
in different colors and different finishes. Then
write down, somewhere, when each stick was opened, the lot number of the dice, and keep it
with your practice session notes. If you
practice with the proper equipment, you’ll have better results.
Some afterthoughts...
If you’re buying “real
casino dice, used in play!” on ebay,
you’ve probably purchased retired dice. I
discourage you from doing this if you intend to use them for practicing.
If your local casino uses
“feather edged” dice, then purchase and practice with those!
If you play regularly at specific casinos, ask the
box what brand of dice they use, and try to purchase not only the correct size, but the
correct brand.
Sharpshooter's book is available for pre-order |
|
|
Yuri's
Classic,
Dice Control For Casino Craps is still available for sale as well ! Click the
book cover to purchase... |
Qualifying
A Shooter
A roundtable discussion
with roadrunner, JustMikeF, Billy, JustMikeF, Heavy, Engineer, Mickey D
& Dylanfreak
roadrunner
In his book "The
DiceDoctor" Sam Grafstein used the criteria of having a passline winner to qualify a
shooter. A seven or eleven on the comeout "qualified" a shooter.
Making a passline point qualified a shooter as well.
I played this way for a while but kept getting whacked by the one pass wonder.
Now days I have more luck watching how the shooter handles the dice, not just in precision
shooting but for consistent dice tossers.
Wish there was some magic to "qualify" a shooter.
Just Mike F
I would like to see all of the shooters throw before
I step up to the table( chart ). If they throw wild and erratic, I don't bet on them
at all. If they have a constant rhythm to their throw, two hits and down on place
bets. If they set dice and have a smooth rhythm to their toss and hit the same area
when they land (no corners), probably 2-3 hits on place bets and down the first time
around. The second time around I probably will go with them all the way through to 7
with a regress, pull, press. I have to see some consistency during the session, even
if I know the shooter and know he is an experienced setter.
roadrunner
Another thought on qualification of
shooters.
Table conditions could justify a faster qualification of all shooters.
Just yesterday I was at a table that every shooter was averaging 8-10 tosses before
sevening out. I started making a 6 and 8 place bet for 2 units each as soon as the
shooter hit an inside number, regressing to one unit each on the first hit and pressing
every other hit. This was generating some nice profits.
Billy
Roadrunner,
I'm with you on the table trends issue. How someone tosses the dice is generally not
important since most players are not precision shooters. If the trends dictate I have no
problem betting on every shooter or if the opposite trend is in place against every
shooter. I tend to be more conservative on random players but as we all know monster rolls
do happen and I want to be on the roll of the day when it is happening.
There are many strategies that a player can use to play these shooters and most have some
value. I have in the past used the 5 count with success, flat bets, or other keys that clue
me in to the current table trend. On tables that are having some good streaks the 5 count
is a very good tool, however on the choppy ones it just makes you wait to lose your place
bets.
I like to chart what the dominant
trend is and go from there. If shooters are throwing numbers before going down then I'll
place and regress. If the table is showing some very short rolls then I might go with the 5
count if there have been some good runs. If there has been mostly chop then I'll either
wait for the dice or walk.
Hey its a crap shoot!!!
Heavy
I'm a table charter from way back -
but I also chart shooters. I play a follow the trend strategy most of the time so
like Grafstein, I have to see a shooter make a point before I'll get on the pass line with
him.
Oh, and I firmly believe anyone who carefully pre-sets the dice, then picks them up and
shakes them before bouncing them off the glass as they fly down the table - should be
taken out behind the casino and pistol whipped. That way we'd all recognize them up
front from the bruises and could save our money.
Engineer
Generally when I walk up to a
table and throw the Franklins down, I get the feeling that the next five shooters will
seven-out taking with them any shooting money I brought into the game. To combat this I
have used anything, from charting which is a great time killer, and makes me look busy at
the table, they think you’re really serious about throwing away your money.
I use the Five Count, which is waiting until the shooter has throw 5 numbers from the
point on out before placing any bet on him. This has saved me a tremendous amount of money
in the long run, and if the table is really bad, I will use the Dewy’ Don’t
system of betting, which is essentially the 5 count with a come, don’t come bet with
single odds on the come.
Now using the 7, 11 on the comeout or the shooter making his point before betting him has
been a standard for years among bettors, and cut’s down on the number of shooters
between you and the dice.
Mickey D
Five Count, Trends, Random rollers
vs. rhythm throwers; all different methods with one common thread: Look before you
leap!
It doesn't matter how you do, just do it! I am stupified by the huge amount of
people that regularly walk up to a table, buy-in for several hundred dollars and
immediately start making bets without the faintest idea of what is going on. I
wonder if those same people pull out onto a busy highway in the same manner. I guess
that's why the term defensive driving was initiated.
It doesn't matter how we do it, but it's most prudent to be a defensive driver at the
craps table!
Dylanfreak
By playing once or twice a
week at one of the ten casinos in Tunica, I see a lot of the same shooters shooters
. You start to recognize them when you walk up to a craps table and unlike a shooter
, you may have never seen before , you only have to wait a couple of tosses to know if
they are on or not. There is a middle aged blonde woman, I run into often at Harrah`s and
Sam`s Town that has a knack for hitting those 6`s and 8`s. When I first saw her , she
would kill me because I was always playing the Dont. Then when I saw her at a table . I
just wouldn`t place my Dont bet if it was her time to toss the dice. Now if I see her at a
table , I buy in ,watch her toss the dice a couple of times and then place the 6 and 8. If
you can`t beat `em, join `em.
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Dicesetter.com Players Get
Carded in Vegas
No, I'm not referring to the fact that
I was asked to prove I was over 21 at a Vegas casino.
Everyone attending the dicesetter.com/PARR weekend received a complimentary
copy of Heavy’s Axis Power Dice Setting Strategy Card.
This handy card has photos of all six of the major dice pre-set arrangements
plus a chart that shows the frequency of numbers rolled distribution for each of the sets.
Heavy’s precision dice shooting
manual - Axis Power Craps - is just about ready for publication. “All of the sections that relate directly to
precision shooting are complete,” Heavy said. “Right
now I’m just wrapping up the appendix, which covers very basic information on craps
rules, table personnel, jargon, etc.”
Due to demand for the book, Heavy has
agreed to offer a dicesetter.com pre-publication special.
“I’m going to self-publish a short run of 100 copies of the
precision shooting section - approximately sixty pages - in a workbook format. These will be 8.5” X 11” spiral-bound
with a vinyl cover. Topics covered include
the theory of dice control, pre-set arrangements, grips, pick-ups, the precision pitch,
maintaining the mental edge, and betting strategies for precision dice shooters. Each book comes with two copies of the Axis Power
Craps Dice Setting Strategy Card. All for
just $29.95 postpaid.”
Proceeds from this "pre-publication" of Axis Power Craps will
support Heavy's efforts to get the book published by a publishing house.
If you have any comments
or ideas for future issues, feel free to email me at
ed@dicesetter.com And as always, I'm looking for contributors
with a fresh perspective.
If you know someone who
would be interested in receiving future editions of
Dice
Setter
Precision Shooter's Newsletter,
copy and send them this link. Subscribe to Dice Setter
Good Luck!
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