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Dice Setter Precision Shooter's Newsletter
Autumn greetings to everyone! I'll keep this issue of the Precision Shooter Newsletter short and sweet. September was extremely busy on Dice Setter and the message board. Restricting access to the message board has proven to be one of the best decisions I've made. Those who participate, REALLY participate! The topics have been interesting, on topic, and very insightful. Thanks! Last month was also extremely profitable at the tables as well, so my decision to spend less time talking about dice influencing and more time DOING it has also proven to be a good decision. We also had a fantastic online chat last month. A nice group of players joined Heavy, the Mad Professor, Sitecst40, Dix, Roadrunner and I for several hours of discussion on dice influencing, strategy, and the state of craps. Especially interesting were discussions on sizing your bets based on the loss tolerance of specific casinos and whether certain dice influencers are actually intentionally baiting dealers and Table Games Supervisors for notoriety purposes. Fascinating stuff! It was our first chat, and since it was so successful, it won't be our last. Look for an announcement on the message board for future on line discussions! We'll try to schedule the next one to be more convenient for east coast shooters. In other news, dice6n8, who was giving Heavy a hand at last months Tunica seminar, scored the "Craps For Cash" bonus at the Gold Strike Casino by making all six points (4,5,6,8,9,10) in a single hand. Congrats to him! And lastly, word from the Yuri Kononenko camp is that he is currently working on a new book. It's my understanding that this book is not specifically about dice influencing. After all since he wrote "the" book on dice control, what more could he say? As I know more, I'll let you know. I hope to get some excerpts in the coming months, and I'll share them with you here in the newsletter. Let's get on with this month's edition.
Sevens Dominant Precision Shooter
Plays Now
lets go one roll out and take a second look. Your
Pass Line bet is established and it is time for the shooter to try to make his point. What is the worst bet on the layout now? Easy. Again
the answer is the Pass Line bet. Why? Because now you are stuck with a contract bet that
is going to lose two out of three times. Without
a doubt, the seven is the most powerful number in the game of craps. The seven giveth and the seven taketh away. But does it really have to be that way? Is there any way to make the seven work for you
all the time? For the savvy precision
shooter there just may be. Lets
look at three ways the shooter can take advantage of the seven by playing Right Way, Wrong
Way, or a hybrid strategy that incorporates elements of both. Precision
dice shooters or Advantage Shooters as I prefer to call them dont
actually control the dice. Instead, they
influence them. By carefully pre-setting the
dice to specific arrangements and making a controlled toss these shooters can often alter
the short-run probabilities of the game. The
average shooter will toss a seven one time in six. Thats because out of thirty-six
possible combinations of the dice there are six that add up to seven: 1-6, 6-1, 2-5, 5-2, 3-4, and 4-3. But an Advantage Shooter who can keep the dice on
axis may, when utilizing specific sevens-dominant pre-set arrangements, expect to average
as many as eight sevens in thirty-six rolls. Expert
Advantage Shooters who can keep both dice on axis and spinning at the same speed may
perform even better. There
are 1,152 possible permutations of dice setting but there all of them are variations of
six axial pre-sets. Of those six, three are
sevens-dominant axles. They are the 5-2 /
5-2, the 3-4 / 3-4, and the 6-1 / 6-1. Here
are the three primary axial pre-sets arranged so that the seven is showing all sides:
These
sets all have one thing in common. When
rolled on axis each set contains four combinations of numbers that add up to seven. The seven appears twenty-five percent of the time
on these combinations of the dice as opposed to about seventeen percent of the time on the
random shooter. For the Right Way player that
can mean more come-out naturals, and thats a beautiful thing. But what about the Dont player? When used properly dice setting and advantage
shooting can work for them as well. Lets
take a look at the three sevens-dominant dice pre-sets and see what opportunities they
reveal. All
Sevens 5-2 / 5-2 Axis Point Distribution: With
this pre-set the five pips and the two pips are showing on the axial or lateral faces of
the dice. In laymans language its
five-two sevens on the side.
There
are four ways to roll the seven on this axis, but only one way each to roll the six and
eight. For the Right Way player this is not a
very attractive set. Yes, there are four
naturals on axis, but there are two craps numbers as well. Over thirty-six rolls using this come out the
shooter could only expect two naturals. Of
the numbers that will roll on axis, there is only one way to toss the six or eight
points the Right Way players favor. For
the Dont player, though, minimizing the chances of rolling the six or eight is very
important. In fact, this distribution of
numbers suggests a powerful way the Dont player can hedge his Dont Pass wager
while using this pre-set. Do you see it? A
simple hedge strategy might be to lay $25 no six or no eight in combination with a $15
Dont Pass wager. Since the eleven is
not a factor on this axis there is no need to hedge against it. Conversely, we should not see the ace-deuce craps
roll either. What are the other possible
outcomes? If the shooter tosses the seven on
the come out roll he will win $20 on the hedge bet less the $15 losing Dont Pass
bet, a net win of $5. If the two rolls he
wins $15 on the Dont Pass, and there is no effect on the Lay bet. The twelve is a push. Any point number rolled becomes the players
primary Dont wager and the Lay bet is removed.
Provided that the shooter can keep the dice on axis, the only significant
exposure is a one in thirty-six possibility that the hard six or eight will roll, and that
can be handled with a $1 hop bet on the come out. Is
there another time when this pre-set would work for the precision shooter playing the
Donts? Absolutely. Anytime a precision shooter finds himself with a
Dont bet established on the six or eight he should switch to this pre-set and
attempt to seven out. Now
lets consider the All Sevens pre-set with the 3-4 / 3-4 on Axis. All
Sevens 3-4 / 3-4 Axis Point Distribution. In
laymans terms the 3-4 seven is on the sides.
Again,
there are four ways to roll the seven on this axis. But
with the dice set on the 3-4 / 3-4 axis you pick up an additional way to make the six and
eight. The ace-deuce and the eleven become
more of a factor than in the previous pre-set as well.
But the most noticeable change is in the appearance of the five and nine. There are no fives or nines on this axis, and that
makes this pre-set a dream for players who like to Lay against the numbers. The play would be much the same as the one
discussed earlier, only this time the player would lay $31 no five or no nine to hedge his
Dont Pass wager. The advantage
player shooting from the Donts should consider switching to this pre-set any time
the established point is the five or nine and attempt to seven out. Last
of all is the All Sevens Pre-Set with the 6-1 / 6-1 on Axis. All
Sevens 6-1 / 6-1 Axis Point Distribution. In
laymans terms, the 6-1 seven is on the sides.
As
you can see, this pre-set arrangement also has four combinations that add up to seven. But unlike the previous two All-Sevens sets, there
are no craps numbers on this axis. That,
coupled with the fact that there are a total of six combinations of the dice that total
six or eight on this axis make it a favorite of Right Way advantage shooters. Is
there a way the Dont player can capitalize on the strengths of this pre-set? About the only way would be to Lay $41 no four or
no ten and attempt to toss the seven on the come-out.
However, since the likelihood is that the point established with this
pre-set arrangement will be the six or eight the shooter might want to consider a hybrid
play that combines Dont and Do action for a shot at a double win. By Laying $41 no four and Playing $20 on the Pass
Line, then tossing the seven on the Come Out roll the player can lock up a net $39 win. The seven is the most powerful number in the game of craps. Understanding how and when to use it to your
advantage whether playing the Right Way or the Wrong Way is a key element of
becoming a long-term winner. Heavy and Dice Coach's Right or Wrong Weekend in Las Vegas - Nov. 7 to 9 2003 Dice Feminique! Hosted by the Dice Coach, Michael Vernon & Debbie "Soft Touch" G. Nov. 14-16, 2003
(Read
Part I
,
Part II,
Part III
or
Part IV or
Part V
or Part VI or
Part
VII or
Part VIII or
Part
IX or
Part X or
Part
XI) Mel and I
had two objectives as we headed towards the banks of our Colorado River destination in
Laughlin. Objective
#1 was to win a reasonable amount of money
from the mini-tub at the Colorado Belle Hotel-Casino. Objective
#2 was to discuss whether a skilled
Precision-Shooter could make a decent living by specializing in playing almost
exclusively at mini-tub tables. The Idea of a Mini-Tub Specialist He and I
had already won a ton of cash by playing at almost a dozen mini-tables in Las Vegas during
this tour. Mel wanted to review the skills
and discipline that would be necessary for an average player to succeed at making a
mini-tub living. He
reasoned that based on our current success on the mini-tub tour, a reasonably-skilled and
disciplined player could derive the lions share of their Precision-Shooting income just
from the tiny tables. He added that it was
quite obvious by now that the short distance on these tables made it much easier to keep
the dice on-axis and turn up mostly primary-face (as set) results for the effort. Though I
agreed with his logic, the process for consistent profitability is not as linear as he was
making it sound. I followed that up by saying
that, although mini-tub Precision-Shooting was somewhat easier than it is on
a normal table; it still isnt an EASY thing to accomplish. If It was
Easy
...Captures the essence of Precision-Shooting. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. That
statement was especially apropos to the Mini-Table Specialist question. To further illustrate my point, I asked Mel why
his own shooting hadnt been significantly better on the small layouts than it is on
the normal ones. His simple answer was that
he hadnt put any effort into practicing or fine-tuning his toss AT ALL, let alone
tailoring it to mini-tables. As I see
it, the first Mini-Table Specialist obstacle that came to mind, was the fact that
the small number of available mini-tubs would mean that you would have to show your face
at the same old mini-tub places time and time again.
That didnt appeal to me, simply because most of the casinos where
mini-tubs are found, are not known for being loss-tolerant. When a
casino has a LOWER loss-tolerance than other casinos, it means that it is
easier for them to associate the disappearance of THEIR money with YOUR face. When you combine that with the fact that they
arent in the business to lose money in the first, and that their own bankroll
usually isnt as large as the big guys, you have a situation that a savvy
player would have to diligently monitor to avoid detection.
While no
casino corporation wants to lose money, the bigger ones are obviously more tolerant of the
whip-saw wins and losses that individual tables undergo throughout the day. They know that at the end of the month, they will
always emerge as a net-winner. At the smaller
places, they feel a higher need to come out of each new player-encounter with a net-win
from nearly EVERY customer. As hard
as it is for some people to believe, there are a number of casinos out there that are
actually losing money. While management
inefficiency has a lot to do with it, specifically targeting the weak ones is definitely
NOT in anyone's best interest. In case it
isnt obvious, Mel and I had a very spirited discussion during the
90-minute drive from LV, and I knew neither of us were finished with it. With all of those factors in mind, we wheeled into
the Belles parking lot. The Colorado Belle This place
is reminiscent of a late 1800s paddle-wheeler.
In fact, the rooms in the Mardi Gras low-rise portion of the hotel look
like they havent been refurbished since the late 1800s. The saving grace is that they have balconies that
are literally right ON the riverbank. I
dont know about you, but an early morning coffee or a late-evening night-cap out
there as the balmy breezes waft off the Colorados swiftly moving current, brings a
certain relaxed contentment to your mind. Its
little things like that which brings the whole Lifestyles of the Precision-Shooter into proper perspective. -
mini table tour continued
here 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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