The Mad Professor's Shooting Bible
Part X

Each Table Determines The Kind of Toss That It NEEDS

Any time that I buy-in at a table that I haven't played on before (or one that has just been re-covered with new felt); I need to quickly determine what type of throw will work best on it.

That means that I want to find out the most appropriate way to get the dice to do what I really want them to do…as opposed to producing a more randomized sort of outcome.

However, you don’t have to get all silly about trying to find the right combination to deal with a particular table.  It doesn’t mean that you should radically switch from right-handed shooting to left-footed tossing, but it does mean that you want to quickly determine just how much forward-momentum and descent-energy the table will absorb, in addition to ascertaining how much trajectory and spin you have to add or subtract from your usual “base toss”.

Your “Base Toss”

A base-toss is your normal bread-and-butter toss that works for you most of the time on most tables.  It is the one you have carefully developed and refined on your home practice-rig and then validated on the real-world casino tables.

Your base-toss is the one you are the most familiar with, and therefore the one that you understand the best when it comes to making adjustments to it.  You know (or at least you SHOULD KNOW) how it will react if you add a little more spin or a little less trajectory.  You should know how it will react on hard layouts as well as the bouncy ones…and you should know (or at least eventually learn) what kind of adjustments are appropriate and which ones actually make it worse depending on the type of layout you are trying to conquer.

If I try to use the exact same toss (with the same release-angle, trajectory, spin and force) on a bouncy, trampoline-type table as I use on a rock-hard, no-rebound layout; well, I shouldn’t really expect any kind of consistency with my results then should I.

Dice-influencing is not nearly so simple.

On the other hand, my practice-sessions that are liberally interspersed with real-world casino-engagements have taught me that a little less release-angle here and a little less backspin there or perhaps just adding a little more distance, trajectory and descent-angle to my base-throw; is all that I need to accommodate, match and ultimately triumph over almost every conceivable layout on this globe.

One Size Does Not Fit All

If you are of the mind that one type of unaltered toss will successfully work on each and every table that you’ll encounter, then read no further and go back to believing in the fairy-tales, fictional yarns and whimsical fantasies that are spun by guys who don’t have the first clue about how to make money at the craps tables…because there’s certainly nothing more for you here.

If you are of sound and relatively sober mind, then read on.

Determining What It Needs…QUICKLY

To find out the type of throw that will work best on an unknown table, my first toss will be thrown in such a way and to such a target that the outcome should be fairly predictable.  Again, it is centered around my base-throw that works consistently on most layouts. 

Ø       That means that the dice should hit at or near the spot that I targeted and that they should bounce and hit the backwall based on the force, the trajectory and the spin that I threw them with, and the outcome should at least be on-axis.  If it isn't, then hopefully the reason will be evident.

Ø       Those "toss-reactions" that I am watching for, as well as the actual outcome, will tell me if I am close to giving the table the input that it needs to give me the results that I want; or whether a significant correction is required.

Ø       For example, on almost every 12-foot or 14-foot table that I haven't played on before; an SR-1, 2, or 3 position will see me using a Low, Slow & Easy Toss with a little bit of backspin to a target that is about 6 to 8-inches from the backwall.

Depending on what the dice do on their initial landing and run-in (or bounce) to the backwall, as well as the amount of rebound energy they get off of the backwall, along with how true and straight their rollback is...and what their final outcome is; all indicate how much or how little I need to adjust my second throw to get a straight-tracking, even-landing, low-energy, even-rollout result on that particular layout.

You might want to re-read that paragraph two or three more times because it tells you everything you need to know about how I gauge and react to the feedback that the table is telling me about each and every throw that I make on it.

Armed with that instant feedback telemetry, I toss out throw Number Two.

Ø       Depending on what happens on this roll (again, not just based on the final outcome, but also what the dice did to end up the way that they did), I may ratchet down the velocity (speed), but increase the amount of backspin while maintaining the same target-area; or I may move the target-area a bit closer to the backwall, but lower the trajectory even further. Alternatively, the table may indicate that it requires a modest amount of forward-spin as well as a landing-zone retreat to 10 or 12-inches further from the wall.

Ø       I can’t tell you exactly how to recalibrate your throw to match every table surface that you’ll run into.  You have to do some of that work yourself.  However, I can tell you about the process that you have to go through to figure it out.  Your toss-motion and throwing-dynamics are yours and yours alone. 

Ø       This profit-seeking process is all about helping YOU adapt YOUR throw to overcome each of the tables that you’ll come across.  Obviously laziness is not an asset when it comes to figuring out how to master various layouts, but the time and effort that you expend figuring these things out now, will be far out-paced by the resultant profit-reward during your subsequent casino-sessions.

Based on the third outcome (and again, by keenly observing what the dice were doing on their way to that actual end-result), I'll make more adjustments (if necessary) to my fourth throw and my fifth throw and my sixth throw…and so it goes for every successive throw after that too. 

Ø       The dice are simply reacting to the way you are throwing them on that particular table. 

Ø       They can only do what you direct them to do. 

Ø       They give feedback to your toss-dynamic directions, but you have to understand how each element of your input is affecting their outcome.

Ø       They will tell you what they need more of or less of if you simply take the time to observe what they are doing and why they are doing it.

I’ll quickly mention again that each one of the adjustments that we are talking about is SUBTLE.  There is absolutely no need to drastically, dramatically or  significantly change the way you throw on most layouts.  Most tables only require a bit of fine-tuning and tweaking, and DO NOT call for radical departures from your already-proven base-toss.

Listen To What The Dice Are Telling You

Now obviously those two dice in your hand are inanimate objects, but if you look at what they are doing based on what YOU are doing to them when you toss them to the other end of the table, you take on a better understanding of what they are telling you based on the outcomes that they are giving you. 

Ø       They will indicate what they need in terms of the adjustments, alterations and corrections that you’ll have to make to YOUR input, in order to get them to do your on-axis, primary-face bidding more often.

Ø       Each new throw gives you vital information about how the dice are reacting to the way you are throwing them.

Ø       If the feedback is positive, then zero-in even closer to perfecting that toss.

Ø       If the feedback tells you that the table requires something entirely different, then use your collective knowledge and experience to make refined changes that will bring the results more in line with what you want. 

Ø       Again, micro-changes and delicate adjustments often bring HUGE improvements to your results.  There is absolutely no need to make all kinds of goofy and extreme changes to your standard go-to toss unless it was fundamentally flawed in the first place.

Ø       Each new throw should bring you one step closer to fully understanding what that table needs in terms of delivering up consistent on-axis, primary-face outcomes. 

Ø       You have to have your antennae up and fully tuned to gauge how each change is affecting the outcome.  Precision-Shooting is not a fire-and-forget sort of pursuit.  Rather, you have to be a keen observer of the obvious…and sometimes the not-so-obvious. 

Ø       If you make numerous wholesale changes to your toss and it still doesn’t work, it could be that one or two of the minor elements that would have given you much better results are subtly hidden and lost within all of the unnecessary major toss-modifications that you made.

Ø       You have to know your base-toss well enough and intimately enough to quickly reconcile what the die are doing with each new fine-tuned modification that you make on this table compared to what they usually do when you tweak them like that on a better-behaved layout or on your practice-rig at home.

Ø       As a rule-of-thumb, most tables usually only require MINOR adjustments to either forward-speed, spin-rate and trajectory in order to get the dice to consistently do what you want them to do.

Just as a quick side-note; I guess you can see now why I am such a big fan of keeping detailed and up-to-date Table Notes on each layout that I come across.  See Shooting Bible One and S-B Two for details.

Ø       Using a standard baseline-evaluation throw (like my standard L, S & E Toss) on the first throw of the first hand of the first session on a first-time layout, quickly determines how the table will react to the throw that I know best. That way, I am able to adopt my throw to that particular table much quicker than if I was trying to get each and every layout to surrender and submit to one universal "it's-gotta-be-MY-WAY" type of throw.

By understanding how your normal "go-to" toss reacts on every felt-type, table-length and player-position; you can make adjustments much more quickly…much more accurately...and of course, much more profitably.

Each Toss GIVES You Feedback, But You Have To Be Listening

Each toss that you make on a strange new table (or even the ones you think you are most familiar with), will give you the seeds of information that can make your very next toss even better than the one you just threw. 

You just have to listen to what the dice are trying so desperately to tell you.  Getting them to do what you want them to do is a matter of paying attention to that feedback, and then making the appropriate minor-corrections and toss-adjustments in response.

By working backwards from the RESULTS (the faces that the dice are ending up on) and by observing what they are doing on their way to getting to those results; you’ll be better able to determine what modifications need to be made.

By first figuring out which results you will most likely get from a given set (based on the way that YOU throw them); you can then determine how to precisely tailor that dice-set (for example: a 1/4 forward-rotation for the right-dice, plus 1/2 rotation backward and 1/4-face sideways inward-flop for the left-dice) to achieve more "desirable" and much more PROFITABLE outcomes!

There is software that is available on this site to assist you in that endeavor…I would strongly suggest that you use it.  It offers an excellent way to become instantly conversant with each of those set-permutations.

Having that kind of knowledge not only ramps up the speed at which you can adapt from table-to-table, but it also ramps-up your ability to generate a far higher percentage of on-axis, primary-face outcomes (sourced directly from the basic dice-set you are using now) from session-to-session, week-to-week and month-after-month.

If you don’t know all of the permutations that each of your dice-sets contain (and the way to make instantaneous adjustments to them to respond to what the table and the dice are telling you); then you won’t even be able to make the smallest of transpositional changes that are often the only thing that separates you from consistently predictable results. 

In other words, sometimes your base-toss is perfectly suitable for a particular table and you only need to make minor transpositional changes to your base dice-set in order to turn a seemingly erratic table into a exceedingly predictable and profitable one…but you have to know each of your dice-sets backwards, forwards and inside out.

We’re going to talk about this in much greater detail in the next five chapters of the Shooting Bible series, but suffice it to say that each permutation contained within all of your basic dice-sets should be second-nature to you.   If they aren’t, then it’s going to be incredibly difficult for you to transpose those unintended outcomes into ones that are more bettably actionable until you do.