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More Questions From Cyber-Space I was surprised
that there were so many more questions AFTER I answered
Questions From
Cyber-Space . In
response to that, here are a few more responses to your recent queries.
Question:
You wrote that
you average about five rolls of the dice before you establish a Point. How does the average shooter do for Come-Out
rolls?
Answer:
Each
random-shooter will average 2.5 Come-Out rolls per hand. But these will include repeats
when craps (2, 3, or 12) or naturals (7 or 11) yield one-roll decisions, and new Come-Outs
after Pass-Line Points have been made.
Question:
Dont you
get tired of all the comped gourmet meals?
Answer:
No, but I have
to maintain a balance between intake versus physical activities. I LOVE food.
It is part of my whole concept of enjoying life to the absolute fullest. However, there is a difference between enjoyment
and gluttony, and I havent crossed that line in years.
Question:
I really
enjoyed your article about Casino Credit, how much credit should I establish to give
myself the best possible chance to win? Answer: It all depends on HOW you bet, and how MUCH
you bet. I hope youll enjoy a couple of
upcoming articles on determining how much ammunition you need to bring for
your casino battles. Until then, the old
rule-of-thumb of 50 times your average bet multiplied by the anticipated number of
sessions, should suffice until I can give you a more detailed worksheet.
Question:
If your average
hand now lasts for 24 rolls AFTER the point has been established, what can I expect from a
random-roller?
Answer: The average length of a roll after a point
is established, before either a Point is made or a 7 settles the bet, is just over
two and one-half throws (2.57), and thats VERY discouraging.
Question:
Have you ever
seen people using tele-kinesis to control the dice. Do
you think its possible to use mind-over-matter to affect the outcome of the game?
Answer:
The Martians,
Jupiterians, Saturnians, and Plutonians that I spoke to, all tell me that tele-kinesis
does not work on their planet either. But I
hear that the Amazing Kreskin and Uri Geller are giving standing-room-only spoon-bending
shows to the Alpha Centaurians, and they are loving it!
Question:
When you
mention a specific casino in an article, do you think the casino minds?
Answer: If its a negative comment, then they might look to improve their
customer service based on my comments. The
exception would be for no-setting rules which some of them relish. On the positive-comment side, I would think that
my opinion carries less weight than most e-newsletters.
How many Place
numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10), should I expect from a normal-random player before they
7-out?
Answer:
Sadly, the
average is just under two. The precise number is 1.97 Place numbers
before the random guy tosses the 7-out. That
number is obviously discouraging for someone who wants to bet on every shooter, and it
further points out why it is SO difficult to make money if you are just waiting for one
lucky-chucker. On the other hand, that number
is precisely why I advocate Precision-Shooting.
Question:
Are you
married? If so, how does all the travel
affect your marriage?
Answer:
I have a
long-term girlfriend, and we frequently, but not always, travel together. She likes the lifestyle as much as I do, and so it
keeps things very harmonious. My
former-wife did not like the travel or the lifestyle or the fact that her husband was a
professional gambler. When I
decided to make this a full-time endeavor, we chose to follow different paths, and we
remain politely friendly.
Question: How come you get such great comp offers in
the mail? My casino hasnt sent me so
much as a discounted room offer after twelve trips in five years with a total of $50,000
in losses.
Answer: In further
follow-up with this e-mail questioner, I discovered that he hadnt yet read my
Random
Thoughts and
More
Random Thoughts articles. Once he did, he called a friend of mine who is a
Player Development Host at his favorite casino, and was given carte blanche
run of the house for his upcoming visit.
Question:
During your
Monte Carlo trip, you mentioned expenses of an Armani tuxedo and a $1,000 gift
to a police officer. What gives?
Answer:
The tux was
because of a black-tie only party invitation that we received from the
TAG-Hauer watch people. The $1,000
donation was due to a party that got WAY out of hand at the LHermitage
Hotel. My balcony overlooked the swimming
pool. Several attendees with more booze than
brains decided to use it as a launching platform to do some truly death-defying dives. We saw first-hand what defying death REALLY meant. Some divers were naked, while others were still
fully-clothed. As the naked ones made their
way back up to my suite for the umpteenth time, the local constabulary was called in. Anyway, the suite-holder, ME, is legally held to
be responsible for his guests actions, no matter how stupid they are. To avoid a messy situation, an on-the-spot
fine was paid. Order was
restored, and the party continued, albeit, without anymore naked balcony-diving.
Question:
I see a lot of
Point, then 7-Out type rolls. Why?
Answer: These hands are sometimes called a Continental Breakfast: two rolls, and NO coffee. About 33.8% of random-rollers can be expected not to hit any Place numbers before making their Point or 7-ing-Out straight away.
Question:
On
Irishsetters website, there is an ongoing discussion about the merits of the
Martingale system. What is your opinion?
Answer:
Martingale
progressions are often applied to the Pass Line, Don't Pass and to the Field. Here are the chances of losing from 1 to 11 times
running, using a $5 base bet with Martingale?
The chance of
losing six successive Pass Line or Don't Pass bets is 1.70% and at first seems pretty
attractive. That means 17 out of 1,000 players are expected to go this far and be $315 in
the hole, all in pursuit of a $5 win. That is
why I advocate the use of the Grand Martingale
if this type of approach is to be
used at all.
Question: Why do you promote the GRAND Martingale
method over the regular Martingale? I
dont see a difference.
Answer:
With the
Martingale, you win one unit for all your trouble no matter how long it took you to get
there. With the Grand Martingale, you
win one unit for every roll or loss that you endure, until you finally and hopefully
get to a win. Neither method can be used all
the time, but in the right situation, the Grand Martingale can generate very tasty
profits.
Question: I know what your opinion on tipping at the
tables is, but what about the rest of the resort?
Answer:
If I Valet
park, they usually keep my car right in front of the casino entrance. I think they do this so that there is some
automotive eye-candy for patrons to look at.
The more cynical person might say that they do that to warrant higher tips,
and to show a little extra service, in hopes of a bigger tip. I DO tip car-hops quite generously,
and they know several of my cars on sight. Most
of them also remember a good-tippers face. In
my hotel room or suite, I usually leave a tip each day for housekeeping,
and as a result, find an enormous quantity of towels, soaps, shampoos, lotions, sewing
kits, magazines, bath robes, and slippers. Again,
when they see me over a period of several visits, they remember my face, and also
recognize my name on the housekeeping-manifest checklist.
The concierge staff at a few resorts may know me, but I am not a very
demanding or high-maintenance guest. I
tip them according to the services that they render.
Restaurant and showroom staff sometimes remember me on subsequent visits,
but in a lot of cases, its the color of the ink on the reservation list which
determines how you are initially treated. Thats
right, just as there is a difference between red versus green dice, if your name appears
in red on the reservation list for a restaurant or showroom, it means you are
there on a full comp, and your seating location is usually better. When I step into the showroom and confirm my
reservation with the maitred, I usually ask for a booth or a ring-side
table, and add that Ill take care of the your man. That usually pretty much guarantees an excellent
seat.
Question:
Do some casinos
resent your consistent winning? If so, how do
they show it?
Answer:
A couple of
hurtin houses, have expressed some derision towards me. Places like the Frontier, Riviera, Las Vegas Club,
San Remo, Las Vegas Hilton and Stratosphere have shown varying degrees of disdain and
contempt for me. However, I camouflage a good
deal of my winnings now, and the heat seems to have dissipated somewhat. In Reno, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, Mississippi,
and Louisiana, there is less of that resentment because I play quite a bit less, so they
dont associate the disappearance of their money with my face as much as some of my
regular Vegas haunts.
Question:
I read on
Irishsetters excellent website that 12 rolls is the starting point for a good career
as a professional. Do you agree with him?
Answer:
It all depends
on what numbers are showing up when you have your roll.
If they are non-paying numbers that you would not have normally
bet on, then 12 rolls would be on the low-side of being able to supplement your income. On the other hand, if they are
high-yield payers, or there are a lot of repeating numbers, then you have the
basis for a good beginning.
Question: When you first survey a
casinos craps tables, do they ever stop you from making notes or entering stuff into
your computer?
Answer:
I will usually
sit at a nearby bar, lounge, sports-book, or non-gaming position to make very brief notes,
and my computer-tablet is very small.
I havent run into any problems so far.
Question: How many casinos and islands did you visit
in total during your Caribbean trip?
Answer: In the article
entitled,
Gilligan, the Skipper,
and The Mad Professor you can read
about the more than 30 casinos that we visited on seven Caribbean island-groups.
Question:
Im
developing a hot-table-system that I use only when a player has hit any twelve
Place numbers during his roll. Its a
great system that really pays, but I rarely get to use it.
Any advice?
Answer:
The chances of hitting over 12 numbers in one round
is a mere 0.2%. That is two out of 1,000 random-rollers!
Heres a chart that shows you just how difficult your situation is:
If you are
waiting for twelve Place numbers to show up before you make bet number one, youll be
waiting a long time between most bets. The
lions share of winning may have occurred at that point, and unless you find some
good, consistent Precision-Shooters, your hot-table-system will usually be
left waiting in the wings. For that reason,
you may want to try a more reasonable, but riskier three, four or five Place-roll waiting
period.
Question:
I like reading
about the various colorful characters in your articles.
I can relate to some of them, in fact, I think Ive actually seen a
couple of them in action. Whatever happened
to Pittsburg Johnnie?
Answer: I am sure that there are a lot of people you run into who are just as
interesting and colorful when you get to know them. Some of my craps-playing friends have
been around since they used the ankle-bones of sheep for a pair of dice, or at least it
SEEMS that way! Pittsburg Johnnie is alive
and doing well. I understand that he is
currently in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area for the next three or four weeks.
Question:
Are you a
professional writer, and can you tell me where you learned how to write like you do?
Answer:
Im
smiling as Im dictating this, because, I write exactly as I speak. That may explain the amount of grammatical as well
as syntax errors. My language may be peppered
with cliches, aphorisms, anecdotes and hackneyed images, but that is precisely how I talk. I rarely edit my work, and my own directness,
candor, cynicism and sense of humor is literally as you read it. I am NOT a professional writer, nor do I receive
any compensation for my work. I am not
writing a book or selling a course. I am
merely sharing my opinions and experiences with other people who may be as interested in
improving their game as I am.
Question:
When are you
going to revise and update the Mad Professors Playbook?
Answer: You have to
remember that I kept the original
Playbook in my head,
and didnt write it down until you read about it right here on Irishsetter's
unparalleled site. The revisions you speak of
are the permutations and variations that I use in day-to-day situations. There are about a dozen methods that I also should
have added to the first book, but more importantly, is the way that I apply different
approaches, or mixed-methods in various situations that a player would run
into. I think that choppy-table situations
are the most frustrating for people, and I will focus on improving that part of your game
with my Playbook II.
Question: Why
do you use the Captain's 5-Count, and who is this Captain guy anyway?" More
than 85% (87.2%)
of all players 7-out before the 5th
non-garbage roll once the Point has been established. If someone showed me a way to improve my
chances to stay alive on the tables by that kind of margin, an intelligent
person might be inclined to take a look at it. Thats
only my opinion. I like
keeping my money as MINE, and I also like making the casinos money, MINE! The Captain and his A/C crew of
wise-guys were real living breathing humans, and Ive been respectfully asked not to
write any details about them, which I have not done.
Another writer has covered their exploits admirably in several books and many
articles. With that being said, I can also
state that I am still a STRONG proponent of the Captains 5-Count for random-rollers,
and unproven dice-setters, but I also NEVER use it for my own rolls.
Question: Do you think that with sites like
Irishsetters and the Craps Pit etc. that the number of Precision-Shooters will increase
dramatically?
Answer:
I think the
number of dice-setters will rise dramatically in the next number of years. In fact, at some casinos, dice-setting has reached
the 40% mark, while in other places it is rare. I
have seen this high-ratio of setters first hand in the three Ontario and the
three Detroit casinos. However, very few of these setters are Precision-Shooters, and even
I have to be careful that I dont get lulled into betting on them too early
before they have qualified themselves. Anyone
can set the dice, but its the grip, the aim, the release, the target, the loft, the
throw, the initial landing and the settling point which makes the difference and puts
fresh cake in your kick.
Question:
Do you have to
wear disguises when you play, and how do you camouflage your winning?
Answer:
I do
not wear any disguises, but some chips do make their way into my pocket without
being colored up at the end of play. When
I cash them out, it is done at a different time than the rest of my session bankroll, and
sometimes I will have my girlfriend handle that task for me. Thats all Im prepared to say on that
subject.
Question:
How many people
have good 20-roll hands?
Answer:
About 2 percent of all random-shooters will have
rolls longer than twenty throws.
Question: What are your casino travel plans for the next six months?
Currently I am
enjoying the three Detroit, three Ontario and one Western New York casinos on a very
light schedule. I plan to play in
Las Vegas, Laughlin, Primm, Jean, Mesquite, Reno and Tahoe though to December. After that Ill be in Hawaii for two months
courtesy of the Boyd Gaming Group.
Question: With all the roll-counting, profit-per-session calculations, sweet-spots,
various betting methods, socializing with the dealers and other players, and everything
else, how do you stay organized?
After a while,
it becomes quite easy. You would be surprised
at how focused and organized you can make yourself if your livelihood is solely derived
from this game.
Question:
Where do you make the most money?
Las Vegas has
been VERY kind to the Mad Professor over the years. Specifically,
Caesars Palace, Mirage, Flamingo, Golden Nugget, Tropicana, MGM, Luxor, Ballys and
Stardust have each contributed princely sums to my bankroll. On a strictly profit-per-hand basis,
Harrahs has been the most productive.
Question: How do you decide where to travel to, and then decide which casino to play
at, and when?
Ah, good
question! Sometimes I will begin to
miss a particular place, like the classy solitude of Lake Tahoe, or running
the waves of the Colorado River in Laughlin, or shrimping off of Biloxis
Mississippi coast. Sometimes some friends
will invite me, like my recent Caribbean cruise. And
sometimes a certain comp will prompt me to go, like the Grand Prix of Monaco. Deciding which casino to play at
is a combination of past performance, curiosity at the new or untried, or a
particular restaurant or show that I may want to take in.
The when part is entirely up to me, and I prefer off
hours which offer more frequent shooting opportunities. Well
thats all thats in the mailbag today. Remember
that those e-mails written in crayon get priority my treatment. Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables
and in
Life. By: The Mad Professor
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