Dice Setters,
I have been following your site for many years and have spent many hours reading, studying, and practicing. I have built a practice box based on the plans on your site and have been practicing for about an hour a day for about a year now. My shooting is progressing and the dice are traveling well and I think I am getting closer. The main problem I have now is that the surface of my practice box is much too reactive and the dice are bouncing way more than they do in the casino. I have tried to double the felt and still my dice have way too much bounce.
A few years ago (on my old practice box that I built from MDF) I turned a piece of linoleum upside down and the surface was softer and smooth, but I don’t know how the surface would react with a softer base of birch plywood.
Any information you have would be exceptionally helpful.
Thank you,
Chris B.
Hi Chris, Ed here. Getting a practice situation comparable to the casino table is hard to do.
Mostly, with home practice, your goal is to develop your shooting style and get to the point where you can critique your toss, make adjustments, and respond to any table conditions as needed.
You are going the wrong way with your thinking about padding for your practice rig. That is why your dice are dancing.
You should have a hard wood base and felt only, no padding of any kind.
You can buy a craps layout. Old style will be felt, (wool) newer styles with synthetic to micro-fiber. Some have a thin rubber backing some are a heavier material, some are like ladies’ nylons.
I have a custom micro-fiber layout on one table and felt layout on the practice rig.
The micro-fiber is thin, fast and hard. The dice do not bounce. The felt is more casino like, but again, with no padding added, the dice react nicely.
Problem is, my practice rig is too good, compared to the casino tables. That is why I mention learning to make adjustments based on how the dice react on every table.
Some casinos purposely use layouts that have a thin rubber backing. Makes for a bouncy table and very random dice.
You can check a surface by rapping your knuckles a couple of times to determine how hard or soft a landing area will be. Of course, after your fist toss, you will know for sure how the dice react.
* We also have several articles published here at Dice Setter addressing the toss. Many of them are in the archived newsletters and a bunch are listed with the coaches. One place or the other, you should be able to find one or two articles about adjusting your toss according to table conditions.
Ed Jones
Editor / Dicesetter.com
