Soft Touch Say’s 

Obstacles and Opportunity…

In the casino, do you ever find that sometimes things just don’t feel right? You walk up to a craps table and get this uncomfortable sensation that you are not invited.  And at other times, do you enter a game because you feel an immediate connection and find that you just belong there?  In either case, I find that we sense something that repels us or invites us to the table on levels we are not even aware of.  That sense of “something” is what I call the energy of the table and is capable of being felt by any player that knows they possess the ability to tune into the energy of the game.

Because we all are naturally capable of perceiving the energy of the table, it is important to know what to do with the information we pick up.  From a three dimensional level, we can pick up energetic information from the chips, the people, the dice and the table.  We can pick up which direction the energy is flowing as the dice are tossed and we describe the table as being  “choppy,” “hot” or “cold.” Once we sense the flow of the game’s energy, this presents us with the ability to create the perception that we will encounter obstacles or opportunities with the game at that moment. Depending on our attitude and beliefs we can decide to buy into the game and learn to deal with and adjust to the energy or we simply decline in search of “calmer wind and sea.”

Being in tune with all the physically interconnected elements of the game is all about awareness and to me, is the essence of sailing through a winning session.  All these necessary, interconnected physical elements of our game move us to make decisions toward a desired outcome.  Preferably, the outcome is to move the positive financial energy toward us. Yet, the design of the game is to create energy that will distract us and target our ego to engage our fear and keep us from feeling the flow of the game.

Among our community there is the perception and ongoing discussion about some casinos introducing physical changes to our craps game. Some of these changes are happening in Vegas and in other states.  From a wavy underlayment, like what a player may find at the Four Queens in downtown Las Vegas, or “wonky” dice that players report to be intermittently used by some casinos on weekends, or bouncy table surfaces, the good players have the ability to sense the introduction of something different into their game and can sense this changing current.  Obstacles or opportunities; it is all part of the game and it is up to you to learn how to be aware of the physical change in current and adjust. This is what makes this game so exciting.

Obviously, entering a game whose energetic winds are blowing with you is an opportunity for financial gain, at the same time, if a player does not know how to be aware of changes to play within the multitude of energetic currents of the table, he or she puts themselves at risk for financial loss. It is up to each individual player to decide whether he or she wishes to make what they perceive to be an obstacle into an opportunity.

By the way, it is not too late to join the Dice Coach, The Professor and me, Soft Touch in April. Our workshop does dedicate time to explore the energy of the game in the casino and helps the student of the game become more receptive to many of the unseen, yet felt, dimensions of the game.  Expanding our awareness beyond the physical is our specialty. And, our casino sessions with us, along with other local members of our community, always proves to be a profitable experience. Call Beth, to reserve your space if you are ready to take your game to the next level. We look forward to playing with you.

Thank you to my readers and subscribers who report their experiences at the tables. The reports you share with us do add to our community’s awareness and stimulate healthy discussion.  May your awareness help you to develop ways of working successfully, comfortably and efficiently at the tables and beyond. Until next month,

Enjoy the newsletter.   Soft Touch

PS If you have any suggestions for the Dice Setter website or newsletter please send them to my editor at Ed@dicesetter.com and I’ll have a look and see how we can incorporate them into our future plans.

From the Editor

With a little help from our friends… the campaign for doubling the Dice Setter newsletter subscription base is within 37% of reaching our March anniversary goal. We thank all our subscribers that helped expand the awareness of dice influencing and practical dice play

by introducing Dice Setter Newsletter to others in the game. Dice Setter is committed to be the vanguard of dice players of the world.

Thank you!

Shaving Points at Craps?

What are Casino dice? I found this on the Internet. I imagine it is pretty standard even though it is from Australia:

• Dice must be transparent.
  
• Dice must be manufactured to a tolerance of 0.0006 inches (0.01528mm).
  
• All sides of the dice must be equal in dimension and have the same angle between the sides.
  
• All edges and corners must have a uniform finish.
  
• The surface of each dice side must be flat.
  
• Any markings on the dice must be flush with the dice surface.
  
• The texture and finish of each side must be identical to each other side.
  
• The weight of the dice should be evenly distributed throughout the dice with no side lighter or heavier then any other side.
  
• Each dice must have the Casino Name permanently imprinted, impressed or engraved on one face.
  
• Each dice must have a unique set identifier permanently imprinted, impressed or engraved on one face.
  
• The substance used to fill the markings on each face must be the same density as the dice.
  
• The rear surface of the dice markings must be visible through the dice from the opposing face.
  
• The dice faces must be numbered one to six.
  
• Opposite faces of the dice must sum to seven.
  
• The side of each die must be between 19.05mm and 19.69mm in size.
  
• Dice must be supplied in sets of five with each dice in the set displaying the same identifying number.

As you can see, these are pretty tight specs. This is even a subset of the complete specifications. You would think they were contracting a critical part for the space shuttle’s main engines. Crooked dice are one of five types.

1.      Loaded. That is weighted off center to favor coming to rest on one face more than they should by random chance.

2.      Magnetic.  Having an insert that can be influenced by a magnetic field that can be used to force the dice to come to rest on one face more than they should by random chance.

3.      Mis-Numbered. The simplest concept possible. They simply do not have the numbers 1 to 6 on the six faces. In one case the numbers on opposite sides of a die are the same, duplicated that is. Suppose your dice only had pairs of faces numbered 2, 3, and 6? Could be a “slight” advantage there.

4.      Not Cubical. Rectangular, trapezoid, concave or convex faces, non-uniform vertexes or points, or sides not parallel. Shaved dice or dice with one face purposely bulged out for instance.

5.      Gaffed. Weird dice with sharp ledges on one edge or even a pin sticking out of one face to catch on the felt and thus get stuck with that face down.

If you go back and read the specs, you will see how they are addressing each of these problems. Also some of these methods are grotesquely obvious to even casual examination. Some like the magnetic ones require very large electromagnets as accessories.

I ordered two sticks of Dice Coach Dice, one red and one green and subjected them to the similar tests a bit more than a year ago. They passed. It was not easy to do. Measuring in the 1/10,000 of an inch range and determining absolute face flatness etc. That is tricky, but with a really good micrometer with a tension thimble and vernier and knowing how to use it correctly, it can be done. You can also use a strong light and a very high precision tool and die maker’s miniature square for some of the tests. There are dice spinners and the water glass test to check for uniform density. Visual inspection alone spots many “defects.”

There are just a few cosmetic aspects of dice not specified. The numbers 1, 2, and 3 have to meet in a single vertex. If you look at that vertex point on, the numbers can increase either clockwise or counterclockwise. Also a range of transparent colors is possible.

How many times have you seen the dice placed in front of the boxman where he can glare intensely at them? Or even pick them up and spin them expertly between his thumb and finger? Most of the crooked dice listed above could be easily spotted by just looking carefully at them, and certainly by spinning them to see if they are loaded.

I once had a fantastic sequence of fours. I could not stop tossing fours. Mostly hardways. I commented on it, the stickman commented on it, the other players were betting on it, I was betting on it, we were all cleaning up.  Sure enough, first the stickman would just give me the dice. Then he started parking them directly in front of the boxman after each throw where the boxman would glare at them like he was using X-ray vision on them. After another four showed up, the boxman finally picked them up and gave them each a beautiful well-practiced spin. No heat. No negative comments from the staff. No problems. No swapping of the dice. Same dice stayed in play. But there was most definitely a low profile investigation of those dice!

Where’s the Advantage?

Now for the most important part of the “crooked dice” equation. Craps is played in two phases. The come out phase and the chasing points phase. In one the seven is your friend. In the other the seven is your enemy. Given that dice have to total seven on opposite faces, it is very hard to get such dice to suppress or enhance sevens. Most if not all the value of any crooked dice is lost if you do not switch out the true dice and the crooked dice based on the game conditions from moment to moment. Dice switching by players is a bit of a no-no. (Slight understatement).

Casinos change out dice when they are worried that the dice have become out of specs and are no longer absolutely trustworthy to be random. Like when they go off the table and suffer obvious vertex damage, or have been used long enough to suspect point or razor edge wear.

A math professor at a major university got some professionally shaved crooked dice and got his graduate students to roll them, a lot! The data collected showed that any slight advantage from shaved dice was swamped by the random roller style of the shooters. It appeared that the dice would have to be modified in a very significant way to survive all the built in randomizers on a craps table such as the felt, the pyramids, specs on a proper acceptable throw, chips in the way, etc.

There have been cases of stickmen and boxmen swapping crooked dice in and out of a game in cahoots with players who were co-conspirators. This was not a Casino sanctioned behavior (slight understatement).

Random is to a Casino business as actuarial tables are to an Insurance company.

Random is what makes it a business with a bottom line, a predictable cash flow and a return on investment they can bank on. To do this business they typically need a special license. Doing anything that would endanger that, such as petty cheating to increase slightly some gain at one game makes no sense at all. They would be “betting the entire farm” for chump change relative to the total take across all the games and slot machines on the Casino floor.

You would have to have something that works for all situations that come up in Craps in a 24 hour period, works with five dice of which two are selected at random, and which a shooter holds for a hand at a time and involves no funny switching of dice by stickman or boxman.

It would have to be completely legal and subject to examination by regulators. And it would have to generate enough extra income to justify the effort to select the dice in the first place and manage two types of dice at the tables. That takes equipment, manpower and adds complexity to making money.

That is a lot to deal with in order to create a scenario that makes business sense.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Craps ain’t broke from the Casino’s view and nearly all the rules favor them. Including their ultimate rule, they can just refuse to let you play for any reason at any time.

If you want to see Casinos trying to “fix” Craps, look at sit-down tables designed to cut staff required to man a Craps table. Should they use 12 foot or 14 foot tables? Or 10 foot, or super size tables?

Look at the decisions to either include or remove the Big 6 and Big 8 from the felt. Are there enough suckers to justify that waste of felt real estate? What level of odds to allow? Double? Triple? 20 times? 100 times!

How about the size of the Hardways? Make them big because your players love the Hardways, or make the lousier prop bets bigger in hopes of dumb suckers attracted by BIG RED LETTERING. Look at the few prop bets that have different payoffs at different casinos.

When to open a table? How many tables to have? Where to put the tables? What to eliminate to free up floor space for the poker room!

Do we need to eliminate a Craps table and put in a dumber game with just one dealer such as Let It Ride?

Those are the kinds of ways Casinos try to “fix” Craps to generate more income.

Not ways to get caught doing something shady or blatantly illegal that requires lots of extra work.

Nevada Specific Information

Casino Dice are considered to be “associated equipment” in Nevada. Interestingly, there are no exact specifications for “Casino Dice” used in Craps in Nevada. But they would be covered under “Industry Standards” for such equipment. So it would not be correct to say dice used in Nevada are not regulated. From what I was able to find out, the Queensland specifications indicate what can be done to make high quality dice, specifications that manufacturers can routinely meet. They probably make a good example of “Industry Standards”. Some things like the casino name being required on the dice I am not sure about for Nevada.

The main thing looked for in Nevada is anything about the dice that would affect the roll and cause them to tend to land in any specific way other than randomly. Dice would typically include a set in play that would be five dice all the same with the same serial number on them.

Ways to affect randomness checked for would include weighting of course, but dice should also be perfect cubes, opposite sides should total seven, no numbers on a given die should be duplicated, and they are normally made of transparent material to facilitate checking for common methods of loading or weighting dice. There is some flexibility in the design of Casino Dice in Nevada as long as they are not manufactured or modified in such a way as to affect the randomness of their roll.

I got the impression the experts I contacted thought the question a bit strange. That crooked dice would be, well crooked! Rather obviously. In a heavy handed sort of way, not something subtle. But seriously out of specifications in some way not that difficult to detect with even casual testing.

Bottom Line

The bottom line, literally, is that casinos need dice to be predictably random. It is part of the business model for running a craps table. Cheap “toy” dice are born crooked. I tested a bunch of them and was amazed at the seriously bulged faces, the irregularly rounded vertexes, the non-parallel faces, and other glaring problems. And these were not even made to be crooked on purpose, just sloppy cheap work. I measured some Bicycle Dice and found them a considerable improvement over the el cheapo red plastic types. By comparison the precision of real professional casino dice is quite impressive and a serious cut above even the best “toy” dice.

Given the slight advantage a Casino might gain, versus the incredible damage of being shut down for running a questionable game, why would they risk the entire golden goose?

I believe it is much more likely that aliens will land in your back yard and treat you to an anal probe than it is you will encounter a major Casino introducing shaved or otherwise out of spec dice in a Craps game to try to take unfair advantage of customers.

Mike in Hawaii

Dice Setter’s Journal –  How to Use Your Journal

Suggestions:

• Begin with the New Year, keep an annual journal, January though December.
• Have one journal for each game you play, craps, blackjack, poker and so on.
• Take your journal with you when you play, fresh memory means more accurate reporting.
• Record every session, no matter how short, win or lose, and even if you don’t play or just watch a game.
• Be honest with yourself. It will be to your advantage.
• Make it your secret discipline to keep a journal.

Keeping Your Journal:

The purpose of a journal is to provide you with important honest information about your game. It will help you improve your game in many ways. It will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. Your journal shows you how you are doing financially with wins, losses and with your year to date total.

When recording a session, you may have a short entry or you may use several pages. It is up to you to record what you feel are the important and necessary pieces of information.

Here are a few things to definitely keep track of:

This is a required discipline for the player serious about improving their game. It is easy to keep a running count of profit and loss from each game. A journal provides you with an accurate account of where you stand for the year. It is important that you know if you are up or down for the year.

Keeping a record is essential for tax purposes. Gambling losses are tax deductible against gambling profits. If you are going to itemize gambling income, you must be able to defend losses with a record. The casino is not going to write you a receipt for your losses when you cash out. It is up to you to be able to document your gambling history.

The most important reason to document your craps play provides a learning tool as it is a reference to past performance. A journal can be a powerful resource to help you to identify strength and weakness in your game. If you find yourself in a slump, the first thing to do is refer to your journal. Read backward until you find a pattern or the place where your game started to break down.

A player can review their journal, look at the losing sessions, and usually identify essential elements that lead to the slump. When a player is experiencing an unsuccessful streak some typical telltale signs could be playing too long, chasing a loss, engaging in poor playing conditions, making mistakes, playing too tight, or playing too aggressive. This information should show up in the journal.

Playing too long is playing in a game that is going nowhere and ignoring the signs that the game has stalled. A game that goes back and forth – win one, lose one, and push – is a dead game. After an hour and half to two hours, the game turns cold and, in less than fifteen minutes, the entire betting stake can be lost. Better to leave early, cut losses and find another game. Playing too long tends to lull a player into a trance-like state, as the player believes that the game is bound to turn around and become favorable.

Playing carelessly usually shows a lack of discipline. The player enters a game that they have no business playing. It often is a matter of ego or emotion that causes a player to think they are invincible and that they can walk up to any table and make it pay. Being too eager to play, and getting into bad games, is an unsuccessful habit for both experienced and novice players. Getting into a game that you have not assessed for positive playing conditions will usually cost you money. The idea of playing anytime, on any table, is what built the “City of Dreams”. The games are always available. You must take charge of your game by being patient. You are a winner when you play at optimum times with optimum conditions. Realize that you are a hunter, if you are going to “eat”, you must hunt smart.

Here are sample journal entries.

                                                                                                            + / –    YTD

                                                                                                                       $256

1/27/00, Mirage, Craps, 7:00am, $5 unit, $200 buy-in, played 1.5 hr., +28 units, 6-7 players – head down blinkers on kind of guys…fun to play with. Steady game, back and forth, no one really doing much, mostly short hands, 1 or 2 points and quick outs, but treading water, (keeping even). I broke the ice with a long three-point hand, my dice looked great from release to landing. Felt good too! Setting for points with 3-V, 2-V and modified 3-V for 5/9. Knocked down, a point of 6, 9 and 10… mostly all inside numbers. Set for 7’s on the come out rolled two back to back on the come out, total of five passes. Next shooter followed with a nice six-point hand, 6/8 progressions worked great. Then back to the earlier game with the other players’ short hands. I didn’t wait for more, I colored up +28 units. Never down more than 10 units, I felt fresh and rested, had fun, good crew, hit a couple of hard-way tokes for the boys when I had the dice, game moved along at a quick pace, no one playing the prop bets. No heat.

                                                                                                      +140        $396

1/28/00, Mirage, Craps, 11:00 am, $10 unit, $350 buy-in, 1 hr. 20 min., up 15 units profit, woman shooter hit a four pass hand. Good start. Could not get it going with my dice… looked good with bad results. Short hands, one pass and 7-out. Down 18 units after 45 min.. Only six players most of the time. I got to shoot 8 times. Picked up some 6/8 money, but most of the hands were too short for place bets. Never got a max bet out. Played conservative and it proved the right thing to do. My last hand finally produce 22 numbers before going out. 15 units up on a tough table. Called it good not wanting to lose what I had won. Colored up the profit..

                                                                                                           +150         $546

3/18/00, Red Rock, Craps, 9:30 p.m., $10 unit, buy-in $350, 45 min., Smart-alecky male dealer on stick. Lost 23 units. Dice were ice. No one could roll a hand. The play just never got over the hump. First 15 min. were brutal., always lost to short – point and out. The game smoothed out with a few passes. Just too choppy to get ahead. My dice wobbled and bounced all over hell. Could not figure out how to adjust. Saw the writing on the wall and decided to cut my losses. Wasn’t working, not my night.

                                                                                                          <230>    $316

Your journal may have shorter or longer notes. You may create your own “cues”, but however you chose to do it, include enough information to remind you of the session. The idea is to record information for your benefit, and learn from it when you need a review. When first starting out with a journal, more information is better while you get into the practice. You will find your groove and the information most important to you.

How you can interpret the information:

In the first example, the player identifies that the dice game was worthy of playing noting that he was not losing, but keeping even, (treading water). There were 6-7 players, this indicates a smaller game with the dice coming around for a dice influencer, more turns as the shooter. Note the shift in the game when it broke away from one or two point hands to his hand with three points, totaling five passes. Also, note that the seven-set was working, drawing out two sevens in a row on a come out. Nice to have the sevens appear at the right time. He is content with the way his dice are laying down. Playing early morning, the player is fresh, rested, and having fun with the other players. He indicates he is playing with a good group, including the dealers. With the game not costing this player, he was encouraged to continue, even though it was not producing much. The moment of “right time” came along and he caught a nice little burst. Seeing the game return to short hands, he made the wise decisions to quit and take the profit. Not a bad move for an hour and half game.

The third entry documents a loss. It is a red flag when you start off on the wrong foot. Too many short hands together is an indicator of trouble. Not having the dice bounce your way when in your hand is another red flag. Not that you have to be “the shooter”, but if it’s not working for you, who’s it going to be? Better to cut losses and play again when conditions are more favorable. Looking closer at what was going on, the player probably should have quit the game earlier and may not have lost as much.

Here is what could be learned from the third journal entry. The early warnings of a tough game were ignored. Ignoring the fact that the dealer was a rude jerk is also an indicator. You can chose your playmates. Shifts in the game are signals telling you to play on your toes. Actually, it is better to be on your feet. Walking away from the game would have been the better play. Ignoring or missing the early warnings was important information recorded here. The mistakes cost the player 23 units.

Profit games are usually the result of hitting right off the bat or catching a long craps hand. Play like the “patient hunter”, waiting for your time to come. Sometimes you have to play tight defense while waiting for your opportunity to come along. Learn to recognize the difference between a game with promise and one that is going nowhere. Record your sessions and you will document the signals and start to discriminate between the two types of games. It will become clearer to you when it is time to bail out, and you will recognize the signs of a game worthy of your attention.

Keeping a journal and reviewing wins and losses can accurately paint the picture of your playing habits. You can honestly evaluate your play, recognizing those things that you are doing well, and the weaknesses that need improvement. The rewards will be evident as you educate yourself with the discipline of keeping a journal. $$$$

Today’s Wisdom:

Poncho Villa – Villain or Hero?

Unfortunately history is recorded from the winners perspective. The reality of the battle is lost having only one side of the story. Depending on which end of the sword you are facing can make all the difference in how the story is told.

Queen Bee’s Buz

Hi Queen Bee,

I have two suggestions to add to your list in your Jan, 2008 article. 

Keep your chips to either the left or right side of the rack trying to distance your checks from the players next to you. 

Always keep a little pressure on your chips.  I favor keeping my chips on the left side of the rack.  And my hand is always keeping light pressure pushing to the left.  This protects my chips from the dice knocking them out of the rack.  It makes it more difficult for someone to remove one or more of my chips.  And if someone does remove any chips, you will immediately feel it because your pressure will move your chips when some are removed.  I use to play with a friend who would occasionally just grab one of my white chips to make a proper bet or for an odds bet on a 5 or 9.  I would always immediately feel him removing a chip. 

Kimberly A.

Thank you Kimberly,

Always refreshing to hear another woman’s point of view.

QB

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Trip Report From Jerry D

Hi Ed ,

I started playing dice about a year ago. I found your site and enjoyed the lessons and tips. I use the 6-5 set on the come out and have found the mini-v 2-2 seems to work best for me. On a recent visit to Foxwoods I set 6-5 to start made 5 horns, once the point was set I took full odds and went 54 across ($10 table). I noticed I have no chips left in the rail. Kidding I said to stickman, All-In, He chuckles “your at the wrong table” I really don’t know how many rolls or how long the hand was, but the stick changed twice and he was now on the other end of the table cheering me to throw till the end of his shift (tokes will do that) When I sevened out, I colored up $1,596 in the rack. It was a great day. I owe a lot to the sets and tips. I supposed more aggressive pressing would result in a bigger win but slow and steady pays off nice too. Thanks for the web site.  Jerry D. 

Hello Jerry,

As you are new to the game, you may not know slow and steady from kick ass, full steam ahead. Without knowing your base unit, it is tough for me to comment beyond this… 

For you to take $1,600 in profit is fantastic! Never look back with “If I would have, or I should have done this and that, I would have more.” It is a huge win. That you had your entire bank roll in the game, and did not lose it and walked away with a “house payment” is fantastic. Do not get into a habit of thinking it works that way every time. Otherwise, the more aggressive pressing will eat you lunch in the long run. Certainly, it is never wrong to expect those results from every session. Just be sure to understand the difference. If you have something that cranks out consistent profit, hold it dear. Learn to be satisfied with consistent profit, small or otherwise. It is overlooked by the majority of craps players. Craps is not a jackpot game, whereby the player can expect large wins. (thought they happen at times) Craps is bankroll dependent and of course it all depends on the units played, how they are played and the way the dice are rolling.  

I am happy for you, I am glad you took a nice win. Never forget that the odds are against us and to cherish each and every good fortune. 

Your kind words are appreciated and we are happy to have been of service to you. 

Ed Jones