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Creating More
Shooting Opportunities
The
person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. ...Chinese
Proverb Play
with An Edge or Cast Your Money To The Wind
When
you consider your dice-influencing skills, it makes sense to compare them to that of
random-rollers. How much better you are will
determine how big of an advantage you develop against the house. Sooner
or later, most accomplished dicesetters realize that although not every one of their hands
will be stellar money-makers; more of them can be especially when judged
against making comparable bets on random-rollers. The
bigger your advantage, the more sense it makes to seek out additional shooting
opportunities for yourself, while concurrently reducing the wagers that you make on
random-rollers. Lets
do a quick review of the methods that weve discussed so far in this series in terms
of creating more ways to get the dice in your hands while you are at the casino tables:
Ø
Play During Off Hours like 3 a.m. to 8 a.m.
Ø
Play During Off Days like Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Ø
Play during Off Season by avoiding convention periods, major sporting events, and
of course long weekends.
Ø
Play during Off Weather
when most other people dont
want to venture out.
Ø
Avoid the crowds especially during promotional
periods when they are giving away cars, boats, barbeques and Swiffer WetJets.
Ø
Schedule
to be at the tables a few minutes before a dealer shift-change when more tables
will open.
Ø
Use
the If You Liked How I Just Shot, Then Let Me Shoot Again approach to
get a table full of players to pass the dice back around to you after a successful hand.
Ø
Seek
out Turbo-Dice
at
casinos where they move the dice
as quickly as possible. More decisions-per-hour means that the dice will cycle back around
to you faster.
Ø
Trade
excitement for profit. Crowded
tables may be exciting, but they diminish and inhibit your profit opportunities. Remember that open but empty tables are the curse
of random-rollers but the blessing of Precision-Shooters. Even the most
rudimentary Precision-Shooting skills will consistently beat random-rolling most of
the time. While a
random-roller may have an occasional long, hot and LUCKY roll; the skilled dicesetter does
it more often, more consistently and much more predictably. If I seem a little
pre-occupied about getting the dice in my hand as often as possible, you are correct. Why? Well, you first
have to ask yourself how much money it is costing you or how much money you are making, on
average, when you bet on or against random-rollers while youre camped out at a table
patiently waiting for the dice to come around again.
You then have to
ask yourself if your time at the tables would be better spent seeking out more shooting
opportunities for yourself than it is in betting on non-skilled shooters? For me, the same
answer keeps coming back to a resounding, YES! Its THAT simple. Heres
a few additional ways to get the dice in your hand more often: Suggestion #12
Higher
Table-Minimums = Lower Player-Populations If
there are multiple open craps tables in a dice pit with different minimum-bets; then
generally the cheapest one will be the most
crowded,
while the more expensive one will usually be the least
crowded. Obviously there are some exceptions to this
generality, but this idea holds true a majority of the time. Having
less players at your table means that the dice will make one lap around it more
efficiently. Now Im not saying that the
players who frequent higher-denomination tables are always better shooters, but in
gaming-jurisdictions where there are a number of skilled Precision-Shooters, that is often
the case. I
know that I am not the only good shooter out there.
There
are many, many excellent dice-influencers in the world; and like it or not, there is a
natural selection process that takes place which separates the skilled dice-influencers
from the ones who havent yet gotten their entire skill-set in order. That
natural selection process is helped along by the fact that skilled players will eventually
seek out higher-denomination tables for the majority of their action. As
their bankrolls grow, they come to the same realization that I have. That
realization is that the more frequently they get the dice in their hands during a given
session; the better their chances of walking away with a profit, and more often than not,
that profit will be of the bankroll-building kind. Though
I still like playing at some of the neutral-rolling and unfortunately, semi-crowded cheap
tables; I often find myself immediately seeking another shooting opportunity as soon as I
finish my hand, especially if I know its going to take quite a while for the dice to
come back to me. Frequently,
I find that the next shooting opportunity is immediately available at a
higher-denomination table right beside the low-buck one I just finished throwing at. Suggestion
#14
Be
the First Shooter at Multiple Tables
A
moment ago, I mentioned the idea of adapting your schedule to be at the tables just a few minutes before a dealer
shift-change when more tables will open.
Lets
take that one step further:
Ø
As
a courtesy, especially if the crew knows you as a good tipper; theyll often let you
shoot first no matter where you are positioned at the table. Bear
with me as we take another step forward with this idea:
Ø
If
they open several tables at the same time, you could take a look at how quickly each
table-crew is getting ready (as they count down the cheque-bank and unwrap fresh dice,
etc), and choose the table that will be ready first.
Ø
Then,
after youve thrown your first hand at the newly opened layout, you could switch over
to the one that is now just about ready to open (especially if the table you are at has
filled up because of pent-up player demand).
Ø
Again,
if you are the first to arrive at the second table or you pre-reserve a spot at it
with one of your extra Players Cards (by asking the crew to hold your spot, and saying
that youll be back as soon as theyre ready to go); then theyll likely
let you be the first shooter at that table as well. At
some casinos where they open three or four new tables at the same time, you can use this
method in order to shoot four straight hands in a row on four different layouts. Again,
the idea is to bet when you have the advantage. If
your shooting is dialed-in, and you keep your wits about you; there is absolutely no
reason why you cant make money off of each of your hands, while concurrently
avoiding an equal number of random-roller hands. For
a skilled player that still struggles with discipline, you can look at it in another way: The
more often that you shoot, the less time youll spend frittering away
money on random-rollers. The money you save
by avoiding random-rollers can be more intelligently redeployed on wagers where you have a
validated edge over the casino; and that is when the dice are in YOUR hands. Suggestion
#15
Lower
the Cost of an Expensive Table If
you get to an empty or barely occupied table that you want to play at, but it has a
bet-minimum that is higher than your current comfort-level; then you can artificially
LOWER the table-minimum. Simply
place an almost-equal bet on both the Pass-Line and the Dont Pass. Its similar to a Doey-Dont where you
have equal amounts of money on both the Do and the Dont
lines, but in this case, you could put a table-minimum bet on the Dont Pass and a
bet on the Pass-Line that is the table-min plus the amount that you are comfortable
in actually wagering (lets say $25 on the DP and $30 on the PL). If
the table is totally empty, you can use this solo shooting opportunity to really groove-in
your skills in a low-cost, live-action environment. It
is also an excellent way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the
allowable Odds. For
example, if you are at a $25 table where you have $25 on the DP and $26 on the PL,
then you can back up either of those bets with the maximum allowable Odds for the full
amount of either (but obviously not both) lines. At
a 3x, 4x, 5x table with the above-noted wager, you could instantly turn those
allowable Odds into 78x,
104x, and 130x-Odds
simply because of how youve used offsetting PL and DP wagers. Up
until now, youve been thinking that 100x-odds were only available at sawdust joints
like Casino Royale and a couple of Midwest boats, while in fact you can turn places like
Bellagio, Beau Rivage, Venetian, Taj Mahal, Foxwoods, Caesars, Borgata or any other casino
into a high free-Odds joint no matter how pitiful their low-multiple free-Odds appear to
be. In
the above example, theyll allow you to take full-Odds behind your Pass-Line wager
despite the fact that there is only a one-dollar difference between your PL and DP bets. To that end, you can make Odds bets for the full
value multiple of your line-bet, yet only have one-dollar at actual risk on your base-line
wager. In doing so, you can instantly turn a
$25 game into a $1 game and in doing so, theyll allow you to wager up to 130x-Odds
(on the 6 or 8), or 104x-Odds (when your PL-Point is a 5 or 9), or 78x-Odds when your
Pass-line Point is a 4 or 10. If you are
using a straight Doey-Dont, then obviously a $25 game would see the Odds-multiple
restricted to 75x, 100x, and 125x. From
a practical point of view, lets see how this approach works:
Ø
On
the Come-Out roll I avoid getting overly fancy; opting instead to establish the PL-Point
as soon as possible.
Ø
I
hedge my PL-wager with a $1 bet straight up on the 12-midnight so I dont have to do
an expensive PL-bet replacement in case the 12 rolls.
That way, no C-O numbers can harm either my PL or DP wagers.
Ø
Once
the Point is established, I back up the PL-Point with as much Odds as I am comfortable
with. Let
me point out the obvious at this juncture and say that this play is not for the
weak of heart, the queasy of stomach or the light of bankroll. It is designed for the player that is more than
adequately funded, and who is looking for maximum free-Odds and the lowest base-bets
possible. This play accomplishes that goal.
Ø
If
my PL-Point is a 6 or 8, then I back it up with full Odds.
In this case (at a 3x, 4x, 5x table), you are allowed to wager up to five
times your Passline-bet in Odds. So with $26
on the PL, you can back it up with a maximum of $130 in Odds.
Ø
The
fact that Ive only got a $1 difference between my $25 DP-bet and my $26
PL-bet, means that Ive turned it into a $1 minimum-bet game, but with allowable Odds
of 78x,
104x, and 130x! Obviously
you can do the same thing with nearly offsetting Come/Dont Come bets as well. Equally, a skilled Darkside shooter can do the
opposite thing with Odds on his Dont Pass line-wager too. In this case, hed be allowed to bet up to
six times his DP line-wager.
Ø
Likewise,
a skilled Rightside Precision-Shooter can instantly turn a $50/$51 base-bet into a 260x-Odds
game (on the 6 or 8) or a 208x-Odds game when his PL-Point is a 5 or 9; and
a 156x-Odds game when the Pass-line Point is a 4 or 10.
Ø
One
of my favorite casinos has a heck of a sweet-rolling table in their Salon Privée
high-roller room, which they always have set at a $50 bet-minimum. I often use a partial offset with $50 on the DP
and $100 on the PL to instantly turn it into a 6x, 8x, 10x-Odds game like the Golden
Nugget now offers. Again,
it is critically important that you are adequately funded
before you raise your bet-level to this echelon or beyond. If
you want to try this Odds-stretching approach, it is best if the entire Pit-crew
(including all the boxmen and Table Game Supervisors) know you REALLY WELL (and
respectfully like you A LOT) as a frequent tipper, and that your tips
actually end up in the toke-box instead of being swept away without producing any revenue
for them. While
its nice to hear that the crew appreciates the kind thought of a
non-winning toke; it is the player who makes sure that money goes directly into the
dealers jukebox that will be given the most latitude when it comes to pulling a play like
this. In
other words, you have to build up your social equity with the entire Pit-crew before using
gaming-approaches like this. Let
me put it another way: If
you are not the most warmly regarded player as far as the crew is concerned; then please
DO NOT try to use this method
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! As
your confidence and shooting-steadiness improves on the high-dollar tables, you can
ratchet things up by simply increasing the bet-size difference between your two base-line
PL/DP wagers or completely removing your DP table-cheapener altogether. However,
if playing at the higher-limit tables makes you too nervous, uncomfortable or anxious;
then perhaps you shouldnt play at them at all. Suggestion #16
Raise The Cost Of Doing Business
There are a number
of highly accomplished players out there whom specifically ask the Pit Boss to RAISE the
table-minimum simply to keep more of the low-rollers OFF of the table, and to ensure that
the dice move around a bit quicker. Im not
talking about a situation where the Pit Manager instructs the TGS to increase the
minimum-bet from $5 to $10 because the casino is starting to get crowded; Im talking
about a skilled player (with an adequate bankroll) asking the Pit Manager to raise one of
the $5 tables to a $15, $25 or $50 minimum. When a table-rate
is raised beyond the next highest denomination (a $5 table being raised to $15 or $25,
instead of just to $10); then it has a way of opening up a fair number of
player-positions, as well as speeding up the rate at which the dice cycle around the
table. It also has a
tendency to speed the flight of high-maintenance players who hop-bet multiple
number-combinations on nearly every roll. When
the $10-to-$40-buy-in players arent taking up rail space, the game moves quite a bit
faster, and youll usually encounter less arguments and payout-disputes than there
are at the low-buck layouts. Before you consider
this approach, you have to be brutally honest with yourself as to how big of a
Precision-Shooting edge you actually have, and how often youve been able to
profitably exploit it, (in addition to how comfortable will you be when you move up to the
AA-league bet-values). Ill have more
to say about this subject in a few moments. Suggestion #17
Call
Ahead
If
you play in a gaming jurisdiction where there arent many casinos or many open
tables; you can call ahead to your target-casino
ask for the craps pit (or the
dice pit if you are on the East Coast)
and ask the Pit Clerk the
following questions:
Ø
How many tables are
open?
Ø
What are the
current bet-minimums at each table?
Ø
How crowded are the
tables right now?
Ø
If and when new tables will be opening? Know
when the shift-change times are for each casino that you play in. If they usually open more tables when the new crew
comes in, youll be more likely to get to start up a new empty table when
it opens. See
my TIPPING
Are There Two Sets Of Rules? article for greater detail on
this subject including the usual shift-change times. Make the
Comparison for Yourself
It is important to
know just how good your Precision-Shooting actually is, or how much more improvement it
really needs before you seek out additional ways to get the dice in your hand more often. For a full rundown
on this very important subject, you might want to first take a look at my two-part series
entitled, How Good Is Your Precision
Shooting? If you dont
keep track of your own in-casino Precision-Shooting results, then its hard to judge
whether some of these more-shooting-opportunities suggestions that were
discussing today are worthwhile or a complete waste of your time and money. Suggestion
#18
Ask and Ye Shall Receive
In Part I
and Part
II of this series, we covered several ways for you to artificially lower
the cost of a higher-minimum table and today weve looked at a couple more, but there
is an even simpler alternative. If
there arent any players at the expensive table and the crew has been standing dead
(idle) for some time since anyone played on it; then simply ask the Pit Boss if he will
lower the bet-minimum. If
he agrees, you will probably be able to get in one or two complete hands before fellow
players catch on to the fact that the former expensive table is now more reasonably
priced. In
the meantime, get your good rolls in, and tell the stickman not to call out the
Pass-Line winners too loudly. That
helps to keep the mass-migration from occurring too quickly. Lets
take that idea one step further
Many
times if youre on good terms with the crew and the Pit-miesters, theyll let
you play at a lower-than-posted rate at the more expensive table until at
least one or more players joins in; then youll either have to bet at the
posted minimum, or move back the cheaper and more crowded layout. Developing
a friendly, cooperative, symbiotic relationship with the crew and the Pit-dwellers is
always a good idea.
Ø
Since
few mid-roller random-shooters like to play solo, theres a likelihood that your
action will bring more higher-limit (but reluctant-to-play-at-an-empty-table)
players to the layout
and in doing so, youve done the Pit Boss a favor.
Ø
By
letting you play at a lower-than-posted bet-level until another player shows up,
the Pit Boss has also done you a favor. Doing
stuff like this also tends to raise your stock-value as far as your worth to the casino
(in the eyes of the Pit-guys that are filling out your Rating Card) is concerned. Besides, the worse they can say to your request
about lowering the price of an empty table, or letting you play at it for a lesser amount
until another player shows up
is no. Suggestion
#19
Ask For a HIGHER Limit Table
I
know we just got finished talking about asking for a lower limit, but as I promised a
moment ago, I want to return to the whole subject of playing at higher-denomination
tables, and specifically about intentionally getting the Pit Manager to raise
the table-minimum.
First
of all, there are many, many ways to create more shooting opportunities at cheaper tables,
but I want to make you aware of ALL the methods that I use, including the ones that
involve playing on expensive layouts. Asking
for a higher table-minimum may sound counter-intuitive, but if you find a nice empty cheap
table, youll often see players come out of the woodwork in droves as soon as
you start to play. They may not have been
around a moment ago; but as soon as you pick up the dice, they all swarm in like locusts. If
you find yourself on a table that is similarly-priced to all the other ones that are open,
and you know from your own experience that most players will stay away if it is
higher-priced; then it often makes sense for a skilled Precision-Shooter to have the
bet-minimum raised to the highest-limit that you yourself are comfortable
with. This
method acts to limit the amount of player-migration from nearby tables. While
a higher limit wont make it exclusively yours (especially if it is only one rank
higher than the others); youll definitely have a little more rail space than you
would at the cheapest tables in the joint. The
idea is to afford yourself the most frequent dice-throwing chances WITHOUT raising the
bet-minimum past your comfort-level (or your bankroll-affordability level). So, for example if all the other tables are set
at $5, but you are comfortable with a $15 base-bet; then having the Pit Boss set the table
at a $15-minimum instead of $10, it will have the effect of keeping more players
away
and putting the dice in your hand more often. It
is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT that you remember that this whole more-shooting-opportunities
concept is based on your validated Precision-Shooting advantage. If
your shooting shows a verified and consistent advantage, and your betting is
properly matched to fully exploit that advantage; then it just makes good
economic sense to get the dice in your paws as often as reasonably possible. Suggestion
#20
Eyes Open, Ears Tuned
In
my seven-part Steaks,
Trends and Opportunities series, we discussed various ways to tune
in to what is happening at other nearby craps tables. The reason to do that is so you can clue in sooner to prevailing streaks and trends
by listening to the stick-calls at other tables and watching how quickly or slowly the
dice are circulating around. In
seeking out additional dice-shooting opportunities, you can use a similar technique.
Ø
If
you see that a nearby table is getting increasingly cold, that usually means that several
players will be drifting away from the table sooner rather than later.
Ø
It
also means that the dice will be cycling around to your favorite table-position much
faster than normal.
Ø
In
that case, you can usually time your move over to that table from the one you are
currently at, to coincide with when the dice are about two positions away from your chosen
spot.
Ø
When
you arrive at the new table, it is wise to throw out a sacrificial $1 bet on a Hardway or
Prop-wager so that youve at least booked a bet on the previous player and you
wont look like (as much of) an interloper when the dice do make their way to your
spot. Keep
your eyes open and your ears tuned to situations where you can put yourself into a
position where youll be able to put your advantage-shooting to work for you. Suggestion
#21
Did the Fleet Just Dock? Many times you will be standing at a table, and
there will be a big influx of new players. Whether
it be tour busses that just disgorged their passengers, or the early-show from the
Showroom letting out; a big surge of people usually means that the tables will fill up
quickly. If you get to know the ebb and flow of casino
action, youll get to know when the big crowds arrive and when they start to peter
out. If you usually play at night; then
dont be surprised if it seems like the rest of the world has picked the same moment
to play too. The same goes for the weekends and holidays. Get to know when the shows, sporting events and
conventions let out, or when most people are coming out of the restaurants with a full
belly and a full pocket of cash. If you avoid
those times and all the other instances when there is a big influx of players, then you
are more likely to have less people to deal with and more dice-tossing opportunities to
profit from. Suggestion
#22
Playing at More Than One Table at a Time
Scope
out other tables that are emptying out because of cold trends. If even the liars are complaining and everyone is
drifting away; then this is an ideal opportunity for you to step up. Park
a chip in the rail at your current table to hold your spot, while you go over to that
de-populated one. As
a side-note, its considered impolite but not illegal to be playing at
more than one table at a time. If you are
known by the crew and the Pit-critters as a good-tipping player; then it usually buys you
additional latitude as far as casino-management allowing you to do this sort of thing is
concerned. A
reserved spot at two different tables where you can shuttle back and forth between them,
means having twice as many shooting opportunities to work your advantage-play magic
in the same amount of time. Before
we wrap this up, I want to mention an outstanding idea that one of Irishsetters Precision Shooters
Message-Board members shared with us a short time ago. Suggestion
# 23
Bubbles Crowd Detector
With
Bubbles kind consent, Im just going to paste his M-B post verbatim from the
site: Since
Im only an hour away from Atlantic City, I have never stayed overnight, but the
other day I went into Caesars website to check my comps, and just for the hell of it
looked to see what the room-rates were. They
had an icon link for special room deals and also an availability calendar. The calendar
shows the room-rates for the next four months. It
struck me that with the same room going for $49 up to $450 a night (on a holiday) that
this was a good way to determine low and high traffic dates. So
even if you arent staying overnight, you could check the room-rates and pick a low
rate day for your visit to avoid the crowds. Thats
an outstanding idea, and I want to thank Bubbles for sharing it with us. Whos
Got The Edge
Guys,
you have to judge for yourself how good your dice-influencing skills are, and whether it
is worth it to seek out additional shooting opportunities. Its
important to weigh and compare your actual validated edge over the house against the
amount of money that you would normally spend as far as betting on random-rollers.
If
you have a confirmed edge and you eliminate one series of bets on a random-roller,
but ADD one series of bets on yourself (that youve managed to squeeze into the same
time-frame because youve created another shooting opportunity for yourself); then it
is one more investment that youve made in yourself and one less
probable waste of financial-resources on a situation where the house still has the
advantage.
Think
about THAT the next time you contemplate making a bet on a random-roller as opposed to
seeking out another opportunity to make a bet on YOURSELF. Good
Luck and Good Skill at the tables
and in Life. Sincerely, The
Mad Professor
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